Washington Embarrassed in Eugene

If you were a fan of the movie How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days then you’re going to love tonight’s sequel: How to Lose All the Goodwill from a 4-2 Conference Start in 20 Minutes. Washington was uninterested and non-competitive from the opening tip as Oregon obliterated the Huskies by an 84-56 score. The Dawgs were outscored a pathetic 48-13 at halftime in what might be the worst 1st half in the history of the program.

Normally I would give something resembling a play-by-play in my recaps to give you an idea of what happened if you weren’t able to watch the game. That isn’t really necessary tonight. On Washington’s first possession they managed to miss 3 shots and that set the tone for the offense. Nate Roberts tipped the ball in to give the Huskies an early 2-0 lead and that would be the only one the Huskies had all game.

By the time someone other than Roberts made a field goal attempt for Washington, the Huskies would trail by 30 at 40-10. That Terrell Brown Jr. layup “ended” a 27-2 run by Oregon as Washington couldn’t get out of their own way. 3 times in the first half the Dawgs accidentally stepped out of bounds in the exact same spot. Even with Oregon’s ridiculous court artwork that’s inexcusable.

The final first half stats were staggering. Oregon made both 66% of their 2’s and 66% of their 3’s while Washington shot 17% from the floor and 1/12 on 3-point attempts. The Huskies managed 0 assists with 13 turnovers on their 4 baskets which led to the 48-13 margin. It was an ass kicking distilled into its purest form.

Anyone who has ever watched college basketball knew that despite how the first half went that Washington wasn’t going to lose by 70 points. Shots that weren’t falling in the disastrous opening period began to fall for the Huskies. The turnovers certainly didn’t stop but they became a little less frequent. Riley Sorn provided a brief spark in the middle of the 2nd half with 6 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 blocks in a few minutes of reserve duty.

Ultimately, the Huskies won the 2nd half 43-36 and the offense looked much closer to what we would’ve expected entering the game. 6 assists and 10 turnovers in the 2nd half is still worse than you want but was a certain improvement from the first 20 minutes.

The free throw shooting was the one bright spot in the game as the only 2 missed free throws in the first 39 minutes were (of course) a pair of front ends on 1-and-1’s by Nate Roberts. Former walk-on Reagan Lundeen missed both of his attempts in the final minute and Riley Sorn couldn’t complete a 3-point play at the line on the last possession. Terrell Brown Jr. made all 8 of his shots from the foul line but was just 3/16 from the floor with 6 turnovers in what was by far his worst game as a Husky despite leading the team with 14 points. Emmitt Matthews Jr. had 12 points as the only other Dawg with more than 7 points.

If you didn’t see the breakdown in score by half and merely saw that Washington was blown out by 26 it certainly would be disappointing but not a complete embarrassment. The Huskies’ 4-3 conference record is still an overachievement for this team especially considering 5 of those 7 games were on the road. But it’s going to be almost impossible for the fanbase to overlook a performance as pathetic as the 1st half when playing your rival.

Washington will attempt to make amends on Thursday night when try to avenge their loss to Colorado at home.