After the Huskies played their best game all season and stunned the Gonzaga Bulldogs, UW got some rest. It’s been eight days since a Husky basketball game. Today UW goes “on the road” to face the Seattle U Redhawks. Seattle U is sitting at 6-4 and has had their share of ups and downs through the season. The Huskies enter as a 4.5 point favorite, but don’t be fooled, if they let their guard down the Redhawks will capitalize in a territorial battle. Here’s the keys to the Huskies keeping up their winning ways.
Lockdown: The Huskies win over Gonzaga was headlined by the performance of Frank Kepnang. The Huskies center was the star of the show on the defensive interior but it was a team effort. Gonzaga had a miserable day shooting from all over the floor and a lot of that had to do with the big man’s performance. The Huskies have always been a team centered around defense. When they are getting stops and making plays on that end of the court attacking the rim becomes easy. Kepnang excelled but UW was lights out on the perimeter as well. The Bulldogs went 0-for from 3 in the entire second half of that upset. If they can do that to Gonzaga, imagine what they can do to any other team.
Spread the Rock: Keion Brooks Jr. has been the main man on offense. Brooks is averaging 19.9 points per game as the focal point of this Husky attack, but the team is looking best when contribution is colt from everywhere. The Huskies had five double digit scores against Gonzaga, and keeping up numbers like that is a huge part of this team’s success. Sahvir Wheeler has been huge this season for the Huskies, second in scoring and leading the team in assists the point guard is the engine that runs this offense, when he is going, hes hard to stop. The other key pieces have been Moses Wood, Keldon Johnson, and Paul Mulcahy. The three have contributed big games and have all three been key in generating offense from the outside.
Stay Focused: Gonzaga was a huge win. The first ranked win by a UW team in 5 years. Seattle U is not Gonzaga. Those teams are not in the same conversation this season. But we saw this with the football team. Their worst game of the season was the 13-7 miracle pick-6 against Arizona State, a very bad Arizona State. Only a week after beating one of the nations top dogs in Oregon. This game looks very similar. In Seattle against a team they are expected to beat, the Huskies can’t let their guard down. Seattle U will capitalize on mistakes. The Huskies have done a good job hanging with good teams, but have also allowed bad teams to hang in a little too long. That can’t happen tonight.
The Huskies have every weapon to win this one, with a top-25 spot looming, a good win tonight could be a big step for the Huskies as they look to get hot just in time for Pac-12 play.
