Washington and Gonzaga battled all night in a sold out Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle, Washington – Sunday night. But it Was No. 9 Gonzaga coming out with the 83-76 victory. The No. 22 Huskies fall to 7-2 as No. 9 Gonzaga improved to 10-1.

“We just couldn’t make a play,” Coach Mike Hopkins said on why UW couldn’t get over the hump. But it was Washington’s 19 turnovers that bugged coach the most.”I felt like the difference in this game tonight was the turnovers. You play a top-10 team you can’t have 19 turnovers.”

In a game that Gonzaga led for  37:32, the Huskies rallied behind the crowd to keep it close throughout the game. Gonzaga’s biggest lead was nine points.

After a Jaden McDaniels 3-pointer with 3:51 to play, UW trailed 72-70. But in what would be the biggest play of the game, it was 6-foot-10 senior Killian Tillie that made a long 3-pointer with 2:56 remaining as the shot clock expired. Washington would get it within two points after a Nahziah Carter 3-pointer on the next possession. But that’s as close as UW would get in a tough loss.

Outside of UW’s 19 turnovers it was Washington’s lack of defensive rebounding that led to 16 second second chance points for Gonzaga. The Zags had 11 offensive rebounds to UW’s two.

On a positive note for the Huskies, they did shoot 50.9 percent from the field. And UW also made 9-of-23 3-pointers.

The Huskies were led by true freshman Isaiah Stewart who scored 21 points and added 10 rebounds.

True freshman Jaden McDaniels scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

Looking ahead

Washington will have all of next week off before returning to action on Sunday December 22 against Ball State in the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii.