Isaiah Stewart has career night, UW pulls away from Seattle U late
Washington Huskies coach Mike Hopkins warned earlier in the week of the challenge Seattle University could present his young team.
UW’s crosstown rival has a strong coaching staff behind Jim Hayford, and its share of scoring threats like shifty guard Terrell Brown. Plus, those five early-season losses the Redhawks were carrying into Tuesday night’s annual meeting at Hec Edmundson Pavilion were misleading, Hopkins said.
Pair the Redhawks’ solid game plan with with the fact that the No. 22 Huskies hadn’t played in eight days, and a win in their homestand finale didn’t come easy. Seattle U still hasn’t won this matchup since 1978, but this particular meeting hovered around a one-possession difference most of the way, and UW didn’t pull away for an eventual 81-59 victory until the final five minutes.
“They came out scrapping today,” Huskies guard Quade Green said. “Seattle U came out playing today. They didn’t back down from competition, we just out-toughed them late in the game.”
It took nine points from freshman Isaiah Stewart down the stretch for the Huskies (8-2) to finally create some distance. With the Huskies clinging to a four-point lead late in the second half, Stewart ignited a 7-0 run by himself, converting three baskets and free throw to push UW’s lead to 11 with 4:03 to play, capping the run by tipping in a missed jumper.
Seattle U never trimmed the lead closer than three possessions after that, and the Huskies closed the game on a 21-5 run interrupted only by a Aaron Nettles 3-pointer and a pair of late free throws.
Stewart finished 11-of-14 shooting from the floor and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds. It was his second 20-10 double-double in as many games after scoring 21 points and grabbing 10 boards in the loss to Gonzaga last week.
“I feel like all it is is just patience, trusting my teammates, my coaches and not speeding up,” Stewart said of his progression during his first five weeks of college ball. “I know my teammates have my back, and they trust me to catch the pass when they throw it in there.”
“We’ve got to feed him,” Green said. “He’s open. You see what happens. … Just feed him. He’s going to make the right decisions.”
Green (20 points) and freshman Jaden McDaniels (10), a Federal Way product, also finished in double figures for the Huskies, while Nahziah Carter capped a dominant scoring stretch in the final minutes with an alley-oop dunk from Green.
“Seattle U came out and they were playing really, really hard,” Hopkins said. “It felt like our guys just looked a little lethargic on defense and (Seattle U) executed really well. ... It took a long time to kind of get that separation, but then when we did, it was good. We were in control.”
Brown, a Seattle native and Garfield High School and Shoreline Community College product, paced the Redhawks with 21 points on 9-of-22 shooting, and snagged a team-high seven rebounds. Morgan Means added 13 points for Seattle U.
The Huskies led by as many as six points about five minutes into the first half, when Stewart converted a basket under the hoop, and tacked on a free throw, but they never created a substantial margin.
Stewart propped the Huskies with 11 first-half points, but UW endured lengthy scoring droughts and didn’t connect from the field over the final 6:35 of the first half, and committed nine of its 14 turnovers before the break.
Meanwhile, Brown kept maneuvering his way into the paint for Seattle U, pouring in 15 of his 21 points to propel the Redhawks to a 33-32 lead at the half.
The Huskies head to Hawaii this weekend to play in the Diamond Head Classic, and while Hopkins sees progress, there’s still plenty to be made after finishing this homestand 6-1.
“Obviously you want to be undefeated at home, you want to protect the house,” Hopkins said. “But, our biggest focus ... (is) we’ve just got to move forward and try to get better tomorrow. That’s what I told these guys. We’ve just got to focus. We can’t get ahead of ourselves.
“We’ve got the talent. Now we’ve just got to teach better, coach better. They’ve got to work harder. We’ve got to come together.”
This story was originally published December 17, 2019 at 10:06 PM.
