Huskies lose effort in blowout loss to Bruins Digging Deeper

This space is reserved to go into the minutia of each game. We look at matchups, take a peek at who dominated/was dominated in their one-on-one battle. We look at what in the gameplan worked or didn't work. What did UCLA do that the Huskies couldn't stop?

That answer is easy. Absolutely everything.

Washington played with only two healthy frontcourt players, as the team has been doing ever since Robert Upshaw was dismissed. Typically, it has been Shawn Kemp Jr. and Gilles Dierickx, admittedly not a Pac-12-quality big man. Jernard Jarreau returned for UW's losing-streak snapping victory over WSU, but Kemp was lost due to a concussion, and he missed last night's game against UCLA (expected to play Saturday against USC). Losing Kemp was the first sign that things were not going to go UW's way.

Jernard Jarreau isn't back to what he was before missing a month with another knee injury, and even then he wasn't the player he has been expected to be. I don't know if he isn't comfortable with his knee following his ACL reconstruction or if he has been unable to get accustomed to the massive amounts of weight he has (intentionally) packed on since arriving on campus four years ago. He can't thrive as the only big. Yes Jarreau is a better fit than Kemp in a small-ball lineup, being a better rebounder and having a better jumper, along with being a better (but still not great) rim protector.

He was off the floor due to foul trouble in short order. It didn't really matter, though. UCLA started the game on a 13-2 run before he hit the bench for a rest and in came Dierickx. The two actually saw the court at the same time during the first half. Dierickx didn't look terrible. He should never be put in a post-up scenario, as guards cheat down to double and force steals with high regularity, but his ability in mid-range and (actually good for a big) passing ability can be useful in certain situations.

The story of this game for UW wasn't the fact that UCLA had more first half points in the paint than the Huskies had points in that half. It wasn't that Washington was completely outmanned inside and on the wing. It wasn't even that the walk-ons saw the floor in a blowout loss and Dan Kingma hit two threes, one of which was from deep NBA range just to the right of a straight-on three.

The story was that the Huskies quit fighting. The positive we have seen in their play all season has been that no matter what happened, Washington played hard. The same cannot be said tonight. On the road against UCLA, Washington lost the sense of pride that keeps their motors going.

Mike Anderson is known as a scrapper. His hustle and tenacity get under opposing players' skins. After a Washington turnover (I believe it was Anderson who turned it over passing the ball to Nigel Williams-Goss) he was the only Husky with any chance of slowing a two-on-one fastbreak by the Bruins. He didn't get past the A in the UCLA logo before walking, and Norman Powell rose up and threw the ball down hard in one of many Bruin highlights from the evening.

Tony Parker had several dunks on his way to a very efficient night. He was 6-7 in the first half and finished with 20 points on 10-12 shooting from the field. The game's leading scorer was not Parker, but Norman Powell. Powell finished with 24, which included the aforementioned highlight dunk, combined with several other athletic above-the-rim finishes. He was able to get the the rim whenever he felt like it with the only real rim protector the Huskies have left sitting on the bench in foul trouble.

Former UW target Isaac Hamilton tallied 16 points, and had 10 assists in a double-double. It was a career-high in dishes for him and also his only career double-double. Coach's son Bryce Alford had seven of his own.

Andrew Andrews led Washington in scoring yet again with 18. After an abysmal 1-9 shooting effort in the first half, he turned things around in the second period, though the game was already out of hand. He made four threes on six attempts, with a missed two-point jumper thrown in. UW had two other players in double figures, with Williams-Goss notching 17 on 8-18 shooting and Darin Johnson posting 11.

There isn't much to dive into about this game, really. The Huskies gave up for the first time all season long. A complete effort still would probably not have been enough to put the Dawgs on top, but following the ending of a seven-game losing streak, one would think that the Huskies would continue to show more fight.

I hope you had something better to do than watch what part of the broadcast was not cut off due to the Duke/Viginia Tech overtime game, like sniff sharpies.