Despite a second half rally, the Huskies fell to No. 1 Gonzaga, 81-79, Wednesday night in Spokane.
With 9.4 second left, Jaylen Nowell stepped to the free throw line with the Huskies down 79-77. The sophomore star rimmed in the first. Nowell’s second free throw was nothing but net to tie the game. Gonzaga took the ensuing inbound pass and got it to Rui Hachimura who made a contested jumpshot from about 10-feet out over Sam Timmins with 0.6 seconds left to give Gonzaga an 81-79 lead. A desperate Dominic Green half court shot fell short as the Huskies lost again at the buzzer.
It was a game the Huskies easily could have gotten blown out after the first half. Washington trailed 40-30 at halftime.
But despite a terrible start the Huskies would comeback. Washington opened the second half on a 15-2 run and took a 45-42 lead into the first media timeout. But things would change just a few minutes later as Noah Dickerson picked up his fourth foul. With just under 14 minutes to play, Sam Timmins, Hameir Wright, and Noah Dickerson had four fouls. Wright and Dickerson would eventually foul out. Gonzaga took full advantage going on a quick 7-0 run to take a 49-45 lead.
However, every time Gonzaga looked like they would pull away, UW would answer right back with a run of their own. Unfortunately it just wasn’t enough on the road against the No. 1 team in the country.
Washington falls to 6-3 on the season.
After shooting just 11-28 from the field and turning the ball over eight times in the first half, UW looked like a completely different team after the break. In the final 20 minutes of the game, UW shot 17-31 and turned the ball over just once.
Washington’s defense was good much of the game, holding Gonzaga to 27-63 (42.9%) shooting from the field. Coming into tonight the Zags ranked No. 1 in the country in field goal percentage (54.2 %).
Players of the game
Jaylen Nowell: 26 points (10-18 fg), 6 assists
Matisse Thybulle: 18 points, 4 assists
Noah Dickerson: 13 points, 7 rebounds
That’s the Thybulle that Washington needs
Matisse Thybulle has been good all year on defense as expected but his offense has been spotty at times. The senior finished tonight with 18 points off 6-for-11 shooting. Thybulle was aggressive all night on the offensive end at it showed. When he wasn’t making 3-pointers or driving to the basket for a dunk, he was finding open teammates. If Matisse Thybulle can bring this every night UW will be in the NCAA Tournament come March.
Takeaway
This was supposed to be a tournament team and possible Pac-12 Championship caliber team at the start of the year. But it has yet to materialize early in the year. However, the Huskies looked like a team tonight that should be a tournament team if they can grow from this tough loss. This is a veteran team that is hungry to get back to the NCAA Tournament and they might just look back at this game come March as the night it all changed.
Looking ahead
The Huskies are back in action on Sunday at home against Seattle University. Washington will then play Virginia Tech on December 15 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
