Ross, technical foul propel Huskies to win over Cougs

Could a technical foul have actually saved the Washington Huskies’ season and kept their NCAA tournament hopes alive?

It’s possible.

One thing if for certain, a technical foul and Terrence Ross’ best game of the season saved the Huskies on Sunday at Alaska Airlines Arena in their 75-65 win over Washington State.

Ross scored a career-high 30 points, including 26 in the second half, and pulled down 14 rebounds to lead a Husky team that was without shooting guard C.J. Wilcox, who was out with a hip injury.

“Before the game, the coaches said, ‘we really need you tonight,’” Ross said.

And he responded.

But it was the technical foul that was the turning point.

With his team in danger of being beaten at home by the Cougars for the second year in a row, Huskies head coach Lorenzo Romar threw a minor tantrum following a charging call on Terrence Ross.

“I never lose my composure,” Romar deadpanned in the postgame press conference.

The outburst was probably a six on the 1-10 Romar anger scale. But it was enough of a display for referee Mike Reed to whistle him for a technical foul.

“Sometimes you just have to defend your team when your team is out there playing hard and playing right,” Romar said.

WSU’s Faisal Aden made both free throws and the Cougars led 47-37 with just over 12 minutes left to play in the game.

But those two points were a small price to pay.

The technical got the sell-out crowd, which had previously been lethargic for the first half - perhaps from the snow-covered commute – coming screaming to life with anger and vitriol.

“That’s the first time this year I’ve heard our crowd like that,” Romar said. “When our crowd gets like that, it’s an unbelievable feeling.”

The technical put a basketball-sized chip on the Huskies shoulder and just made them angry.

“It seemed like the refs were against us,” said senior Darnell Gant. “When we face adversity like that, I had to get my guys together and rally them up and say, it’s eight against five right now and we have to do whatever to get this win.”

Embittered by the sense that the basketball world was conspiring against them and livid fans egging them on, the Huskies channeled that anger into a 15-2 run following the technical. That run grew into a 26-6 run and later to 38-18 to end the game.

“The technical inspired the team, inspired the crowd,” Washington State head coach Ken Bone said. “They rose to the occasion.”

That run featured an 18-minute display of why Husky fans have begged and pleaded for Ross to be more assertive offensively.

Ross scored 26 points in that span, showing off a variety of moves that could be labeled anywhere from “great” to “ridiculous.”

After Gant gave the Huskies their first lead since the first half on back-to-back dunks, Ross stretched the lead. He hit three 3-pointers during a three-minute stretch. The last of them came as the shot clock was winding down and he actually dribbled from the middle of the key out to the 3-point line and shot a turnaround 3-pointer that never hit an ounce of rim as it went through.

“Those types of shots are shots he is capable of making,” Romar said giggling. “They are not good shots. But when he’s on like that, they are good shots for him. It’s one of those things where you tell you’re children, ‘watch that, but don’t try to do what he just did.’”

If that wasn’t enough, on Washington’s next possession, Abdul Gaddy threw a lob to Ross, who contorted his body and threw down a great dunk while drawing a foul on Marcus Capers. He made the free-throw to complete the 3-point play. Yet another play for his season-long highlight reel.

“We weren’t surprised what he did today,” said freshman Tony Wroten. “In practice, he does it all the time. It was shocking to you all. But in practice he does it all the time. He just torches defenders.”

With Wilcox out, Ross knew he had to do more offensively. And even when he went 1-for-9 from the field in the first half, he still knew he couldn’t start being passive.

“The coaches kept telling me to just stay aggressive and I really took that into thought in the second half,” he said. “The first half really didn’t go my way, but I just had to keep pushing.”

But the charging foul that led to Romar’s technical also flip a switch inside of the mild-mannered Ross.

“It really made me angry,” Ross said. “Right after that, they called the technical and it just added fuel to the fire. I just knew that I had to contribute.”

It was a little out of character for Ross.

“I try to keep my composure no matter what, but I know that sometimes when I get angry I can really start balling.”

Washington looked a little sluggish against Washington State’s 2-3 zone in the first half, shooting just 9-of-31 from the field in the first half. In the second half, Romar put Wroten at the high post, and his presence and threat of driving to the basket opened everything up. Wroten scored 13 points and had four assists. Gant finished with 13 points and eight rebounds and Aziz N’Diaye added 12 points and eight rebounds. Washington outrebounded WSU 46-24. UW had 22 offensive rebounds.

“They just crushed us on the offensive glass,” Bone said. “I’m concerned about that every game no matter who we play. Tonight it got us.”

Faisal Aden led the Cougs with 18 points of the bench. Brock Motum added 17 points.

DaVonte Lacy added 10.

Ryan Divish: 253-597-8483 ryan.divish@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/uwsports