Recap: Huskies Grind out 64-53 Win over Stanford via 25 Points from Murray

The first half started out slow for both teams, with the Huskies troubled by Stanford's zone defense and both teams having trouble holding on to the ball.

With just under 12 minutes remaining in the half Stanford led 10-8 and both teams had combined for 9 turnovers.

Murray grabbed a miss and dropped in a floater at the ten-minute mark to take a 12-10 lead for the Huskies, then hit a rare three-pointer on the next possession. The sequence felt especially significant given the low-scoring, plodding nature of the half, and redeemed Murray for a handful of ugly turnovers.

Baby Boy hit his second three of the night at the 8:30 mark to make it 18-12, then narrowly missed a heat check only seconds later.

Stanford snapped a streak of cold shooting by hitting their first three-point attempt of the night via a Marcus Allen attempt from the wing to bring it to within one.

Rosco Allen reclaimed the lead for the Cardinal via a tip-in to make it 19-18 with under six minutes left in the half.

With just over three minutes in the half Thybulle committed the sin of saving the ball under his own basket but got away with it, igniting a fast break that resulted in an extremely pretty finish at the rim from Murray.

A couple possessions later Dickerson found himself switched on to Pickens, and try as he might he couldn't prevent the dangerous guard from hitting the trey. Murray tried to answer with another three and missed badly.

R. Allen pulled down an offensive board and put it back on Stanford's next time down the court to tie it up 26-26 with a minute left in the half, and that score would carry into halftime.

One of the consistent themes of the first half was Stanford's zone defense denying opportunities for Washington to feed the ball into the paint to Dickerson or Dime. Among the guards, Murray had much more success than Andrews at cutting into the paint to break up the monotony of running out the shot clock with passes around the perimeter.

Stanford left a lot of points at the free throw line. The 4-7 shooting is misleading when you consider that all three misses came on the front end of 1-and-1 opportunities.

Neither team could avoid constant, painful turnovers. Murray was a particular culprit for the Huskies, often trying desperate passes whenever he dribbled into trouble.

Andrews failed to score a single point during the half, while Murray led the team with 14 points.

The second half started off with a little flurry of scoring from the Huskies, but the game soon evened out and the pace remained more Stanford's style over the next ten minutes.

Pickens put back an offensive rebound with 10:30 remaining to cut the Washington lead to three.

R. Allen scored an easy two to make it 39-40, then Chriss committed an offensive foul, his third personal.

Soon after, Thybulle drew a blocking foul and finished through the contact to give Washington a little breathing room, then with 8:51 remaining Dime finished a beautiful oop from Andrews.

Crisp continued his struggles by missing the front end of a one-and-one after already having missed all five of his field goal attempts on the night.

Murray continued to shine in the paint, cutting his way into traffic and finishing with a beautiful kiss off the glass. The Huskies led 49-41 with 7:22 remaining.

Out of the next timeout Pickens cut the lead to six, then Thybulle turned the ball over, his fourth of the night. The break resulted in a foul called on Murray and Allen hit both shots.

Stanford attempted to press but Murray beat it easily and hit Dime for an easy slam.

Crisp continued a brutal night by missing a blatantly open three on a fast break kick from Murray and then rim-stuffed himself on a second break immediately after, his sixth and seventh misses.

The wasted opportunities continued as Murray missed both free throws with just under five minutes left.

Stanford committed their 18th turnover at the 4:14 mark, and those turnovers largely explained how the Huskies could survive brutal shooting and copious turnovers of their own.

Still without a field goal make and fresh off another missed three, Andrews cut into the lane and hit Dime for another dunk. Washington led 53-47 after the make.

Washington's defense forced a five-second violation that resulted in a fifth for Verhoeven on the other end that sent Murray to the line. The freshman shrugged off his recent free throw struggles and hit both.

Dejounte made it 22 points on the night with a ridiculous floater to make it 57-49 with just over a minute remaining. The Huskies regained possession and Stanford was forced to foul Andrews, who easily hit both.

Rosco Allen tried to make some magic but saw a solid three-point try rattle out of the rim. Stanford unwisely fouled Andrews again. The two free throws gave him 8 points despite 0/4 shooting from the field.

Murray capped off his monster night with a fast break dunk to make it 25 points. A desperation three from Stanford cut the lead to 12 and then Andrews dribbled out the shot clock only to have Pickens fouled with 1.7 seconds. He tacked on one garbage time point to give the Huskies a 64-53 win.

The win snaps a four-game losing streak for Washington on a night that saw their lowest scoring output of the season and a tough night from the Pac-12's leading scorer Andrew Andrews.

Murray's 25 points and 9 rebounds carried the team offensively while Dime chipped in 10 points and 7 boards.

David Crisp looked lost, missing all seven shots he took and generally playing out of sorts. Dominic Green found himself open for some great looks but just couldn't knock them down.

The Huskies couldn't have done it without Baby Boy's marvelous finishing in the paint, but defense won the day overall. Stanford committed 20 turnovers and shot 32% from the field, including 3-14 from beyond the arc.

Rosco Allen scored 20 points but only managed to hit one of his six three-point tries and committed 4 turnovers. Sanders, normally fairly careful with the ball, coughed it up five times.

This was a game Washington simply needed to win to avoid the bottom truly falling out on the season, but it was still an impressive effort  that saw them shore up their obvious season-long issues with securing rebounds and getting stops.

Andrews honestly seems to be playing through some kind of injury, and if it isn't that, he has certainly entered an existential shooter's funk. Murray's heroics allowed for him to struggle without blowing the night, but AA needs to shoot better for Washington to succeed on next week's trip down to the Oregon schools.

That trip kicks off at Oregon State on Wednesday at 8:00pm and will be shown on ESPNU.