Dawgs Demolish Ducks in 78-67 Victory

The last time the Huskies played Oregon they were embarrassed as they fell behind 48-14 at halftime. Clearly Washington wanted some payback and they got it as a 36-13 run in the middle section of the game helped the Dawgs blow out the Ducks by a final score of 78-67. Terrell Brown Jr. and Emmitt Matthews Jr. each had 25 points while Nate Roberts controlled the paint in likely the best game of his career. The win improves Washington to 15-14 (10-9) on the season and guarantees the Dawgs won’t finish with a losing Pac-12 record.

From the start of the game it was the Terrell Brown Jr. show on offense for Washington. Brown went 3/16 from the floor in the first game against Oregon and was clearly determined to not have a repeat performance. He scored UW's first 8 points on a variety of midrange jumpers to help give the Dawgs an early 8-4 lead.

Oregon eventually made a few shots of their own on offense. The Ducks went on a 7-0 run as the Huskies tried and failed miserably for anyone other than Brown to score. Washington airballed 3 shots in that span including multiple 3's as part of the offensive self-destruction.

Oregon struggled still to find open shots and repeatedly were frustrated by UW's interior defense. Washington was able to consistently bother the Ducks enough that their floater and put back attempts seemingly never were quite able to fall.

After Oregon tied the game at 20 with a 3-pointer the supporting cast for the Dawgs kicked in. Nate Roberts and Emmitt Matthews Jr. combined for 11 points in the final 4 minutes of the half to allow Washington to start to pull away. Oregon hit a 3 with 0:32 seconds left and narrowly missed another at the buzzer which cut the Husky lead at the half to 33-23. The Ducks shot just 26% from the field in the half as they were stymied time and again by the Washington defense. Terrell Brown Jr. led all scorers at the break with 14 points.

The momentum didn't stop at halftime. Emmitt Matthews had another 7 points in the first 3 minutes after the break while Nate Roberts added a free throw for himself. That quick 8-0 run set the blowout in motion as Washington led by 18 points. Oregon finally got a shot to fall but UW immediately answered on a Jamal Bey 3-pointer.

The Husky lead ultimately climbed as high as 23 after a Nate Roberts layup with 12:40 left put the score at 56-33. Roberts was dominant on both ends of the floor and scored on put backs and post moves consistently in the 2nd half. With the shot clock running out and the ball at the top of the arc he even took Oregon's center off the dribble and got the layup to go in despite a flop attempt from Kepnang.

PJ Fuller suffered some type of arm injury that knocked him out for a little bit in the 2nd half and Daejon Davis was unavailable with his shoulder injury. That combined with how well Washington was playing meant Hop tried to go almost the entire 2nd half without substitutions. Nate Roberts played the first 14 minutes of the period before picking up his 5th foul with just over 6 to play trying to take a charge in transition. He left with a career high 18 points plus 16 rebounds to go along with it.

With Roberts out of the game the Huskies decided to close playing small with Emmitt Matthews Jr. at the 5 rather than bring in Langston Wilson or Riley Sorn (who got a DNP). Oregon closed the gap a bit without any rim protection in the game. Jacob Young seemingly drove headlong at the basket on every possession as soon as the Ducks crossed halfcourt. Most of the time he was rewarded with a foul by the refs or managed to get the layup attempt to fall. In the final 6 minutes Young had 10 field goal/free throw attempts or turnovers plus a few assists where he did kick it out for open 3-point shooters.

Oregon’s press also caused Washington problems like it always does and forced a few turnovers for the Dawgs. However with just over a minute left Emmitt Matthews Jr. got an alley-oop slam after breaking the press to punctuate the Husky victory and leave no doubt that Washington would walk away the victors.

Emmitt Matthews and Terrell Brown tied for a game-high 25 points to go along with Nate Roberts’ double double. Washington shot just 4/19 on 3-point attempts and had 7 total assists but still scored nearly 80 points by going 20/28 from the free throw line. Terrell Brown Jr. in particular did his damage at the charity stripe going 11/13 on free throws. Oregon finished shooting 26% on 3’s and just 38% overall. And it took an offensive outburst in the final minutes to get up to that mark.

With the win the Huskies came close to clinching the 6th seed in the conference standings which would let them face either Cal or Utah in the 1st round and meet either USC or UCLA in the 2nd with a win. Either a win over the 3-25 Beavers on Saturday or an Oregon win over Washington State would do it. Meanwhile, the win for Washington almost certainly knocks Oregon out of NCAA at-large contention and they’ll need to beat Colorado, Arizona, and likely one of UCLA/USC in the Pac-12 tournament to qualify. You love to see it.

Saturday against Oregon State will be senior night and will be the guaranteed last home game for grad transfers Terrell Brown Jr. and Daejon Davis. Nate Roberts and Jamal Bey will also likely participate although both have eligibility remaining and we’ll see what they decide regarding their futures in a Husky uniform.

Nights like tonight are what fans of Washington basketball have been craving over the last few years and it was incredibly sweet to see it come over Oregon as the cherry on top. The crowd certainly wasn’t a sellout but it was still a raucous atmosphere as Washington poured it on in the 2nd half. Here’s to more of those nights in the near future.