Washington 89, Washington State 87
Date: March 9, 2011
Venue: Staples Center
City: Los Angeles
Attendance: 12,191
LOS ANGELES The Washington Huskies used a 57-point second half to come from eight down at intermission to pull out an 89-87 victory over rival Washington State in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 Tournament. They did it while overcoming a 43-point performance by the Cougars Klay Thompson. Isaiah Thomas led the Huskies (21-10) with 21 points. Terrence Ross, in his first career start, had 17. The Huskies will face Oregon (15-16), which upset UCLA in the earlier game, 76-59. The Huskies trailed, 40-32 at halftime but 2½ minutes into the second half they took their first lead of the game. The Cougars pushed the lead back to eight again, before it was back-and-forth in the final minute. Thomas scored with nine seconds left to make it 88-85. Thompson then had a putback basket after a foul shot for an 88-87 score with four-tenths of a second remaining. WSU Coach Ken Bone called a timeout that he didn’t have. He was given a technical. C.J. Wilcox hit one. That was the end.
Star of the game
Isaiah Thomas Thomas had 21 points – 16 in the second half – and a tournament record 11 assists to lead the Husky comeback.
Play of the game
Thomas made a basket with nine seconds left, giving the Huskies a three-point lead, 88-85.
Misplay of the game
WSU Coach Ken Bone called a timeout when he had none left with four-tenths of a second remaining. That sent C.J. Wilcox to the line and he made one free throw for the final score. Cougars had no chance after that.
Highlights
- Isaiah Thomas Scored 16 of his team-high 21 points and had 11 assists for his fourth season double-double in his first ever 40-minute game.
- Terrence Ross Earned his first start of his career, tossing down 17 points in a career-high 29 minutes.
- C.J. Wilcox Poured in 13 of his 16 points in the second half – going 5-of-9 from three-point range, and finished with 16 points.
- Scott Suggs Had three points and three rebounds in 20 minutes.
- Justin Holiday Finished with a double-double, 12 points and 10 rebounds. He also had three assists in his 31 minutes.
- Matthew Bryan-Amaning Made seven of 11 shots and finished with 16 points and seven rebounds.
- Aziz NDiaye Played 12 minutes and grabbed one rebound and had two points.
- Darnell Gant Had three points and three rebounds in 10 minutes.
Lowlights
- Venoy Overton Sat out the game while serving a suspension for being charged with distributing liquor to a minor.
Notable
- WSU’s Klay Thompson had 43 points, tying the second-most points scored against a Washington. The record is 45 by USC’s John Block in 1966.
- Klay Thompson’s 43 points is the fifth highest in Division I basketball this season.
Said
- You know after you hit a couple shots, coach starts drawing up plays for you and you feel you have a responsibility to step up and knock down shots.’ – C.J. Wilcox, Huskies guard, after hitting 5 of 9 from three-point range and finishing with 17 points.
- No question. I’m probably more of a feel guy anyway. When you sense that somebody is ready to break loose, you go with it.” – Lorenzo Romar, Washington coach, on why he started freshman Terrence Ross.
Injuries
- Justin Holiday Coming back from a concussion, he was given medical clearance in the morning before the game.
Numbers
- 21 – Three-pointer by the two teams combined, tying the Pac-10 Tournament record.
- 15 – Field goals made by WSU’s Klay Thompson, tying the tournament record set by UCLA’s Reggie Miller
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2115692 http://uwhoops.sportspressnw.com/?p=2111008">13 Comments
@Carey Floyd Are you kidding me??? If they trade him they will only win 75 games instead of 80 games! :) Let’s start playing to win instead of what feels good. Logic tells us its time to move on.
I am very happy for Matt. The Tennessee Team gives him a chance to finish his career as a winner. As a good guy he deserves that.
Does anyone remember the beginning of the Homgren era. First year, we squeaked into the playoffs under Kitna. Carroll did the same thing with Hass last year. In Holmgren’s second year, the Hawks fell to 6-10 without Kitna. Holmgren brought in Dilfer to mentor a young Hass. Meanwhile, Ricky Watters mentored a young Shaun Alexander. Not to mention some guys name Hutch and Jones developing as the centerpieces of the O-Line (see James Carpenter and John Moffitt). It’s deja vu all over again because Schneider is from the same Green Bay playbook Holmgren helped create. Expect the Hawks to be aggressive this year in taking hard looks at young players without too much of a concern on wins and losses. Tavaris (actually I think Leinart will end up getting more snaps) will keep things exciting. But the real objective is to land Luck or Matt Barkely next year and be competing for a ring in 2014. Rebuilding the right way takes time. Paul Allen knows it from his experience with Holmgren. Seattle fans are in for a play-off drought, but we will savvy fans will see the pieces coming together and enjoy the ride back to the top of the NFC, which I predict will be one of the NFLs most competitive divisions in the next few years with St. Louis, San Fran and even Arizona experiencing a youth movement. Onward!
Leinart signed with Houston.
It is sad to see Mat go, but this day was coming and better sooner then later. Sure he is better than either Whitehurst or Jackson, but the truth is that the Seahawks were not going to the Super Bowl this year with or without him. Last season was a fluke.
Let the rebuilding begin in earnest and be thankful that we don’t have to watch Hasselback suffer through it.
Thanks for sharing article. I like to see new Seahawks QB..thanks for post..
Hass was such a class act! We were lucky to have him & he played a major role in legitimzing the Seahawks.
He was smart, well spoken & always quick w a joke. He even had the decency to lead his former teamates in a workout last week when he knew he wouldn’t be part of the club. I wish him all the best & will have to take an interest in the Titans now w Matt & Jake. Perfect for Jake!
come on,
before the start of last year, nobody would have predicted how Mike Williams would play. I love that he ended up being such a great receiver for us, but here it is, not even a game officially played, and its all about TJ being a weak link?
The Media is all about the bandwagon but you will end eating those words.
Thanks, Art—you just outdid yourself. Terrific writing, witty, biting, and insightful. Don’t share, however, your harsh views of Holmgren–can’t you see the halo over his head!
Raise your hand if you think the Heisman is the most biased, overrated and inconsequential trophy awarded in college football. The whole process reminds me of the academy awards where the studios actively campaign behind the scenes and in the press for their own movies and artists to win Oscars. With the Heisman, it’s the universities that get down and dirty, campaigning for their star athletes. Remember how silly the UW looked last year, promoting a not ready for prime time Jake Locker?
Do we really want the Husky Athletic Department getting involved in that tacky mess again? Please, just ignore the ‘hype man trophy’ and let Price do his thing unfettered.
The Miami win was my favorite in part because of the 58 game win streak ending but also as I recollect a Miami head coach Dennis-something stated ” the loser of this game should consider the winner the national champion” or words to that effect relating to the shared national title.
This is just journalistic pessimism! Washington was part of the PAC 8 hinterland until Don James brought the program to something approaching parody with the Southern California Schools in 1978. So I’m not going to let the record, and all this negative talk harsh my buzz for this Saturday’s match-up. It’s going to be a proving ground for both teams. Unfortunately, I don’t see us prevailing in the trenches on either side of the ball. But ya know, that football is a funny shape, and it doesn’t bounce in any predictable way. Same can be said for college kids, and that’s why it’s a great game!