Takeaway
They hung with No. 23 Arizona all the way to the end in front of a raucous 9,266 Saturday, but the Washington Huskies came up short against the senior-laden Wildcats, 77-72 (box). Arizona’s Ryan Anderson rampaged his way to a double-double with 22 points and 15 rebounds, eight on the offensive end.
Essential moment
Leading 75-72 with 0:31 to play, the Wildcats’ Gabe York brought the ball to the baseline and put up a long jumper, which hit the iron and fell into the paint. Despite being surrounded by four Huskies, Anderson secured the rebound, drawing a shooting foul from Marquese Chriss. Anderson sank both free throws.
Huskies (15-8, 7-4 Pac-12)
Andrew Andrews recovered from a quiet first half (six points, 1-of-4 from the field) to finish with 20 points. Chriss played 35 minutes, scoring 18 and grabbing seven rebounds before he fouled out in the final minute.
Matisse Thybulle had a career high six steals and 11 points along with three blocks in 34 minutes. As a team, the Huskies finished with 10 blocks and 13 steals, forcing 20 turnovers from Arizona.
Dejounte Murray and Malik Dime scored 11 and 10, respectively.
Wildcats (19-5, 7-4 Pac-12)
Anderson’s 22 was built on the back of a 10-of-11 performance from the charity stripe. Gabe York finished with 18 points, going 7-of-21 from the field.
The Wildcats out-rebounded the Huskies 43-29, including a 17-8 on offense. Arizona scored 21 second-chance points against Washington’s 6.
Words
“I don’t think we let (the fans) down. We delivered; we played a completely different game than the first time . . . only thing was keeping them off the glass. But we had 20 turnovers, we had 13 steals.” – Senior guard Andrew Andrews on the frustration of losing a close game in front of the season’s largest crowd.
Next
The Huskies travel to Salt Lake City to play Utah (17-6, 6-4 Pac-12) Wednesday at 6 p.m. PT. The Huskies lost in overtime to the Utes, 80-75, in the home game Jan. 24.
