Lacking a marquee victory this season and desperate for late-season momentum, the Huskies had nothing going Wednesday night, whiffing against the 23rd-ranked Oregon Ducks at home in a 65-52 loss. It is the first time first time since the 1995 the Ducks swept the regular season series with Washington.
“We can’t fall on our face any more,” Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar said Tuesday. But fall on their faces they did.
Washington (13-12, 5-7) has dropped seven of its last eight contests. The poor home effort came after a players-only meeting spearheaded by senior guard Abdul Gaddy. Whatever Gaddy said, it didn’t work.
The Huskies shot miserably including missing 11 of 13 three-point attempts and 39 of 60 overall.
In Gaddy’s defense, the senior led all scorers (17 points)m hitting eight of 15 shots along with five assists and two turnovers. He was the only Husky in double figures.
C.J. Wilcox (nine points) was a non-factor, missing 12 of 15 shot attempts. Wilcox was well below his home scoring average of 19.5.
The Ducks (20-5, 9-3) have won two consecutive after dropping three straight to Stanford, California and Colorado. The win gave Oregon a half-game lead for first place in the Pac-12 over Arizona and UCLA – both of whom play Thursday.
More than six minutes into the game, Washington had six points but trailed by a manageable eight. The Huskies temporarily found some rhythm on offense, Gaddy hitting a layup at the 8:52 mark for a 15-14 advantage, the lone lead of the game.
Oregon responded with a 14-5 run to take the lead back for good. The Ducks lead grew to 12 in the middle of the second half before Washington closed the gap to six with less than nine minutes remaining.
The ensuing 10-4 Oregon run sent Washington, any NCAA tourney at-large aspirations, and their fans, home.
Aziz N’Diaye (7 points, 11 rebounds) finished just shy of his fifth straight double-double.
11 Comments
Huck The Fuskies!
Admit it, David — you stole that witty comment from Dorothy Parker. Plagiarism is so not cool!
I thought that was from Winston Churchill.
TO: Scott Woodward – HELP!
Please make a decision on Romar this off-season Scott. It is a decision of more of the same, a .500 to .600 team, or moving on to another coach with the bona fides to take the Huskies to the tournament every year and accomplish something.
Romar has brought the Huskies to this point but seems to have hit his ceiling.
Did he exceed his ceiling last year why winning the regular season Pac-12 title? It’s a weak year for the Huskies, and no coach is going to make UW into a Final Four team any faster than Romar. If anyone ever can.
C’mon Art – The Pac-12 last year was so crumby the Huskies were’t invited to the show as Pac-12 champs! They went to the NIT (what?) and lost to Minnesota (who?) in the semi’s. So at best, they were the 69th best team last year, after the NCAA’s 68 who did make the Show.
I can only point to the success a small town, small enrollment team has had: Gonzaga has been to the tournament EVERY year starting 1999. So the Zag’s coaches seem to “get it”.
Soooo, back to Scott Woodward: Is this record what you signed on to manage for the Huskies? I don’t think so.
Props to the Zags for sure. However playing St. Mary’s, Portland, Loyola Marymount and San Francisco regularly is a lot different than playing UCLA, Arizona, Oregon and Stanford.
Coach Romar is not the problem here. Not when you look at his track record. But the team looked apathetic last night. And on their home court no less. AGAIN. So much for the winningest home court in the NCAA.
If anything, I think Coach Romar should be benching some starters. Definitely Wilcox. If he’s hurt as has been reported he shouldn’t be playing at all. His shooting is just giving the ball to the other team.
Wilcox earlier was being stopped by defenses game-planning for him. Now he’s missing open shots. But there’s no one on the bench any better. He has to regain confidence by shooting his way out.
Please, DO look at his track record. 67% – 219-113. If that’s considered a success then I guess I’m following the wrong team.
Seriously? You don’t consider a 67% winning percentage a success? Did you follow the team under Russo, Nancy and Bender? If you’re saying you want a team on par with Florida, North Carolina and Duke, get in line. So does the rest of the Pac-12. Recruits coming to the West Coast is second to the East Coast. Methinks Husky Nation has been spoiled the past 9 years.