GAME: Washington State (13-18 overall, 4-14 Pac-12) vs. Washington (17-14 overall, 9-9 Pac-12). WHEN: Wednesday, 8:36 p.m., MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas. TYPE: Pac-12 Tournament. MEETING: 277th (Washington leads 176-100). STREAKS: UW L 1; Washington State W 2. RANKINGS: Neither school ranked. COACHES: Ken Bone, WSU; Lorenzo Romar, Washington. TV: Pac-12 Networks. RADIO: KJR 950 AM
Sixth-seeded Washington and No. 11 Washington State draw each other for the third time this season Wednesday night, this time to finish off the first day of the Pac-12 Tournament. The Huskies swept the Cougars during the regular season, but won the pair by only a combined nine points.
Washington has won five in a row from the Cougars and nine of the past 11, but the Cougars are coming off impressive back-to-back wins over UCLA and USC while the Huskies coughed up 19 turnovers, giving the Bruins nearly half their points in a 61-54 win last Saturday.
UW coach Lorenzo Romar used his weekly pulpit Monday to advise that the WSU team that the Huskies swept is not the one they will face.
“Our challenge is to understand that the team that we defeated twice this year is not the same one we saw a couple of weeks ago,” Romar said. “They have been playing very efficient basketball recently and they even turned it up more in the last two games. So we better be ready to play.”
As a reminder of what can happen, Romar recalled that last year Washington swept Oregon State during the regular season — 95-80 and 75-72 — only to lose 86-84 to the Beavers in the first round, a defeat that went a long way toward Washington becoming the first regular-season conference champion to fail to receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Washington’s main task Wednesday night will be slowing Brock Motum, who had 33 points combined in Washington State’s two losses to UW. Motum, a first-team All-Pac-12 selection, had 20 points and 11 rebounds in the Cougars’ 73-61 win over UCLA and 31 points and 10 rebounds in a 76-51 rout of USC.
“He’s just been very, very aggressive offensively, especially lately,” Romar said. “They have several guys who can knock down 3-pointers and they were all clicking at the same time over the last two games.”
Unlike Washington’s leading scorer, C.J. Wilcox, whose game largely went south over the second half of the season. When the Pac-12 campaign reached the halfway point, Wilcox was averaging 19.5 points per game. Wilcox, who had 23 points the last time Washington faced WSU (March 3), finished at 16.8 after going 3-for-13 with eight points Saturday.
“I just wonder if he isn’t worn out a little bit, that could be an issue,” said Romar. “We ask him to do a lot of things in a lot of minutes. It’s not that he’s thrown up a lot of bricks. He’s been close (two late 3-pointers against UCLA went in and out). Obviously, this would be a great time for him to have a breakout and get in the zone.”
Washington finished the regular season with a 7-10 record against the RPI Top 100, which included a 3-9 record against the RPI Top 50 and a 0-6 mark against AP ranked teams. While the Huskies, who have lost 10 in a row to ranked teams, had three quality wins, including RPI #27 Colorado, RPI #41 California, and AP #18 Saint Louis, they also had four bad losses, to RPI #186 Oregon State, RPI #182 Utah, RPI #158 Nevada, and RPI #168 Albany.
Stat Sheet.com projects the Huskies as a College Basketball Invitational team.
SERIES: Dates to Feb. 16, 1910, when Washington won 13-9 in Seattle. Washington is 100-35 at home against WSU, 73-62 away and 2-3 at neutral sites. The Huskies have won nine of the last 11 meetings, including five in a row. In the last meeting, March 3 in Seattle, Scott Suggs hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer with four minutes remaining and finished with 23 points in leading Washington to a 72-68 victory. Brock Motum and Royce Woolridge led WSU with 18 points each.
CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT: Teams have met twice, WSU winning 74-64 in the quarterfinals March 8, 2007, the Huskies prevailing 89-87 March 10, 2011, also in the quarterfinals. In WSU’s victory, Taylor Rochestie scored 20 points, including 11 in the final six minutes, to give the Tony Bennett-coached Cougars their 25th win of the season. Quincy Pondexter led the Huskies with 15 points. In Washington’s victory, Isaiah Thomas scored 21 points, added 11 assists and rallied UW from a 13-point deficit.
UW STATS / NOTES
- SEASON SUMMARY: Record: 17-14. Home: 11-7. Road: 5-6. Neutral: 1-1. Vs. Pac-12: 9-9. Vs. Pac-12 North: 5-4. Vs. Pac-12 South: 4-5. Vs. Non-Conference: 8-5. Points: 2089 (67.4). Field Goal Pct.: 43.4. 3-Pt. FG Pct.: 33.2. Free Throw Pct.: 67.9. Rebounds: 1134 (36.6). Assists: 362 (11.7). Turnovers: 413 (13.3). Steals: 158 (5.1). Blocks: 127 (4.1). Points Against: 2053 (66.2). Opp. FG Pct.: 43.1. Opp. 3-Pt. FG Pct.: 33.7. Opp FT Pct.: 67.1. Opp. Rebounds: 1134 (32.2). Opp. Assists: 375 (12.1). Opp. Turnovers: 383 (12.4). Opp. Steals: 191 (6.2). Opp. Blocks: 91 (2.9). Ratings Percentage Index (RPI): Ranked 89th (84th last week).
- PAC-12 RANKINGS: Scoring Offense — 9th (67.4). Scoring Defense — 9th (66.2). Scoring Margin — 11th (+1.2). FG Pct. — 9th (43.4). FT Pct. — 10th (67.9). 3-Pt FG Pct. — 10th (33.2). Rebound Margin — 3rd (+4.4). Blocked Shots — 5th (4.1). Assists — 11th (11.7). Steals — 11th (5.1). Turnover Margin — 9th (-0.97).
- C.J. Wilcox (16.8) ranks 6th in Pac-12 scoring, Scott Suggs (12.0) 18th and Abdul Gaddy (10.9) T29. Wilcox is 3ard with 2.12 3-pointers per game and Suggs is 11th in 3-point percentage at .37.6.
- Wilcox has scored 20+ points 13 times this season to match the ninth-most in UW single-season history.
- Wilcox is the 37th player in UW history to score 1,000 career points.
- Wilcox, who has scored 20+ points 13 times this season, was named Pac-12 Player of the Week Jan. 14 after scoring 19 and 27 points, respectively, in road wins over California and Stanford.
- Senior Aziz N’Diaye ranks 4th in rebounding at 9.3 per game. N’Diaye also ranks 2nd in offensive rebounds (3.4) and 4th (57.1) in field goal percentage. He leads the Pac-12 with 11 double-doubles.
- Scott Suggs has averaged 17.8 points over his past four games, hitting 13 3-pointers. In his previous seven games, he was 4-for-21.
- 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 41-27 and won 74-66.
- Former Washington guard Nate Robinson will be inducted into the Pac-12’s Hall of Honor Saturday in Las Vegas.
UW HEAD COACH: Lorenzo Romar (328-214 overall, 235-124 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 | 31 | 41.9 | 35.3 | 80.4 | 4.5 | 2.0 | 16.8 |
| Scott Suggs | 28 | 42.3 | 37.6 | 87.3 | 2.2 | 1.4 | 12.0 |
| Abdul Gaddy | 31 | 44.2 | 32.8 | 65.6 | 3.2 | 4.3 | 10.9 |
| Aziz N’Diaye | 31 | 57.1 | 0.00 | 42.4 | 9.3 | 0.3 | 9.2 |
| Andrew Andrews | 28 | 35.5 | 23.1 | 76.7 | 2.9 | 2.4 | 7.7 |
| Shawn Kemp | 24 | 51.7 | 0.00 | 63.2 | 2.7 | 0.2 | 6.0 |
| Desmond Simmons | 31 | 36.7 | 35.3 | 67.6 | 6.8 | 0.9 | 4.8 |
| Jenard Jarreau | 28 | 40.7 | 0.00 | 74.3 | 2.8 | 0.3 | 3.3 |
| D. Overstreet | 3 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.000 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| Hikeem Stewart | 16 | 23.1 | 0.00 | 66.7 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.5 |
| Martin Breunig | 9 | 2.50 | 0.00 | 50.0 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Q. Sterling | 3 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Total | 31 | 43.4 | 33.2 | 67.9 | 36.6 | 11.7 | 67.4 |
| Opponents | 31 | 43.1 | 33.7 | 67.1 | 32.2 | 12.1 | 66.2 |
WSU NOTES: Washington State ranks 11th in the conference in scoring offense (64.5), 2nd in scoring defense (62.9), 9th in scoring margin (+1.5), 11th in field goal percentage (42.6), 8th in free throw percentage (68.6), 6th in 3-point percentage (34.6), 12th in rebounds (33.7), 12th in blocked shots (2.5) and 12th in steals (4.5) Head coach Ken Bone is 2-10 all-time against Washington . . . The Cougars are 5-13 all-time in the conference tournament . . . Former Cougar Klay Thompson holds the conference tournament’s single-game scoring record, 43 points against Washington in 2011 . . . WSU’s No. 11 seeding marks its lowest seeding in the conference tournament . . . Brock Motum has scored at least 11 points in all 31 games this season . . . Five of Washington State’s loses have come by two points or less, including two overtime losses.
WSU HEAD COACH: After two straight postseason appearances, including the semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in 2010-11 and the championship round of the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) in 2011-12, Ken Bone is in his fourth season as head coach of the Cougars. Bone was named the 17th head coach in Cougar basketball history April 6, 2009. He spent the previous four years resurrecting the program at Portland State where he led the Vikings to NCAA Tournament appearances his final two seasons. Bone served as head coach at Seattle Pacific from 1990-02 and worked as a UW assistant from 2002-05.
COMING UP: Winner plays Oregon in the second round Thursday at approximately 8:38 p.m,, televised on ESPNU. The Ducks swept the Huskies and Cougars during the regular season.
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 | — | — | L | 76-73 | 4-4 |
| 12/13/12 | at Seattle U. | — | — | W | 87-74 | 5-4 |
| 12/15/12 | vs. Jackson St. | — | — | W | 75-67 | 6-4 |
| 12/20/12 | vs. Cal Poly | — | — | W | 75-62 | 7-4 |
| 12/22/12 | vs. N. Illinois | — | — | W | 67-57 | 8-4 |
| 12/29/12 | at Connecticut | — | — | L | 61-53 | 8-5 |
| 1/5/13 | at WSU | — | — | W | 68-63 | 9-5 |
| 1/9/13 | at California | — | — | W | 62-47 | 10-5 |
| 1/12/13 | at Stanford | — | — | W | 65-60 | 11-5 |
| 1/16/13 | vs. Colorado | — | — | W | 65-54 | 12-5 |
| 1/19/13 | vs. Utah | — | — | L | 74-65 | 12-6 |
| 1/23/13 | at Oregon St. | — | — | L | 74-66 | 12-7 |
| 1/26/13 | at Oregon | — | 16 | L | 81-76 | 12-8 |
| 1/31/13 | vs. Arizona | — | 8 | L | 57-53 | 12-9 |
| 2/2/13 | vs. ASU | — | — | W | 96-92 | 13-9 |
| 2/7/13 | at UCLA | — | — | L | 59-57 | 13-10 |
| 2/10/13 | at USC | — | — | L | 71-60 | 13-11 |
| 2/13/13 | vs. Oregon | — | 23 | L | 65-52 | 13-12 |
| 2/16/13 | vs. Oregon St. | — | — | W | 72-62 | 14-12 |
| 2/20/13 | at Arizona | — | 12 | L | 70-52 | 14-13 |
| 2/23/13 | at ASU | — | — | W | 68-59 | 15-13 |
| 3/3/13 | vs. WSU | — | — | W | 72-68 | 16-13 |
| 3/6/13 | vs. USC | — | — | W | 65-57 | 17-13 |
| 3/9/13 | vs. UCLA | — | 23 | L | 61-54 | 17-14 |
| 3/13/13 | ^Vs. WSU | — | — | — | — | — |
| 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
