Could a technical foul have saved the Washington Huskies’ season?
It’s possible.
One thing is for certain, a technical foul and Terrence Ross’ best game of the season saved the Huskies on Sunday at Alaska Airlines Arena in a 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 Huskies team that was without shooting guard C.J. Wilcox, who was nursing a hip injury.
“Before the game, the coaches said, ‘We really need you tonight,’” Ross said.
And he responded.
But the technical foul 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 coach Lorenzo Romar threw a minor tantrum following a charging call on Ross.
“I never lose my composure,” Romar deadpanned afterward.
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.
“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 in the game.
But those two points were a small price to pay. The technical brought the sell-out crowd to life.
“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-size chip on the Huskies shoulders.
“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.”
The Huskies (11-6, 4-1 Pacific-12 Conference) channeled that anger into a 15-2 run. That run grew to 26-6, and later to 38-18 to end the game.
“The technical inspired the team, inspired the crowd,” Washington State coach Ken Bone said. “They rose to the occasion.”
Ross scored 13 points after the call, showing off a variety of moves.
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 dribbled from the middle of the key out to the 3-point line and shot a turnaround that never hit an ounce of rim.
“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.’”
On Washington’s next possession, Abdul Gaddy threw a lob to Ross, who contorted his body and threw down a dunk while drawing a foul on Marcus Capers. He made the free-throw to complete the 3-point play.
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 be passive.
“The coaches kept telling me to just stay aggressive and I really took that into thought in the second half,” he said.
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 second half, Romar put freshman Tony Wroten at the high post, and the threat of him driving to the basket opened things 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.”
Aden led the Cougars (9-8, 1-4) with 18 points off the bench. Brock Motum added 17 points. Curtis grad DaVonte Lacy added 10.
Ryan Divish: 253-597-8483 ryan.divish@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/uwsports
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