Huskies lead wire-to-wire in dominant effort over WSU

The difference was apparent from the opening tip. On the opening possession for the Huskies, Nigel Williams Goss took the first shot of the game, missed, Desmond Simmons did what he is best at (grabbing a loose ball) and the ball found the hands of C.J. Wilcox and eventually Andrew Andrews, then the bottom of the net. It was only the beginning of the 72-49 manhandling the Huskies gave the Washington State Cougars

Andrew Andrews, in the three games since his second-half benching against Stanford, has shot 48 percent from the field and averaged 17 points. He has been playing very well since then. Maybe Romar really did light a fire under him, maybe he is on a hot streak, or maybe this is the real Andrews and something was going on early in the season. He isn't prone from dumb shots, but it is part of the mindset that makes him the player who he is. Who that is is a player who is frustrating at times but can be an extremely important part of a team.

The game just continued to go the Huskies way. The next basket was another three for the Huskies, this one by Wilcox.

DaVonte Lacy did his absolute best to keep the Cougars in the game but it really didn't matter. The Huskies were the better team, the more talented team, and it showed up on the scoreboard. The Tacoma product finished with 25 points on 6-14 shooting. He hit four of his first five three-point attempts, but his impact was limited to scoring. He had five turnovers with no assists.

Nigel Williams-Goss and Andrews were the true stories of the game. The two combined for 33 points, eight assists, four steals and TWENTY-ONE rebounds. The two of them combined for over half of the team's assists rebounds and steals. That is just crazy. That is the Stat of the night.

I got one Dot:

• Williams-Goss and Andrews are both really good at stripping opposing ball-handlers (I originally wrote ballcarriers because the Fight Hunger Bowl is on the TV) when dribbles have been picked up. If they get beat, the offensive player still has to be aware of one of them stripping from behind. One would expect that Wilcox (eight points tonight) would be the best of the bunch with his long arms, but the two point guards are the best at poking the ball out from behind.
  
  It isn't even only when one of them has been beat off the dribble. Sometimes they can come from a weak-side defensive position and rip the ball out. Jahmel Taylor even showed an ability to take the ball from an opposing player driving to the basket when he knocked the ball out on a fastbreak.