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The Seahawks need to get revenge for Seattle against the Bay Area. The Washington Huskies came down to play Stanford and Cal unable to pull out a win against either. After getting absolutely blown out against the Bears, they fought hard but just couldn't overtake the Cardinal, falling 79-67.
There two two major problems for UW against Stanford. One, Washington doesn't have any true size inside. There is no shot-blocker patrolling inside the paint. While Jernard Jarreau isn't known as a rim protector, his length could have been used to bother shots against Stanford, and could have been used to help prevent a near-career-high for Chasson Randle and would have allowed UW to match up a bit better against the size inside for Stanford.
Second, shots just didn't fall. Plain and simple. Chippies around the rim just rolled and bounced but wouldn't go down. Jumpers just refused to pass through the rim. Forty-three percent shooting is not a bad percentage. Slightly below-average, but certainly not something that could keep a team from losing. Washington just missed so many shots that would usually go in. They shot 5-20 from deep. Just, shots didn't go down.
The first half featured a lot of Stanford at the foul line. Washington committed nine fouls compared to seven for the Cardinal, but the difference was that Stanford was able to get to the line by forcing shooting fouls. Johnny Dawkins knew that the advantage was inside, and he used that to his advantage. Stanford took 17 free throws, while UW took five. Stanford made 14 of those attempts while UW made three.
Dwight Powell had 11 of those attempts. He came into the game shooting 63 percent from the line, and made his last four free throws of the half. He entered halftime with 12 The high-scorer for Stanford was Chasson Randle with 14. He did his job at getting in the lane, and made all six of his free throw attempts. Halftime saw the Huskies trailing six when it felt oh so much worse.
Then the second half, hit and things did get worse. Washington's lack of size inside was apparent, as nobody was able to protect the rim against Randle. He hit the mark of 20 points with over 15 minutes left in the game. He constantly was slithering into the middle of the lane and Washington was helpless in being able to stop it. He finished a single point off of his career-best mark, scoring 32. He could have easily set his mark but instead settled for the ho-hum total.
Leading Washington was Nigel Williams-Goss. He had a quietly great game. 17 points, seven rebounds, seven assists. He was 3-5 from deep, which is tied for a career-high in made threes. It was also the first time that NWG made a shot from behind the arc in conference play. The problem was not the freshman point guard - offensively at least - it was everything else.
NWG went 3-5 from deep, Mike Anderson went 1-3, C.J. Wilcox went 1-6 and Andrew Andrews went 0-5. Washington just didn't hit their shots.
Dots:
- I want to reiterate how good of a came NWG had. Nobody on Twitter or on the broadcast paid that much attention to him, but he had a very good game, and was the reason Washington was really still in the game. As a freshman, he is the second-best player on the team. He came into UW being advertised as a pass-first point guard, yet is averaging 12 points per game because he has to. He is doing it with transition baskets and floaters. Tonight he had his jumper going as well.
- Shawn Kemp Jr. was the only other player for Washington in double figures. It is a shame that he has been ravaged with Grave's disease, as I really feel like he would be a much bigger part of this team if he didn't have to deal with the disorder. It was nice to see him have a good game nonetheless. Most of his baskets came via wide-open dunks (all but a free throw), but he was able to show his hands and rebounding ability with six boards. He committed only two fouls, which is a very big deal for him.
- I understand what Andrew Andrews brings to this team. I understand that he is a very important member of this team because of the skill-set he has. He still frustrates me so much. The biggest reason that the mid-range jumper has become a "lost art" in basketball is because the long two is the most inefficient shot in the game. He takes more long twos and heavily contested shots at the rim than anyone else.
Andrews deals with something that Tony Wroten dealt with when he spent his lone season at Washington. Once he gets into the lane, he has to go off of the glass. It isn't to quite the extreme of Wroten, but it is a detriment to his game. When he uses his quickness to get into the lane, he doesn't have something to use when a big man contests. There is a reason that he hits the deck more than any other: he has to go right at shot-blockers who don't have any reason to extend.
He is really good at pushing the break after a made basket, and he has the ability to create his own shot and hit open threes. His shot selection is very questionable and his style of play is frustrating, especially when combined with some questionable defense. He still has a chance to be even better than Justin Dentmon. Nobody will turn that down for someone who was thought to be an afterthought to a recruiting class, as a last-second add where Wroten headlined.
