Bey’s Career Game Sparks Huskies to 83-79 Win Over Utah

Washington sprung the upset on Wednesday night behind a career high 27 points from Marcus Tsohonis. In order to beat the Utes and complete a home sweep they needed 28 points from Jamal Bey who delivered time after time in an incredibly efficient performance. The victory brings the Huskies to 3-11 (2-7) on the season.

The Huskies got on the board first as Jamal Bey got the steal and was rewarded on the other end with a feed from Quade Green for a layup. Utah wasn’t flustered through and answered with a quick 7-0 run. In the first game against the Utes the Huskies faced a 21-9 free throw deficit. Clearly it was something that Coach Hop wanted to rectify as the Huskies repeatedly took Utah’s unathletic guards off the dribble and got to the line.

Erik Stevenson and Marcus Tsohonis went 5/7 from the free throw line in 3 minutes of game time and Washington quickly gained a 5-0 advantage on fouls drawn. After a pair of Stevenson baskets, Nate Roberts managed to get around his defender who never moved his feet trying to draw a foul and he laid it in to give Washington an 18-16 lead at the under 12 timeout.

Things fell apart for the Huskies from there though. Riley Sorn got juked out of his shoes which led to an and-1 dunk for Utah. Nate Roberts missed the front end of a pair of 1-and-1’s as Utah kept making the right pass to take advantage of whoever was playing center for UW to get layups and dunks. The end result was a 16-2 Utah run that put them up 32-20 and forced a Coach Hopkins timeout.

Washington easily could have collapsed from there but all of a sudden the outside shot started falling. Erik Stevenson kicked things off as Washington had 4 different players make 3-point jumpers on 4 consecutive possessions. Utah made a few shots of their own in that time so the RaeQuan Battle 3-pointer ultimately brought the Dawgs back within 5 at 37-32 with 3:08 remaining in the half.

Jamal Bey and Hameir Wright made layups on consecutive possessions after UW’s 3-pt streak was broken and a Bey corner 3-pointer allowed the Dawgs to tie the game at 41 with 32 seconds left. Utah had an answer though and hit a wing 3 halfway through the shot clock. Washington had the last possession but there was clearly a miscommunication and Quade Green got called for a charge with 0.9 seconds left and UW down 44-41.

Erik Stevenson led the Huskies with 12 points while Jamal Bey had 10 and the Huskies shot 6/12 from deep including 5 of their last 6.

The Huskies were the benefactors of Utah foul trouble in the first half but that changed early in the second half. Hameir Wright was called for a foul on UW’s first defensive possession and shortly after went to the bench with 3. Then a few minutes later Quade Green was called for a foul off the ball shortly after making a long 2-pointer which sent him to the bench with his 3rd. Meanwhile, Marcus Tsohonis got to the line repeatedly but couldn’t convert as he started the second half 1/5 from the charity stripe.

Jamal Bey though picked up the slack. With the Utes lacking much in the way of rim protection he repeatedly drove to the basket and finished through contact. And if they played off of him he knocked down an open 3-pointer as the rest of the Dawgs played the drive and kick to perfection. A Bey 3-pointer tied the game at 61 with 11 minutes left after the Utes had opened up a 6 point lead and seemed poised to take back control.

Quade Green re-entering the game was left wide open at the top of the key and knocked down a 3 of his own to give UW a 66-63 lead. Unfortunately on the first play coming out of the under 8 media timeout Quade pushed off going around a screen and was called for his 4th foul about 30 feet away from the hoop. Hop left him in the game though and that confidence was rewarded. Green scored 8 consecutive points for UW including a transition 3-pointer to keep the Huskies in it while their defense repeatedly could not get a stop. That last Green 3 brought the Dawgs to within one at 75-74.

Erik Stevenson tried to take over for Washington but could not get his shot to fall. He missed shots on 3 consecutive possessions but fortunately UW forced either a miss or a turnover from Utah star Timmy Allen on 3 consecutive possessions as well. Jamal Bey continued his career night seemingly hitting a game-tying corner 3-pointer but after review his toe was ruled on the line to keep Washington down 78-79.

After Stevenson’s recent offensive troubles there was some clear concern when Stevenson got a steal and took the ball by himself in a 1v2 transition situation. However, he came through and got the and-1 layup to fall and put the Dawgs back up 81-79 with 0:50 seconds left.

On the other end Utah tried to fit in a tight wrap around pass to the corner from under the basket but it was deflected by UW and skied into the air. Hameir Wright came down with the jump ball and ultimately Jamal Bey nailed a pair of free throws with 14 seconds left to extend the lead to 2 possessions. Utah missed on the other end and that was all she wrote.

Bey technically missed a free throw on UW’s last possession but otherwise was 10/11 from the floor and 5/5 from 3-pt range to accumulate his 28 points. He also had 5 rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 assists. This was the kind of player that we thought Bey could be when he was a 4-star coming out of high school and it’s awesome to see him blossoming before our eyes.

Quade Green was also masterful running the show down the stretch to finish with 20 points and 4 assists (although he did have 6 turnovers) all with 4 fouls for the final 8 minutes. Erik Stevenson had 18 points on 16 shots and no one else for the Dawgs had more than 5. Washington was fortunate not to blow the game when they finished 13/22 (59%) from the free throw line and 3 of those misses were on the front end of 1-and-1’s. But a 12/24 performance from the 3-point line more than made up for it.

RaeQuan Battle who had gotten DNPs in 3 of the last 4 games came in to play significant minutes and showed a commitment to playing defense with several hustle plays to end up with 3 steals even though he was just 1 of 4 from the floor.

Washington found a way to corral Timmy Allen on the last few possessions after he dominated the Dawgs for most of the day. Allen finished with 15 points, 10 assists, and 7 rebounds for Utah from the forward spot while Utah center Brendan Carlson had a career high 18 points largely on easy looks given to him by Allen.

Now the Huskies get a full week off as their next game will be hosting the Cougars on Sunday 1/31 where they’ll look to extend their winning streak to 3 games.