As 21.5-point underdogs, Washington shocked the world, upsetting No. 2 Kansas, 74-65 Wednesday night.
“It’s been incredible,” UW head coach Mike Hopkins said in an ESPN post-game interview.”The University of Washington is an incredible school and they have great vision and the kids have bought into the new coaching staff and all that stuff… just so proud of them.”
The Huskies 36-34 halftime lead was in large part due to their stellar defense. Hopkins came up with a game plan to takeaway the 3-point line and held the Jayhawks to just 2-9 from 3-point range at the half. Kansas entered the night, ranked No. 8 in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage, shooting 43.5 percent through seven games.
“I thought they executed the game plan,” Hopkins said.”We were going to take away the 3-pointers. They averaged 11 a game, they got five. They were really aware of the shooters at all times. We didn’t want (Davonte’) Graham to get hot. You saw what he did to Syracuse the last couple of games and they executed. And then we showed poise. That was the biggest thing with this team, is show poise at the end.”
The loss was shocking in many aspects. Kansas already beat basketball powerhouses Kentucky and Syracuse earlier in the year. Through Kansas’ first seven games, their average margin of victory was 30.5 points. The Jayhawks also came into the game averaging 91.9 points per game.
It looked as if in the second half the Jayhawks would takeover the game in the Sprint Center after cutting UW’s lead to 53-52 with 9:34 remaining. But it wasn’t to be as every time the Huskies needed to make a play they did. Washington would answer the Jayhawks run with an 7-0 run of their own, giving UW a 60-52 lead with 8:03 remaining. From then on, the Huskies cruised to an upset win over the Jayhawks in Kansas City.
Washington improves to 7-2 while Kansas drops to 7-1 on the season.
The Huskies were led by junior Matisse Thybulle, who scored 19 points. Jaylen Nowell chipped in 17 points while David Crisp scored 10 points and added seven assists. Noah Dickerson logged another double-double this season, finishing with 13 points and 14 rebounds.
Washington hosts Gonzaga on Sunday at 5 p.m.
