Huskies Let Lead Slip Away Late at Stanford 61-55

Washington’s offense looked broken playing their first game since learning that Quade Green was ruled academically ineligible as Stanford roared back in the final minutes to beat the Huskies 61-55. The Husky defense contained Stanford’s stars in the first half but Washington went ice cold in the final 8 minutes to blow a 12 point second half lead. Washington falls to 11-5 (1-2) while Stanford improves to 13-2 (2-0).

With a matchup between 2 of the best defenses in the country there was an expectation that this game might be a rock fight even before Quade Green was announced to be out. Stanford got on the board first with a 3-pointer but there was little offensive flow for either team. Jaden McDaniels got a tip dunk and Nate Roberts rattled off 3 straight points to give Washington an early 5-3 lead.

A week after Jake Kyman came out of nowhere to sink Washington it appeared Spencer Jones might do the same. He hit a pair of early 3’s and scored Stanford’s first 8 points to put the Cardinal on top at 8-7. The Huskies caught a break when Jamal Bey inadvertently elbowed Daejon Davis in the face on a drive to the hoop which caused Seattle native Davis to miss about 12 minutes of game time in the first half before he returned.

Isaiah Stewart picked up his 2nd foul after 8 minutes and sat for the rest of the half with just 2 points and 2 blocks on 1 of 4 FG, 0 of 2 FT shooting. Nate Roberts played most of that time and helped the Huskies get out to a dominating start on the glass. Roberts and McDaniels combined for 19 first half rebounds to give UW a 30-13 rebounding advantage at the break. That resulted in numerous tip ins and support an offense that otherwise was badly struggling.

The Huskies had just 2 assists and 13 turnovers in the first half but fortunately Stanford was unable to hit shots and punish Washington. James Keefe scored Stanford’s next 7 points after Jones had the first 8 and 15 minutes into the half Stanford’s 3 leading scorers had a combined 0 points. Oscar Da Silva sat for several minutes with 2 fouls and PG Tyrell Terry picked up his 2nd on a bang bang block/charge call just after finally making a layup.

Washington went into the first half up 28-20 after Stanford hit a contested corner 3 on their second to last possession. McDaniels and Roberts with 8 points, 11 rebounds and 7 points, 8 rebounds respectively led the way.

Stanford started to heat up at the start of the second half but the Huskies answered as Jaden McDaniels hit the first Husky 3-pointer of the night. Washington’s defense continued to stifle Stanford and Naz Carter hit a fade away corner 3 with 12 minutes to go that put the Huskies up by double digits at 47-35.

From that point on though the Husky offense completely shattered into a thousand pieces. Stanford aggressively double or triple teamed Isaiah Stewart every time he touched the ball and he responded by putting up wild shots that had no shot. Meanwhile, Tyrell Terry and Oscar Da Silva finally found some open space and started hitting shots.

Washington switched to their Jaylen Nowell offense except with Naz Carter running the show to compensate. He made a couple of baskets on consecutive possessions to stem the tide but Stanford kept coming. Daejon Davis hit a deep 3-pointer to beat the shot clock with 2:30 left to tie the game at 55. After more empty trips for Washington Tyrell Terry hit another deep 3 that served as the dagger. Stanford ended the game on an 19-4 run over the final 7 minutes as the Huskies missed 5 free throws in that stretch.

The Dawgs ended the game shooting just 17.6% from the 3-point line and a putrid 12 of 25 from the free throw line. Stanford held the Dawgs even on the boards in the second half and Washington ended up committing a staggering 21 turnovers against just 5 assists.

McDaniels paced the way for Washington with his first career double double with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Nahziah Carter finished with 16 points but with 4 turnovers and missing his last 3 free throws in the final 2 minutes. Stewart had by far his worst game as a Husky with just 4 points on 2 of 8 shooting.

The Dawgs play at Berkeley on Saturday night to return to the scene of their mind boggling loss last season. Given how this game went it’s hard to see Washington pulling off the 11-4 type of run they’ll need to secure an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament.

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