Pivotal Game at Pauley Pavillion
by John Berkowitz on Feb 19, 2009 8:09 AM PST
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PrintWashington has a one game lead in the Pac 10 conference race with five games left to play. Arizona State, UCLA, California, and Arizona are right on their heels so the difference between first and fifth in this conference is only two games.
If the Huskies drop two in Los Angeles which is very possible they could be looking up at everyone else next week when the Arizona schools come to town rather than looking down on the rest of the conference.
Thursday is the Pac 10 game of the year in Pauley Pavillion against the UCLA Bruins who know how quickly you can go from the penthouse to the middle of the standings.
You can count on the Bruins to be playing their best against Washington in a battle for the conference crown. If Washington wins this one they are in the drivers seat the rest of the way. Lose it and they need to salvage the split against USC on Saturday to stay in the running.
The sixth place Trojans are a bubble team with a lot to play for since the NCAA will likely only take five Pac 10 teams this season. They can beat anyone on any given night in the Galen Center.
The key for Washington against UCLA is to control the boards and get to the free throw line. Once there they need to convert on those free throws. It is a good formula for home but sometimes it is harder to get the calls on the road.
Against USC they run up against a team that has some good presence in the middle. The Huskies need to make sure that they get the ball inside to Brockman to negate that.
Two pivotal games in Los Angeles this weekend as the Huskies try to win their first outright conference championship since 1953.
You can visit Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times here to go over his keys to tonights game.
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This will be a HUGE test for the DAWGS.
We have a big advantage down low with Brockman. Hopefully we can get it into him often and if they colapse he can kick it back out to Detmon who will make them pay.
Off topic...
who is the “Kid” in Sarks Twitter post? Does he refer to himself as the “Kid”?
Check out ESPN's CBB frontpage
They’ve got a lot of pre-game coverage, and an article and video highlighting Isaiah Thomas.
Good Article on IT
This team is starting to get alot of buzz. If they can finish strong in the PAC-10 it could lead to a higher seed in the Tourny and more media coverage.
GO DAWGS!!
Keys:
Offensively, the first priority is getting the ball to Jon Brockman. His stats weren’t gaudy in the first meeting, but when he got the ball down low he did some damage (5/8 shooting, 8/10 free throws). The problem will be getting him the ball. UCLA does an excellent job of pressuring and denying, and our small guards had a tough time making entry passes (and really have struggled for most of the season at it). In the last game, Holiday was huge on the wing. He had just one basket (a big three), but he was the guy they relied on to make passes into the post, and finished with 4 assists to go with 5 rebounds. When the Bruins start doubling Brockman it will be his duty to find the open man and the perimeter guys will need to the UCLA defense moving and find the hot hand.
The two things that go without saying are offensive rebounding and getting to the charity stripe, which are two things that the Huskies do as well as any team in the nation. Per Bob Condotta: UW has made more free throws than any other Pac-10 team has attempted.
On defense, the Huskies simply have to rotate quickly. UCLA doesn’t really have a “great” scorer, but they do have a good number of players who can shoot the ball. The only reason that they were not run off the court in the first meeting was Josh Shipp hitting 6 threes, which can’t be allowed in game 2. Perimeter defense is going to be more important than the interior in this game and hedging on screens will be key to keep their offense off kilter (if you want a good example of how to do this, watch how UCLA does it to us in this game; they might do it better than any other team in the nation).
One of the best ways
to feed Brockman is to penetrate and miss the shot, either a jumper or free throw. Brockman does need the ball though, with Aboya either ill or less than 100%.
so far
the ducks are going down and the beavs are lifting a tail on the tree. WSU and SC just started
Am I the only one.....
that is having issues with the FSNHD feed? I have Wave Broadband as a provider and for whatever reason FSNHD is dead. Driving me a little crazy…
Yeah, this officiating is atrocious...
by Jason X U S N on Feb 19, 2009 8:33 PM PST up reply actions
If they shoot over 50% from 3-point land we just won't win.
Especially if we don’t get to take foul shots.
Tough to win on the road...even tougher to win at Pauley
You aren’t going to get the calls at Pauley.
This game has been incredibly painful to watch.
I thought it was going to be a good game but it turned out to just be ridiculously horrible.
Tons of turnovers on both ends. Ridiculous refereeing. Incredibly sloppy play from both teams.
Sweep at home and split on the road.
Tough to win at Pauley.
by John Berkowitz on Feb 19, 2009 10:02 PM PST reply actions
Explain:
UW shooting: 50%
3Pt: 50%
UCLA shooting: 48.4%
3Pt: 47.1%
Rebounding margin: UW +4 total, +2 offensive
The difference in the game was, of course, foul shooting:
UW: 4-10
UCLA: 15-18
Are we to believe that the Huskies were the determinant for why they shot less than half the number of free throws they average on the road? Are we to believe that UCLA played that entire game and only committed 11 fouls? Anyone who watched the game knows that the answers to these questions is unequivocally, no. This was just the latest example in a long line of games and plays that illustrate just how bad the officiating is in the Pac-10.
The Huskies outplayed UCLA, and if this game was played with competent (read: non Pac-10) refs, UW wins.
Great call Cassino
You aren’t going to win with foul shots on the road at Pauley.
by John Berkowitz on Feb 19, 2009 10:34 PM PST reply actions
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