Washington fell 66-64 in their conference home opener to UCLA. A Jake Kyman 3-pointer with eight seconds remaining gave UCLA the win. The Huskies fall to 10-4 on the season. UCLA improves to 8-6.
In what is become the team’s normal, the Huskies struggled in the first half. Washington shot just 8-of-23 from the field and trailed by as much as 11 points. To make matters worse, Jaden McDaniels played just 10 minutes in the half after picking up his third personal foul. Shortly after, McDaniels was tacked with a technical foul from the bench – counting as his fourth personal foul. When the horn sounded, UW was trailing 34-24 heading to the locker room.
And with 16:10 remaining in the game, McDaniels would foul out. Jaden McDaniels finished with three points in 14 minutes of play.
“Jaden’s a great kid. He’s not a bad kid. He likes to have fun. But he has to be more serious in certain situations.” Coach Hopkins said on if McDaniels’ technical fouls are becoming ongoing.
But the Huskies would come out of the second half a different team. UW went on an 8-0 run to close the gap to two points. And after a Jamal Bey steal and lay-up, the Huskies took a 39-38 lead with 14:04 remaining. Teams would exchange leads for the final 14 minutes.
After a highlight reel alley-oop from Quade Green to Nahziah Carter, that drew a foul, UW took a 55-54 lead with 2:56 to play. But UCLA would not go away as they took 63-61 lead with 32.1 seconds. Again Carter would answer with a clutch 3-pointer to give the Huskies a 64-63 lead with 23 seconds remaining. But it was true freshman Jake Kyman’s night. Kyman made his seventh 3-pointer of the night to give the Bruins a 66-64 lead with eight seconds remaining. A Nahziah Carter turnover would be UW’s last gasp.
Jake Kyman finished with 21 points for the Bruins.
Isaiah Stewart scored 24 points and had 11 rebounds for the Huskies.
Nahziah Carter scored 16 points.
Takeaway
Again the slow start was a killer for the Huskies. Combine that with McDaniels only playing 14 minutes and you have a recipe for a home upset. And that’s what happened tonight. The Huskies were out-rebounded 38-27. UCLA had an incredible 22 offensive rebounds. That cannot happen the rest of the season. Washington flat out needs to bring more energy from the tip-off.
Looking ahead
The Huskies are back in action Sunday vs USC. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. on FS1.
