It wasn’t pretty or easy but the Washington Huskies found a way to get the win against their cross town rivals, Seattle University, Friday afternoon.
With Washington leading 83-82 with under one minute remaining, they gave the ball to true freshman Jaylen Nowell, something they’ve done all season in crunch time. Nowell, drove to the hoop and drew a foul with 32.9 seconds remaining. The 6-foot-4 Seattle native made both free throws, giving UW an 85-82 lead. On the next possession, UW got a steal and Nowell once again made both free throws. Nowell scored nine points in the final 3:11 of the game and finished with 25 points.
The Huskies went on to win, 89-84.
“He’s just a winner,” head coach Mike Hopkins said about Jaylen Nowell getting the ball down the stretch.”He’s got winning DNA. He wants the ball, he performs. It’s like the Belmont game, you can see it in his eyes.”
Jaylen Nowell has scored at least 20 points in three out of UW’s five games this season. The true freshman is quickly becoming Washington’s go to player when the game is on the line.
The Huskies’ defense, which has struggled this season, seemed to be turning it around in the first half. UW held Seattle U to 36 first half points and forced 11 turnovers. But that was short lived as the Redhawks went on to score 48 second half points – shooting 48.3% from the field and 37.5% from 3-point range for the game.
“It was active but it goes back to just awareness,” Hopkins said about the zone defense.”The great teams, they’re aware the whole time and that’s what we’re trying to get them to do.”
If there’s one thing you can point to that led to UW’s win (outside of Jaylen Nowell), it could be Washington’s strong free throw shooting. The Huskies made 25-of-30 free throws. From the 15-minute mark on in the second half, UW made 19 straight free throws to end the game.
David Crisp played 39 minutes with Michael Carter III out 4-6 weeks with a fractured hand. Crisp finished with 16 points, shooting 5-of-16 from the field.
Matisse Thybulle battled foul trouble, but still scored 18 points and added five steals.
Noah Dickerson played just 20 minutes after getting in foul trouble. Dickerson finished with nine points.
The Huskies improve to 3-2, while Seattle University falls to 2-4. Washington hosts UC Davis on Sunday at 5 p.m. You can watch the game on the Pac-12 Network.
