UW leads early, but No. 4 Arizona rallies in a hurry to rout Huskies at home
Saturday afternoon started as well as it could have for the Washington Huskies.
They built an early lead on visiting Arizona, which ascended back to No. 4 in the national rankings this week.
They even stretched that lead to as many as 14 points behind a stellar first half from Terrell Brown Jr., who went on to score a game-high 29 points against his former team.
But, as electrifying as the first 10 minutes were for the Huskies at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, Arizona spent the next 30 unloading another stunning offensive performance.
The Wildcats scored 80 of their points during that span, regained the lead in a hurry and ultimately cruised in the second half, routing UW, 92-68.
“I thought we got off to a great start,” Huskies coach Mike Hopkins said. “I was telling our guys, ‘Listen, we led what I consider the best team in the country by 14 points. That shows our potential.’ They called a timeout, made some adjustments on how they were going to guard (Brown) and then how they were going to attack our zone, and from that on, they scored a lot. We had zero resistance.”
Only two programs have outpaced Arizona’s offense — which ranks third nationally in scoring — so far this season. Tennessee, then ranked No. 19, edged the Wildcats in a nonconference meeting back in December. UCLA, then ranked No. 7, held Arizona to a season-low 59 points late last month, which remains the program’s only Pac-12 loss.
Every other conference game Arizona (22-2, 12-1 Pac-12) has played has been decided by at least nine points. Both of UW’s meetings with the Wildcats — the Huskies lost the first regular season meeting in Tucson last month, 95-79 — have resulted in double-digit defeats.
And Arizona offered yet another impressive offensive performance this time around. The Wildcats shot 36-of-63 (57.1 percent) from the floor and 8-of-20 (40) from 3-point range, scored in bunches and finished the game with 11 dunks.
Bennedict Mathurin (25 points), Azuolas Tubelis (21 points, 10 rebounds), Dalen Terry (12 points) and Oumar Ballo (10) all finished in double figures for Arizona.
For the Huskies (13-10, 8-5), the loss snapped a five-game home winning streak while also handing them one of their most lopsided defeats this season.
Following the speedy start, UW shot 21-of-59 (35.6 percent) from the floor and 3-of-17 (17.6) from 3-point range.
Beyond Brown’s 29 points — which included 24 in the first half — W’s only other scorers in double digits were Emmitt Matthews Jr. and Nate Roberts, who each had 10.
This after the Huskies had such an electrifying start.
They took an early 7-5 lead on a Matthews dunk with 17:21 left in the first half, and at one point stretched lead to double digits.
Brown, who continues to lead the Pac-12 in scoring, opened the contest by making his first seven shots from the floor, the last of which gave UW its largest lead at 14 points with 10:39 to go in the half.
“I think a big thing is, we got stops early so we were in transition,” Hopkins said. “And you’re not playing against a set defense, and so we were able to set drag screens, he got in the paint. His performance in the first 10 minutes was just incredible.”
But, it was all Arizona from there.
The Huskies didn’t make another field goal for more than 10 minutes, until Brown weaved through traffic for a contested layup with 28 seconds left.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats were quick to rally, finishing the half on a 34-11 run that gave them a somewhat comfortable 45-36 lead at the break.
“We did a great job in the beginning, probably the first 12 minutes, stopping them on defense, making sure we got the shots that we wanted them to take,” Roberts said. “They’re a well-coached team, they’re a top-five team in the country for a reason, so they made the adjustment, started attacking the spots that kind of are the weak points of our zone, and they hit shots.
“We couldn’t make our shots when we got the ball back, so I think that was probably the biggest turn in it.”
UW never recovered in the second half, enduring long scoring droughts in the opening minutes while Arizona continued to produce on the offensive end.
The Wildcats scored 47 points in the final 20 minutes, made 20 of their 29 (69 percent) shots from the field and threw down nine dunks during that stretch. They pushed the lead as high as 28 in the closing minute of the game.
The Huskies will look to regroup on the road, but have two more ranked opponents waiting next week in No. 21 USC and No. 12 UCLA.
“We have another opportunity to prove ourselves, and prove that we are a good team in this conference and we are one of the best teams in the conference,” Roberts said. “So, it just gives us another shot.”
This story was originally published February 12, 2022 at 5:26 PM.
