The Huskies’ streak of winning close games came to an end Saturday night against the streaking Stanford Cardinal. Washington simply could not find the bottom of the net in their 73-64 loss to the Cardinal.
“Offensively for the most part, we’re not going to win a lot of games shooting those percentages,” Washington head coach Mike Hopkins said after the game. Hopkins said the lack of ball movement played a part in UW’s offensive struggles.
The Stanford Cardinal have now won four straight games. Stanford’s offense was run through 6-foot-8 junior Reid Travis, who finished with 16 points. The Huskies tried their best to condense their zone defense later in the game to limit Travis’ opportunities but that left other Stanford players open. Former Garfield star Daejon Davis finished the night with 16 points, 11 rebounds, and seven turnovers.
UW’s offensive struggles could largely be pointed towards their starting lineup. Washington didn’t have a single starter that shot at least 50 percent from the field. As a team, UW shot just 5-22 from 3-point range. Washington finished the night shooting 21-56 (37.5%) from the field. It was tough game for a Husky team that was averaging 77.9 points per game coming into tonight.
Another major problem for the Huskies was their ability to rebound against a much bigger Stanford team. The Cardinal started three players that are at least 6-foot-8 and it showed in the box score. Washington was out rebounded 48-28 by the Cardinal. To make matters worse, Stanford had 14 offensive rebounds to UW’s three.
Washington got off to a horrendous start, trailing 15-5 at the 12:53 mark of the first half. The Huskies made just 2-of-11 shots from the field at that point. But the game would change quickly after that. Stanford’s leading scorer Reid Travis picked up his second foul after Dominic Green took a charge. Green would also go on to make two 3-pointers off of the bench in the first half. Despite playing poorly UW trailed just 35-33 at the half.
The Huskies had another chance to steal a game in which they weren’t playing well. After a pair of Matisse Thybulle made free throws, the Huskies trimmed Stanford’s lead to 62-60 with 3:52 remaining. On the next possession however, Stanford guard Daejon Davis made a 3-pointer to extend Stanford’s lead. Stanford would go on to outscore the Huskies 11-4 in the final 3:52 of play.
Washington was led by Jaylen Nowell’s 20 points. The only other Husky in double-figures was David Crisp, who finished with 11 points.
The Huskies fall to 13-5 on the season and 3-2 in conference play. The Cardinal improved to 10-8 on the season and 4-1 in conference play.
Washington next travels to face the Utah Utes on Thursday, January 18th.
