It’s been six years since the Washington Huskies have beaten the Utah Utes on the hard wood but a career-high 18 points from Naz Carter and a stifling defense helped the Huskies pull-away in the second half for a 69 to 53 win at the Jon M. Huntsman Center.
January 7th, 2012 was the last time the Huskies beat the Utes, a 57 to 53 win in the same building. The leading scorer that day was Terrence Ross who dropped 14 to offset struggles from Tony Wroten and CJ Wilcox who went a combined 5-19 from the field.
The Huskies held the Utes to just 23 points in the second half as they stretched an 8 point half-time lead to as many as 19. Utah came into the game leading the Pac-12 in 3-point shooting at 38% but made just 6 of 30 (20%) from beyond the arc and the Utes were very content to keep shooting even though the threes weren’t falling.
Keys to the Game
Defense, Defense, Defense
The Huskies held Utah to 33% from the field and they shot 18% below their season average from 3. The Huskies used their length to bother the Utes while forcing 16 turnovers and blocking 9 shots. The game may have been decided much earlier had the Huskies rebounded better, they gave up 17 offensive rebounds and were outrebounded 44-38 but even when the Utes got second and third opportunities, they struggled to convert them.
Crisp and Carter
David Crisp had one of his worst games last season against Utah at Alaska Airlines arena when he went 0-7 from the field in a losing effort. While he only finished 5-13, he was an impressive 5 for 7 from beyond the arc Thursday night, notably making his first four attempts in the 1st half. Carter continues to be a consistent offensive threat off the bench. Not only did he have the game-high 18 points, he seems to have found his 3 point shot. He came into the game just 5 of 22 or the season but was 3 of 4 on Thursday.
Taking Care of the Ball
It’s no secret the Huskies are not an offensive juggernaut but they were efficient in some key areas. Shooting 41% from 3 (9 of 22) and they had a 2 to 1 assist to turnover ratio (16 to 8). For a veteran team the Huskies have turned the ball over excessively at times. It was encouraging to see them use the extra possessions to pull away in the second half. The Huskies scored 18 points off Utah’s 16 turnovers while Utah only got 4 points out of UW’s 8.
Player Grades (Out of 10)
Noah Dickerson – 7 – Dickerson had his second consecutive “so-so” game after he was a non-factor against Washington State. He only played 20 minutes due to foul trouble. He did come alive in the second half though and finished with 13 points and 6 rebounds.
Hameir Wright – 4 – Wright started hot by scoring the first 4 points of the game but he went 0-8 the rest of the way and couldn’t grab a single rebound.
Mattise Thybulle – 7.5 – Thybulle was his usual solid self defensively blocking four shots. Thursday was his first game in 60 (dating back to his sophomore year) without a steal. Don’t let that deceive you as he forced several turnovers. He had a quiet night offensively only scoring 4 points but he also only took 4 shots.
Jaylen Nowell – 7 – Someone will see Nowell went only 3 for 14 from the field and scored just 6 points without getting to the line once and figure he had a bad game. But I’m not sure anyone impacted the game more. He grabbed 12 rebounds to lead all players, dished 5 assist and had two steals.
David Crisp – 9.5 – Crisp was unstoppable in the first half going 4 of 5 from the beyond the arc. He played 37 minutes but only turned the ball over once. He finished with 17 points, and had 4 assist and 4 steals. Don’t look now but Crisp (who also played well against Washington State) may finally be turning into the efficient floor leader the team has craved for years.
Naz Carter – 9 – Carter continues to improve every game building off his 9 point, 8 rebound performance against the Cougars. The only nitpick is that he didn’t grab a rebound in his 27 minutes but he had help, more on that.
Sam Timmons – 8 – Timmons blew a wide-open layup his first attempt of the game and it looked like it may be another long day at the office for him but the very next possession down the court he followed a Jaylen Nowell missed lay-in and seemed to build on it from there. In only 12 minutes, Timmins grabbed 7 rebounds, blocked 4 shots and had 2 steals. The sneaky important play of the game was right before the end of the half, Utah had a chance to cut UW’s lead to 5 on a corner 3-pointer but Timmins got the block to preserve UW’s 8 point lead. The Huskies opened the 2nd half on a 7-0 run to build a commanding 45-30 lead.
Dominic Green – 6 –Green was active in his 20 minutes grabbing 6 rebounds and dishing two assists. He only had one field goal, an early 3, but he showed a willingness to make the extra pass.
Jamaal Bey – NR – Bey only played four minutes while not recording a statistic.
Final Verdict
It’s worth noting the Huskies got their first road win of the season by taking the Utah’s sparse crowd out of the game early leading for 38.02 of the game’s 40 minutes. More good news is that only two players (Crisp and Nowell) played more than 30 minutes, this gives hope that the Huskies will be fresh for their matchup against Colorado on Sunday.
