After opening the conference season 4-0, the Huskies are lost. Washington Sunday dropped its sixth game in its past seven, a 71-60 defeat to USC in the Galen Center, falling behind by 19 in the first half before coming as close as six points in the final minutes.
An abysmal crowd of 4,200, shrunk partly because the Trojans’ 11-13, 6-5 mediocrity, and partly because the Grammy Awards were underway down the street, had something to celebrate.
Washington (13-11, 5-6) was down 18-6 five minutes into the game. The first-half deficit ballooned to 19 with just over five minutes remaining before the Huskies whittled the gap to 11 at the half.
Behind the 16 second-half points Scott Suggs, held scoreless in the first half, Washington pulled within five with three minutes left. The Trojans’ Eric Wise (12 points) responded with a three-point play the hard way to end Washington’s 7-2 run.
Abdul Gaddy (12 points, 6-11 shooting) continued to be a scoring option for the Huskies but his four turnovers to only four assists limited the point guard’s effectiveness. Aziz N’Diaye (10 points, 12 rebounds) finished with his fourth consecutive double-double, but was 2-9 from the free throw line. The Huskies were 4-14 as a team.
Suggs’ jumper with two minutes left drew the Huskies within six. Wise then missed a jump shot, giving the Huskies the ball with a minute and a half left. But Washington turned the ball over its next three possessions.
After averaging 11.8 points per contest in his last four games en route to earning significantly more playing time, Shawn Kemp Jr. (sux points) was not an offensive weapon and struggled defensively, fouling out with three minutes remaining.
The loss came on the heels of a 59-57 loss to UCLA Thursday night, making for the fourth time in the past seven years the Huskies have been swept by the Los Angeles schools.
3 Comments
It’s pretty clear Romar has plateaued. Scott Woodward cannot be pleased with this team and where the program is and is going.
Romar has achieved what he has, bringing a perennial losing program to one that has winning seasons, which has in itself been a big change.
Yet, there is no consistent NCAA sweet 16 tradition in Romar’s future. It’s time to go to “the next level” for Woodward to bring in the coach who can accomplish this.
Disagree that it’s time for Coach Romar to go. Before he came in neither Andy Russo, Lynn Nance or Bob Bender could do what Lorenzo has done and that’s win consistently. Coach Romar has had only one losing season and was his first one. The team finished 10-17 after going 11-18 the season before. If anything, fans have been a bit spoiled during the Romar era.
That being said, this team has played their conference games close albeit at times sloppy. They could easily be undefeated in conference play and ranked in the top 5 if they opened the season better than they did. All schools will have a down year or two and that’s where they are right now. Even schools like North Carolina, Duke and Florida have had them. If anything puts a sense of urgency on the program it’s that a school on the opposite end of the state is ranked at #3 in the nation right now. And they lose N’Diaye to graduation with no center ready to take his place. It’s like the message that Coach Romar is preaching is not getting thru to the current crop of players. That might be simply a lack of maturity.
All we have to do is compare the Huskies record to that of Gonzaga, as to what can be accomplished. After 11 seasons it’s just not working with Romar.