Washington was humbled on the road tonight, losing to No. 11 Auburn, 88-66. Here are my instant takeaways from the game.
1. Slow start dooms the Huskies
Before the Huskies could blink, Auburn went on a 14-0 run and UW trailed 14-2 less than four minutes into the game. By halftime, UW basically was out of the game down 48-30. Washington also started slow in their home opener, trailing Western Kentucky by nine at the break. It’s not like UW played good on either side of the 40 minutes tonight. But the slow starts might become a concern even though it’s only been two games.
2. Loss tempo
Coach Mike Hopkins has stressed the importance of controlling the tempo of the game since the day he came to Washington. Normally, UW is playing a slowed down pace, making opponents frustrated on the offensive end. Tonight, that was not the case for Auburn as they played at their pace and dictated the game. The Tigers got off 70 shots and made 12 3-pointers. In a game the Huskies needed to keep pace Auburn looked like the much quicker team.
3. Dickerson must stay out of foul trouble
This is two games in-a-row that senior forward Noah Dickerson has gotten into early foul trouble. In UW’s season opener against Western Kentucky, Dickerson played just six minutes in the first half and UW trailed at half by nine. Dickerson had a monster second half as UW went on to roll WKU. Tonight, Dickerson picked up his third foul after picking up a technical foul for screaming after making a dunk with 6:04 remaining in the first half. Dickerson played just 12 minutes in the half as UW trailed 48-30 at the intermission. The senior forward would foul out with 10:28 remaining, playing just 17 minutes. For this team to be at its best, Dickerson at all costs must stay out of foul trouble going forward.
4. Washington dominated on the boards
Auburn had their way with UW in every possible way but none more than on the glass. In the first half alone, Auburn had 11 offensive rebounds. UW actually shot a better percentage in the first half but the Tigers got 13 extra shots off the rebounds. That’s unacceptable on any level of basketball. Auburn went on to out-rebound UW, 41-24. The Tigers finished with 19 offensive boards – just five short of UW’s total rebounds on the night. This must be cleaned up like tomorrow.
5. Good learning experience
There’s obviously a lot of negatives in a loss like this but the Huskies could use this as a learning experience. Washington was humbled after being ranked in the preseason. This is a type of embarrassing loss that should get the attention of all the players and coaching staff. So on a night where there were literally no positives, maybe just maybe this loss can be used to fuel UW in the future.
