In six of Washington’s 9 victories they’ve come from a halftime deficit. That would not be the case with the 23rd ranked Auburn Tigers visited the Washington Huskies Wednesday night. Twice the Huskies cut double digit deficits down to 6 points before fouls by the home team stopped the momentum.
In the end the Tigers won by 23 points, 84-61. There couldn’t be two more contrasting styles. Auburn played a good portion of the night above the rim going 8 for 8 on dunks. In all, Auburn had feasted on Washington’s forecourt scoring 48 points in the pain in the game including 30 in the second half. For the Huskies, they scored 8 points in the paint in the first half but 28 for the game.
Perhaps the most telling stat of the night was the point-differential on second chance opportunities: 15-3 in favor of Auburn.
At the half the Huskies had forced 11 turnovers, scoring 10 points off of them. However, Auburn turned the ball over just 4 times in the second half. On the other side Washington had 10 turnovers but the visitors scored just 2 points. Where the difference was was from behind the arc. The Huskies were just 2 of 13 in the first half and 3 for 7 after the break.
With under 2 minutes in the first half the Huskies cut Auburn’s lead to 6 but a silly foul by Keion Brooks on a Williams’ 3-pointer with under 4 seconds left stopped Washington’s momentum. Williams hit 2 of 3 free throws.
Washington started out cold falling behind 7-2 before pulling within a single point 13-12 on a Keion Brooks step-back 3 with 8:55 to go in the first half. Then Tigers pulled the rug out from under Washington, going on a 13-0 run to take a 27-12 victory.
The teams traded buckets before Washington pulled within six on a 9-0 spurt to close within six. Chris Moore tallied his 3rd person foul in the first 4 minutes to start the second half, and Koren Johnson took advantage cutting across the key and through the the Tiger D for a left-handed layup to pull the Huskies within six, 39-33.
The Huskies would get no closer. After scoring just 23 points in the first half, the Huskies heated up scoring-wise in the second half scoring 38 after the break.
Washington center Braxton Meah picked up his 3rd personal foul on Auburn’s next possession. Green hit both free throws giving Auburn a 41-33 advantage.
However, with Meah saddled with 3 fouls Auburn outscored the Huskies 20-10, taking an 18 point lead. Got hot down the stretch hitting 9 of 10 as they built a 27-point margin, 76-49 with 3:00. The final score was 84-61.
Brooks led the Huskies with 15 points while Johnson scored 12 points off the bench–the only UW players in double figures. Auburn had 4 players in double figures led by Williams and Broome with 18 each.
The Huskies fall to 9-4 while the Tigers improved to 10-2 on the season. Up next for the Huskies are the USC Trojans Friday, December 30th at 7 pm in Seattle before a string of three ranked conference opponents.
