Without Isaiah Thomas (flu), the Huskies played perhaps their best basketball game of the year, which isn't all that surprising as it was a home game against a lesser opponent. Still, Seattle University is a decent program with some talented players - like onetime Husky commit and potential lottery pick Charles Garcia - that has given teams trouble (beat Weber State, Fresno State, won at Utah and destroyed Oregon State in Corvallis). It was expected that Seattle U would have the edge in some aspects, like Garcia in the post against Matthew Bryan-Amaning and Tyreese Breshers, and that perhaps coach Cameron Dollar would have some insight as to how to throw the Huskies off of their game at Hec Ed. Neither was the case. Garcia came out and started 0-7 from the floor early (the only time the game was in jeopardy), and coach Dollar had no answers as the more talented Huskies raced away and never looked back
Efficiency-wise, the Huskies played their 2nd best game of the year on defense, allowing just .742 points per possession, while at the same time posted their 5th best offensive efficiency by scoring 1.2 points per possession. The game provided 102 possessions, which is far and away the most of the year (next closest was 81 against both Texas Tech and Cal State Northridge). Not only that, it was easily the fastest game played I could find going back through 2004, with the next closest game being in 2007 against Pepperdine having just 92 possessions. The 102 possessions allowed the Huskies to score the second highest point total in the history of the program.
Six Husky players scored double figures, and three scored 20 or more, with career highs coming from Elston Turner (20), Venoy Overton (20), and Justin Holiday (16).
The Pac-10's finest were in rare form last night, calling 78 fouls for the game. Six Seattle U players fouled out, and every Seattle U player except Garcia finished with either 4 or 5 fouls. At the end of the game the Redhawks had only four players available, and had to play a man down. MBA and Overton fouled out as well. If I were a SU fan, I wouldn't have been able to watch this game for more than 5 minutes or so. Too often the Pac-10 referees decide that they want to take total control of the game and become the story (in some cases, they like to decide who wins as in the Oregon at Washington State game earlier in the year). Someone needs to teach these idiots that that's not what they're on the court for.