Dickerson Dominates in 79-69 UW Victory over Eastern Washington

Through 2 games in this very young season the only player capable of stopping Noah Dickerson appears to be Noah Dickerson. The junior PF fouled out of the Huskies’ first contest but was unstoppable on Sunday night. He finished with 28 points and 22 rebounds (both career highs) in a 79-69 victory by the Huskies.

UW and Eastern traded leads throughout most of the first half as Dickerson was the only consistent source of scoring. He drew 10 fouls in a physically dominant performance and ended the half with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Noah had as many field goals as the rest of the team combined. He became the first Dawg since Quincy Pondexter to score 20+ in the 1st half of a game. A David Crisp 3-pointer as the clock expired gave the Dawgs their largest lead of the night at 40-34.

It took the Huskies a little while to find their rhythm in the 2nd half but luckily Eastern had the same issues. During a 4-minute stretch early in the 2nd frame, neither team scored which let the Huskies maintain their lead despite their offensive woes. Eastern started double teaming Dickerson which resulted in a series of offensive fouls and missed shots. But eventually all of the Eagles’ big men got in severe foul trouble and Noah once again took over. Jaylen Nowell, limited by foul trouble, once again closed out the game for the Dawgs with 6 points in the final 1:07 to help get the Huskies to a double digit victory.

Washington moves to 2-0 and will face their first major test on Thursday at Madison Square Garden against Providence as part of the 2K Classic benefiting the Wounded Warrior Project.

Quick Hitters:

• The Huskies once again struggled shooting the ball as they started out missing their first 8 three-pointers. However, David Crisp scored his first points on a 3 ball at the end of the half and Dominic Green hit consecutive 3’s early in the 2nd to give the Huskies their first 10 point lead. They finished at a respectable 37.5%.
• Coach Hopkins will spend the next few days drilling the Huskies on what to do when a team gets the ball into the paint and hides a player along the baseline. The Dawgs were once again roasted repeatedly on this play. There was one time where Dominic Green properly defended it and helped cause a missed shot but otherwise it resulted in probably 6 or 7 Eagles baskets.
• The UW defense which had 12 steals in the opener against Belmont only mustered 4 in this game. However, they did a much better job of contesting shots and held Eastern to shooting just 40% from the field.
• The games at MSG will show whether the Huskies can continue to rely on making their living at the free throw line. After shooting 36 freebies on Friday the Dawgs once again set up camp at the charity stripe going 25-34 there for 73.5%. Noah Dickerson led the way shooting 10 of 14 and if he can keep up that percentage all year it will result in an extra 1-3 points per game.
• Michael Carter III got a little more run in this game with 10 minutes of playing time. He ended with 0 points and 2 assists as he never looked for his own shot but also took no risks with the ball. On defense there’s a noticeable difference when he and Matisse are at the front of the 2-3 zone at 6’4 and 6’5 versus David Crisp. If Carter III can play solid defense without being a complete liability on offense giving Crisp a breather it will be a big help.
• With Noah Dickerson’s career night, the other big men didn’t see much of the court. Sam Timmins started but was pulled less than 2 minutes into the game for Dominic Green and ended with just 9 minutes played. Hameir Wright barely got into the game and played only 2 minutes. It looks like the quartet of Crisp/Thybulle/Nowell/Dickerson will play 30+ minutes per game with Dominic Green and Carlos Johnson getting close to 50% of minutes and Nahz Carter, Michael Carter III, Sam Timmins, and Hameir Wright averaging closer to 25% for now.

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