RSS
After winning four straight, the Huskies have dropped their last two games and now face their first ranked opponent, No. 16 Oregon, since last November.
Oregon head coach Dana Altman has his Ducks off to a 16-2 start, including a 5-0 mark in conference play. / Wiki Commons
GAME: Washington (12-7 overall, 4-2, Pac-12) at Oregon (17-2 overall, 6-0 Pac-12). WHEN: Saturday, 4 p.m., Matthew Knight Arena, Eugene. TYPE: Conference. MEETING: 293rd (Washington leads 187-105). STREAKS: UW L 2; Oregon W8. RANKINGS: Oregon 16 AP, 19 USA Today. COACHES: Lorenzo Romar, Washington; Dana Altman, Oregon. TV: Pac-12 Networks. RADIO: KJR 950 AM
After not facing a ranked opponent since losing 77-66 to Ohio State in the Hall of Fame Classic last November, Lorenzo Romar’s Washington Huskies will play their next two against Associated Press Top 25 clubs, starting with No. 16 — and Pac-12 leader — Oregon Saturday in Eugene.
The Ducks’ 6-0 start in conference play marks the first time they have launched a league season with six consecutive wins since 1925-26, when they were members of the old Pacific Coast Conference.
The Ducks are also amid the third-longest home-court winning streak in school history, 19 games, just four shy of 23-game home winning streaks from 1936-39 and 2001-03. The current streak is tied for sixth in the nation.
Washington hasn’t won at Oregon since the second match-up of the schools in the 2010 season (86-72). Last year, the Ducks blew the Huskies off Matthew Knight Court 82-57. Washington, late to the game when the team bus was stuck in traffic, fell behind 8-0 and trailed by 20 and finally 27 points, after which Romar said, “I didn’t see us falling flat on our face.”
Saturday, the Huskies have to overcome this jarring statistic: Washington is just 11-109 all-time against Associated Press Top 25 teams away from home.
“Right now we, as a group, have to grow up quickly and make sure that we respect every team we play,” said Romar. “In our last two games, we saw the records of the opponents (both 0-5 in league play) and didn’t come out with quite the attitude we had the other four games (four wins to open the conference season). We have to defend and rebound and play with a high level of intensity. That’s the only way we have a chance to be competitive.
“We can’t worry about winning or losing. Whenever we talk about the outcome, we forget about the process. We need to worry about coming to play, focusing and executing. If we do those we’ll be okay.”
The current Oregon team doesn’t have a dominant scorer such as Washington’s C.J. Wilcox (19.3 ppg), coming off a 23-point show against Oregon State, but all five Ducks starters average in double figures: Damyean Dotson (11.9), Tony Woods (11.1), E.J. Singler (10.8), Carlos Emory (10.2), Dominic Artis (10.2). The Ducks are also making nearly 40 percent of their 3-pointers (39.5) in conference play compared to Washington’s 35.8.
Washington has dropped consecutive games to two teams, Utah and Oregon State, that had the worst records in the league, which Wilcox called an “embarrassment.”
“If we can get this done at Oregon it can shoot us in the right direction,” Wilcox said after the Oregon State loss. “If not, who knows what will happen?”
Indeed. Washington’s next four Pac-12 opponents have a combined record of 20-5 in conference play and are 64-12 (.842) overall.
SERIES: Dates to Feb. 13, 1904, when the Huskies defeated Oregon 19-16 in Eugene. Washington has won five of the past seven, including a 90-86 decision in last spring’s NIT. In that game, Terrence Ross scored 24 points, Tony Wroten 22 and Abdul Gaddy contributed 11 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. During the 2011-12 regular season, the teams split, UW winning 76-60 in Seattle, Oregon prevailing 82-57 in Eugene.
UW STATS / NOTES
- SEASON SUMMARY: Record: 12-7. Home: 7-4. Road: 4-2. Neutral: 1-1. Vs. Pac-12: 4-2. Vs. Pac-12 North: 3-1. Vs. Pac-12 South: 1-1. Vs. Non-Conference: 8-5. Points: 1312 (69.1). Field Goal Pct.: 43.6. 3-Pt. FG Pct.: 35.8. Free Throw Pct.: 69.4. Rebounds: 695 (36.6). Assists: 219 (11.5). Turnovers: 237 (12.5). Steals: 85 (4.5). Blocks: 87 (4.6). Points Against: 1251 (65.8). Opp. FG Pct.: 42.3. Opp. 3-Pt. FG Pct.: 32.9. Opp FT Pct.: 64.3. Opp. Rebounds: 630 (33.2). Opp. Assists: 236 (12.4). Opp. Turnovers: 228 (12.0). Opp. Steals: 117 (6.2). Opp. Blocks: 54 (2.8). Ratings Percentage Index (RPI): Ranked X.
- PAC-12 RANKINGS: Scoring Offense — 7th (69.1). Scoring Defense — 9th (65.8). Scoring Margin –10th (+3.3). FG Pct. — 9th (43.6). FT Pct. — 7th (69.4). 3-Pt FG Pct. — 4th (35.8). Rebound Margin — 7th (+3.7). Blocked Shots — 5th (4.58). Assists — T10 (11.5). Steals — T12 (4.47). Turnover Margin — 8th (-0.33).
- C.J. Wilcox (19.3) ranks T2 in Pac-12 scoring and Scott Suggs 22nd at 12.2. Wilcox is 1st with 2.67 3-pointers per game 7th in 3-point percentage at 41.7.
- Suggs needs just one 3-pointer make to break into UW’s top-10 career list. He has 116 and is tied for 10th with Terrence Ross.
- Wilcox has scored 20 or more points in 10 of his past 15 games. He is the 37th player in UW history to score 1,000 career points. Terrence Ross was the last Husky to score 20 or more in four straight. Brandon Roy scored 20-plus in nine straight during the 2006 season.
- Wilcox was named Pac-12 Player of the Week Jan. 14 after scoring 19 and 27 points, respectively, in road wins over California and Stanford.
- Senior Aziz N’Diaye ranks 4th in rebounding at 9.5 per game. N’Diaye also ranks 1st in offensive rebounds (3.78) and 1st (62.7) in field goal percentage. N’Diaye ranks third all-time in UW history with a 57.0 field goal percentage and has 13 career double-double (Huskies are 10-3 in those games).
- Washington’s 14-point halftime rally vs. Cal-State Fullerton was the team’s largest comeback at the half since Dec. 29, 2007 at LSU. The Huskies trailed 41-27 and won 74-66.
UW HEAD COACH: Lorenzo Romar (323-208 overall, 230-118 UW) is coming off a year in which the Huskies won the Pac-12 regular-season title. Romar has taken the Huskies to the NCAA Tournament six times and won three Pac-10 Tournament titles (2005, 2010, 2011). Romar, who signed a 10-year contract extension in April 2011, won his his 200th game at Washington Dec. 16, 2011. He had his 300th career victory and his 100th as a conference coach on Jan. 21, 2012. Romar was selected the Pac-12 Coach of the Year for the third time in his career.
Romar played for the Huskies under head coach Marv Harshman during the 1979-80 seasons (served as team captain his senior year), and had a five-year NBA career with Golden State (1981-84), Milwaukee (1984) and Detroit (1984-85). He became a college head coach at Pepperdine in 1997, where he coached for three seasons, then spent three years (1999-02) at St. Louis University before taking the Washington job in 2002-03.
2012-13 Washington Statistics
| Player | G | FG% | 3FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C.J. Wilcox | 19 | 47.0 | 41.3 | 78.0 | 4.8 | 2.0 | 19.3 |
| Scott Suggs | 16 | 39.7 | 36.0 | 87.9 | 2.6 | 1.9 | 12.1 |
| Abdul Gaddy | 19 | 40.4 | 33.3 | 69.8 | 2.9 | 3.4 | 11.3 |
| Aziz N’Diaye | 19 | 63.4 | 0.00 | 45.7 | 9.5 | 0.3 | 10.7 |
| Andrew Andrews | 16 | 36.3 | 27.0 | 76.2 | 2.4 | 2.6 | 7.8 |
| Desmond Simmons | 19 | 34.5 | 36.4 | 74.0 | 7.8 | 1.2 | 5.3 |
| Shawn Kemp | 12 | 36.1 | 0.00 | 62.5 | 1.8 | 0.1 | 3.4 |
| Jenard Jarreau | 18 | 38.9 | 0.00 | 80.0 | 2.9 | 0.3 | 3.2 |
| Hikeem Stewart | 11 | 30.0 | 0.00 | 1.000 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.7 |
| D. Overstreet | 3 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.000 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| Martin Breunig | 8 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 50.0 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Q. Sterling | 3 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Total | 19 | 43.6 | 35.8 | 69.4 | 36.6 | 11.5 | 69.1 |
| Opponents | 19 | 42.3 | 32.9 | 64.3 | 33.2 | 12.4 | 65.8 |
OREGON NOTES: Oregon ranks second in the Pac-12 in scoring offense (76.4), fourth in scoring defense (62.4), third in field goal percentage (46.1) and first in rebounds (39.8) . . . Oregon’s only losses were administered by Cincinnati (77-66) and Texas El Paso (94-81, 3 OTs) . . . Oregon is coming off a 68-61 win over Washington State in a game the Ducks trailed by 10 points at halftime. E.J. Singler led Oregon with 19 points, 14 in the second half. Arslan Kazemi had 16 points and seven rebounds . . . Oregon has three wins over ranked opponents, defeating No. 18 UNLV (83-79), No. 4 Arizona (70-66) and No. 24 UCLA (76-67) . . . The Oregon roster does not include a single player from the state of Washington.
OREGON HEAD COACH: Dana Altman is in his third year as head coach of the Ducks and looking to secure his third consecutive 20-win season. The Ducks went 21-18 in his first season (2010-11) and played in the CBI tournament, and followed with a 24-10 mark last year and an appearance in the NIT (lost to Washington). Altman served as head coach at Creighton from 1994 through 2010. He was a Naismith National Coach of the Year finalist in 2003. He is a graduate of Eastern New Mexico.
COMING UP: The Huskies return to Alaska Airlines Arena Thursday to host the Arizona Wildcats. Arizona State will play the Huskies Saturday.
University of Washington 2012-13 Schedule
(Rankings From Associated Press)
| Date | Opponent | UW Rnk | Opp Rnk | W/L | Score | Rec. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11/11/12 | @vs. W. Washington | — | — | W | 88-78 | 0-0 |
| 11/11/12 | *vs. Loyola-MD. | — | — | W | 85-63 | 1-0 |
| 11/13/12 | *vs. Albany | — | — | L | 63-62 | 1-1 |
| 11/17/12 | *vs. Seton Hall | — | — | W | 84-73 | 2-1 |
| 11/18/12 | *vs. Ohio St. | — | 4 | L | 77-66 | 2-2 |
| 11/24/12 | vs. Colo. St. | — | — | L | 73-55 | 2-3 |
| 11/28/12 | vs. Saint Louis | — | — | W | 66-61 | 3-3 |
| 12/2/12 | vs. Cal-Fuller. | — | — | W | 74-72 | 4-3 |
| 12/8/12 | vs. Nevada | — | — | L | 76-73 | 4-4 |
| 12/13/12 | at Seattle U. | — | — | W | 87-74 | 5-4 |
| 12/15/12 | vs. Jackson St. | — | — | W | 75-67 | 6-4 |
| 12/20/12 | vs. Cal Poly | — | — | W | 75-62 | 7-4 |
| 12/22/12 | vs. N. Illinois | — | — | W | 67-57 | 8-4 |
| 12/29/12 | at Connecticut | — | — | L | 61-53 | 8-5 |
| 1/5/13 | at WSU | — | — | W | 68-63 | 9-5 |
| 1/9/13 | at California | — | — | W | 62-47 | 10-5 |
| 1/12/13 | at Stanford | — | — | W | 65-60 | 11-5 |
| 1/16/13 | vs. Colorado | — | — | W | 65-54 | 12-5 |
| 1/19/13 | vs. Utah | — | — | L | 74-65 | 12-6 |
| 1/23/13 | at Oregon St. | — | — | L | 74-66 | 12-7 |
| 1/26/13 | at Oregon | — | 16 | — | — | — |
| 1/31/13 | vs. Arizona | — | 6 | — | — | — |
| 2/2/13 | vs. ASU | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/7/13 | at UCLA | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/10/13 | at USC | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/13/13 | vs. Oregon | — | 16 | — | — | — |
| 2/16/13 | vs. Oregon St. | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/20/13 | at Arizona | — | 6 | — | — | — |
| 2/23/13 | at ASU | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/3/13 | vs. WSU | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/6/13 | vs. USC | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/9/13 | vs. UCLA | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/13/13 | ^First Round | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/14/13 | ^Quarterfinal | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/15/13 | ^Semifinal | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/16/13 | ^Championship | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/19/13 | #1st Four | — | — | — | — | |
| 3/21/13 | #2nd-3rd Rnds. | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/28/13 | #Regionals | — | — | — | — | — |
| 4/6/13 | #Final 4 Semi | — | — | — | — | — |
| 4/8/13 | #Final 4 Champ. | — | — | — | — | — |
@=Exhibition; *=Hall of Fame Classic; ^=Pac-12 Tournament; #=NCAA Tournament
Follow SPNW Staff on Twitter at
@SportspressNW
MoreSportspressNW
WeeklyRoundup Email
Followus on Twitter
Likeus on Facebook
Circleus on Google+
MotionPictures
SportspressNW.com has partnered with Crosscut.com. Watch exclusive videos of Art Thiel and get the latest political and civic news from the Northwest at Crosscut.com.
KJRLive
You know who Seattle's No. 1 sports talk radio station is, it's 950 KJR AM. Check in with Mitch, Softy and Gas and catch the SportspressNW crew throughout the week and each Saturday at 11am.
ArtThiel on KPLU
Kirsten Kendrick's Q. & A. with Thiel can be heard every Friday during Morning Edition at 5:35am and 7:35am and again that same day on All Things Considered at 4:45pm. It also airs Saturday at 6:35am and 9:35am.
YourThoughts
Comments are closed.