It was a sloppy and quite frankly an ugly start for the Washington Huskies, facing the 1-and-5 Kennesaw State Owls, in front of the 4,858 in attendance. The Huskies started the game 7-of-18 shooting and seemed to lack energy. After a fast break dunk by Noah Dickerson, UW led 26-23 with 6:53 remaining in the first half. Despite the score, coach Mike Hopkins took a timeout – not liking what he was seeing.
“We just challenged them to play better defense and be active,” coach Mike Hopkins said about the first half timeout. “And put some guys that hadn’t played in the game. We were getting in transition. We were getting some blocks and steals.”
After the timeout, everything changed. UW got a quick defensive stop, followed by a David Crisp 3-pointer, giving UW a 29-23 lead. After that it was off to the races as UW outscored the Owls, 22-6, to end the half. Washington led at halftime, 48-29.
The Huskies went in cruise control in the second half, winning the game, 85-71. Washington had a 26-point lead at one point in the second half before unloading their bench. Twelve different Huskies saw the floor, including walk-on’s, Greg Bowman and Jason Crandall.
Washington improved to 5-2 on the season, while Kennesaw State fell to 1-6.
The Huskies were led by junior forward Noah Dickerson, who scored 24 points in the win. It was Dickerson’s fourth game this season of scoring 18 or more points.
Sam Timmins scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
True freshman Hameir Wright, who scored two points all season coming into tonight, had a career high 12 points. Wright went 3-for-3 from 3-point range and 4-5 from the field.
“Just being more confident in myself and my teammates.” Wright said when asked about settling into the team.”Just finding my niche, finding my role within the team. Just getting better every day and challenge them in practice – go out and compete as hard as I can on the floor.”
Despite the win coach Hopkins knows that this wasn’t the best showing from his team.
“I just want these guys to play right for long periods of time and we have spurts but it needs to be more consistent,” Coach Hopkins said.
Washington’s improved free throw shooting this season continued tonight. The Huskies shot 20-26 from the line (76.9%).
Washington next hosts Nebraska-Omaha this Sunday at 4 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network.
