GAME: Nevada (4-4 overall, 0-0 Mountain West) at Washington (4-3 overall, 0-0, Pac-12). WHEN: Saturday, 4 p.m., Alaska Airlines Arena. TYPE: Non-conference. MEETING: 9th (Washington leads 6-2). STREAKS: UW W 2; Nevada L 2. RANKINGS: Neither ranked. COACHES: David Carter, Nevada; Lorenzo Romar, Washington. TV: Pac-12 Networks. RADIO: KJR 950 AM
Although the Washington Huskies won the Pac-12’s 2012 regular-season championship, they failed to make the NCAA Tournament for many reasons, including a first-round loss to Oregon State in the conference tournament, a 92-73 embarrassment at home to South Dakota State, and a 76-73 overtime loss at Nevada.
The Huskies kicked away that Nevada game after holding a 70-66 lead with two minutes to play with a multitude of gaffes. UW allowed sophomore Deonte Burton to score six consecutive points, including an uncontested 3-pointer, for a 72-70 lead, and then the Huskies failed to foul as instructed on the final defensive stand of regulation. In UW’s final possession of overtime, Darnell Gant had a 3-pointer blocked.
Washington will see Burton, who drilled the Huskies for 31 points, again late Saturday afternoon.
The teams have one common opponent. Washington defeated Cal-State Fullerton 74-72 while Nevada handled the Titans 80-70.
Nevada, coming off a 78-72 overtime loss to Pacific in Stockton, CA., is led by 6-foot-1 junior guard Burton, who averages 18.9 points, and 6-foot-5 guard Malik Story, who averages 16.9. Cole Huff, a 6-foot-8 forward, is Nevada’s leading rebounder (5.4). Burton had a 28-point game against Marshall Nov. 24, a 25-point effort against Pacific Tuesday, and Story a 25-point night against Southern Utah Nov. 18.
Burton, the 2012 Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year and an Associated Press honorable mention All-America selection, and Story are 1,000-point scorers. Burton got his 1,000th career point Nov. 17 against Green Bay and Story crossed 1,000 points less than 24 hours later against Southern Utah Nov. 18.
The Mountain West selected Burton its co-Player of the Week for Nov. 19 after he averaged 17.3 points and leading Nevada to the World Vision title.
Washington has won two in a row, narrowly, and is hoping that Shawn Kemp Jr., will be able to play against the Wolf Pack. Kemp missed UW’s first seven games after tearing the patella tendon in his knee during the preseason. UW may not know until game time if Kemp will be available.
The status of senior guard Scott Suggs is also day-to-day.
SERIES: Dates to March 16, 1984, when Washington defeated Nevada 64-54 in the NCAA Tournament’s West Regionals in Pullman, in which Detlef Schrempf led the Huskies with 23 points. Washington has won three of the past four, but Nevada won last year 76-73 in overtime, in large part because the Huskies committed 21 turnovers.
UW STATS / NOTES
- SEASON SUMMARY: Record: 4-3. Home: 3-2. Road: 0-0. Neutral: 1-1. Vs. Pac-12: 0-0. Vs. Pac-12 North: 0-0. Vs. Pac-12 South: 0-0. Vs. Non-Conference: 4-3. Points: 492 (70.3). Field Goal Pct.: 47.0. 3-Pt. FG Pct.: 39.6. Free Throw Pct.: 67.5. Rebounds: 236 (33.7). Assists: 76 (10.9). Turnovers: 89 (12.7). Steals: 23 (3.3). Blocks: 27 (3.3). Points Against: 482 (68.9). Opp. FG Pct.: 43.0. Opp. 3-Pt. FG Pct.: 37.6. Opp FT Pct.: 61.5. Opp. Rebounds: 239 (34.1) : Opp. Assists: 93 (13.3). Opp. Turnovers: 84 (12.0). Opp. Steals: 43 (6.1). Opp. Blocks: 23 (3.3). Ratings Percentage Index (RPI): Ranked 28th.
- PAC-12 RANKINGS: Scoring Offense — 9th (70.3). Scoring Defense — 11th (68.9). Scoring Margin –11th (+1.4). FG Pct. — 5th (47.0). FT Pct. — 10th (67.5). 3-Pt FG Pct. — 3rd (39.6). Rebound Margin — 12th (-0.4). Blocked Shots — 10th (3.9). Assists — 11th (10.9). Steals — 12th (3.3). Turnover Margin — 8th (-0.71).
- C.J. Wilcox (19.7) ranks 2nd in Pac-12 scoring and Abdul Gaddy is T14 at 14.0. Wilcox also makes 2.4 3-pointers per game, T2. Wilcox ranks 12th in 3-point percentage at 41.5.
- Wilcox ranks 5th in free throw percentage (88.2) and Desmond Simmons ranks 9th (80.8). Wilcox has scored 76 points over his last three games and has reached 20-plus in three-straight for the first time in his career.
- Senior Aziz N’Diaye ranks 3rd in rebounding at 9.6 per game. N’Diaye, who also ranks T3 in offensive rebounds (3.1), is 2nd in field-goal percentage (65.9) and T11 in blocked shots (1.3).
- Washington’s 14-point halftime rally vs. Cal-State Fullerton was the team’s largest comeback at the half since Dec. 29, 2007 at LSU. The Huskies trailed in that game 41-27 and won 74-65.
- The 18 rebounds by Desmond Simmons against Fullerton were the most by a Husky since Jon Brockman pulled down 18 March 21, 2009 vs. Purdue in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
- Washington has finished first in conference rebounding for four straight years and has first or second in each of the last eight. So far, UW is last in the Pac-12 in rebounding at 33.7 per game, the school’s lowest average since 1995.
UW HEAD COACH: Lorenzo Romar (316-204 overall, 223-116 UW) is coming off a year in which the Huskies won the Pac-12 regular-season title. Romar has taken the Huskies to the NCAA Tournament six times and won three Pac-10 Tournament titles (2005, 2010, 2011). Romar, who signed a 10-year contract extension in April 2011, won his his 200th game at Washington Dec. 16, 2011. He had his 300th career victory and his 100th as a conference coach on Jan. 21, 2012. Romar was selected the Pac-12 Coach of the Year for the third time in his career.
Romar played for the Huskies under head coach Marv Harshman during the 1979-80 seasons (served as team captain his senior year), and had a five-year NBA career with Golden State (1981-84), Milwaukee (1984) and Detroit (1984-85). He became a college head coach at Pepperdine in 1997, where he coached for three seasons, then spent three years (1999-02) at St. Louis University before taking the Washington job in 2002-03.
2012-13 Washington Statistics
| Player | G | FG% | 3FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C.J. Wilcox | 7 | 48.6 | 41.5 | 88.2 | 3.9 | 1.3 | 19.7 |
| Abdul Gaddy | 7 | 45.3 | 40.0 | 69.0 | 2.4 | 3.3 | 14.0 |
| Aziz N’Diaye | 7 | 65.9 | 0.00 | 48.9 | 9.6 | 0.4 | 11.4 |
| Scott Suggs | 4 | 51.6 | 57.1 | 50.0 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 10.3 |
| Desmond Simmons | 7 | 50.0 | 1.000 | 80.8 | 7.4 | 0.9 | 7.1 |
| Andrew Andrews | 7 | 24.4 | 22.2 | 71.4 | 1.1 | 3.3 | 7.0 |
| Jernard Jarreau | 7 | 50.0 | 0.00 | 62.5 | 1.1 | 3.3 | 4.7 |
| Hikeem Stewart | 5 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.000 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Martin Breunig | 4 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 50.0 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Q. Sterling | 1 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| D. Overstreet | 1 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Total | 7 | 47.0 | 39.6 | 67.5 | 33.7 | 10.9 | 70.3 |
| Opponents | 7 | 43.0 | 37.6 | 61.5 | 34.1 | 13.3 | 68.9 |
NEVADA NOTES: The Wolf Pack defeated Cal-State Fullerton (80-70), Green Bay (71-69), Southern Utah (79-61) and UC Davis (84-83); and lost to UC Irvine (80-70), Marshall (89-82), Drake (76-66) and Pacific (78-72 OT) . . . Last year, Nevada went 28-7 overall and 13-1 in the Western Athletic Conference . . . After competing in the WAC for a dozen years, Nevada is playing in the Mountain West this season . . . Media picked the Wolf Pack to finish fifth in the conference race . . . Nevada went 3-0 to win the World Vision Classic Nov. 16-18. In the title game, Nevada defeated Southern Utah 79-61.
NEVADA COACH: After leading Nevada to one its most successful seasons in school history last year, David Carter returns for his fourth campaign as head coach. Carter was the 2012 Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year and received a five-year contract extension that runs through June 2017. Carter led the Wolf Pack to a 28-7 record and its sixth WAC regular season championship with a 13-1 mark. It was the fourth outright WAC title for Nevada.
COMING UP: The Huskies have their annual showdown against Seattle University Dec. 13 at KeyArena, then play three games at Alaska Airlines Arena before heading back to Connecticut to face UConn.
University of Washington 2012-13 Schedule
(Rankings From Associated Press)
| Date | Opponent | UW Rnk | Opp Rnk | W/L | Score | Rec. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11/11/12 | @vs. W. Washington | — | — | W | 88-78 | 0-0 |
| 11/11/12 | *vs. Loyola-MD. | — | — | W | 85-63 | 1-0 |
| 11/13/12 | *vs. Albany | — | — | L | 63-62 | 1-1 |
| 11/17/12 | *vs. Seton Hall | — | — | W | 84-73 | 2-1 |
| 11/18/12 | *vs. Ohio St. | — | 4 | L | 77-66 | 2-2 |
| 11/24/12 | vs. Colo. St. | — | — | L | 73-55 | 2-3 |
| 11/28/12 | vs. Saint Louis | — | — | W | 66-61 | 3-3 |
| 12/2/12 | vs. Cal-Fuller. | — | — | W | 74-72 | 4-3 |
| 12/8/12 | vs. Nevada | — | — | — | — | — |
| 12/13/12 | at Seattle U. | — | — | — | — | — |
| 12/15/12 | vs. Jackson St. | — | — | — | — | — |
| 12/20/12 | vs. Cal Poly | — | — | — | — | — |
| 12/22/12 | vs. N. Illinois | — | — | — | — | — |
| 12/29/12 | at Connecticut | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1/5/13 | at WSU | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1/9/13 | at California | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1/16/13 | vs. Colorado | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1/19/13 | vs. Utah | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1/23/13 | at Oregon St. | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1/26/13 | at Oregon | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1/31/13 | vs. Arizona | — | 8 | — | — | — |
| 2/2/13 | vs. ASU | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/7/13 | at UCLA | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/10/13 | at USC | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/13/13 | vs. Oregon | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/16/13 | vs. Oregon St. | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/20/13 | at Arizona | — | 8 | — | — | — |
| 2/23/13 | at ASU | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/3/13 | vs. WSU | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/6/13 | vs. USC | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/9/13 | vs. UCLA | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/13/13 | ^First Round | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/14/13 | ^Quarterfinal | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/15/13 | ^Semifinal | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/16/13 | ^Championship | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/19/13 | #1st Four | — | — | — | — | |
| 3/21/13 | #2nd-3rd Rnds. | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/28/13 | #Regionals | — | — | — | — | — |
| 4/6/13 | #Final 4 Semi | — | — | — | — | — |
| 4/8/13 | #Final 4 Champ. | — | — | — | — | — |
@=Exhibition; *=Hall of Fame Classic; ^=Pac-12 Tournament; #=NCAA Tournament