In a game stalled by 51 foul calls, the No. 25 ranked Washington Huskies improved to 4-1 on the season after their 73-56 victory over Montana.
“Tonight I had a lot of crazy lineups in,” Coach Mike Hopkins said after the game. “We’ve been tired. And just trying to keep energy in the game. And for the most part I thought we played exponentially hard. I don’t think we played exponentially smart. We had some unforced turnovers – some plays you just can’t make as we move forward. But we competed on the defensive end. I was really happy about that.”
Outside of nine 3-pointers made by Montana, UW suffocated the Grizzlies on defense. Montana made just 19-of-57 field goal attempts. Washington also forced 20 Montana turnovers.
And to the story of the game. The fouls. The foul issues were so bad that Isaiah Stewart played under five minutes in the first half after picking up his third personal foul with over 10 minutes remaining in the half. Stewart would pick up his fourth foul in the second half with 18:45 remaining in the contest.
But despite playing under 15 minutes, Stewart led the Huskies with 18 points. Stewart was 5-of-7 shooting from the field and 8-of-9 from the free throw line.
“Listen he contributes if he’s on the bench, not on the bench – he’s just an incredible leader,” Coach Hopkins said about Stewart’s impressive performance despite being in foul trouble.
But if anything, the foul calls probably benefited the Huskies as they made 35-of-46 free attempts. The free throws off-settled the 0-for–11 from 3-point distance from the Huskies.
Outside of Stewart’s 18 points, two other Huskies finished in double-figures scoring. Jaden McDaniels scored 14 points. Nahziah Carter scored 13 points.
Sam Timmins played nearly 20 minutes tonight due to the team’s foul trouble and contributed seven points and five rebounds.
Takeaway
This is a game that is hard to takeaway much of anything after the game came to a virtual stop with so many whistles. But when looking deeper into the game, Washington did not look good on offense. They became so stagnant that at one point Coach Hopkins yelled ” move the ball” so loud everyone in the arena could hear him. Washington is best in transition right now and their defense must create their offense as they continue to go through growing pains in the half court. And defensively, this team is playing at an elite level. Even giving up nine 3-pointers tonight, Montana managed just 56 points. So overall, the Huskies are fine defensively but if UW keeps playing this stagnant on offense they won’t be so fortunate against better competition.
Looking ahead
The Huskies are back in action this Sunday night as they host San Diego at 7:30 p.m.
