Lorenzo Romar’s Washington Huskies had a superb opportunity Tuesday night to make a major statement on their first trip to the Big Apple since 2007, but Marquette’s Jae Crowder scotched it by drilling a 3-point shot with 6.3 seconds to play, giving the No. 11-ranked Golden Eagles a 79-77 win over the Huskies at Madison Square Garden in the Jimmy V Classic.
The loss, Washington’s second in a row, dropped the Huskies to 4-3. Marquette improved to 8-0. The game featured 17 lead changes, 15 in the second half.
“If we continue to make progress like this we are going to be fine,” Romar said after the game. “Tonight we didn’t finish, but I thought we played a pretty good game and if we do that we’ll win our share.”
With Marquette ahead 76-75 with 24.1 seconds to play, Washington’s Terrence Ross worked his way into the lane and scored on a turnaround jump-hook, giving the Huskies a 77-76 lead with 12 seconds remaining. Instead of fouling to preserve time, UW allowed Marquette to race the length of the court, and Crowder had an almost uncontested 3-pointer from the baseline.
Romar did not say why he did not all timeout.
Crowder, who scored two points in the first half, had 16 in the second half.
Washington entered the game a decided underdog, but jumped to an 11-2 lead after Ross hit a 3-pointer. When Marquette’s Todd Mayo tied the score at 23 with 7:54 left in the half, the game became a back-and-forth affair despite the fact that Washington did not attempt a free throw in the first 15 minutes.
Washington shot just four free throws (made two) in the first half, compared to Marquette’s 12. Marquette led at the half 37-34.
Neither team could gain separation in the final 20 minutes. Washington held a 50-45 lead with 13:52 to play, its largest of the second half. From that point, the lead changed hands on virtually every possession until Crowder ended it.
Ross hit 9 of 15 shots and finished with 19 points. C.J. Wilcox tallied 15 for the Huskies, including a trio of 3-pointers, and Darnell Gant had 14, 10 in the first half. Freshman Tony Wroten added 13, but clanked four of seven free throws.
Washington’s Abdul Gaddy played one of his poorest games of the season with just four points and four personal fouls.
Darius Johnson-Odom scored 23 points for Marquette, Crowder 18 and Vander Blue and Mayo 11 each.
While the Huskies out-rebounded Marquette 42-30 — Aziz N’Diaye ha 13 and Ross 9 — Washington couldn’t get to the foul line often enough, or do any damage when it did. The Huskies made just 5 of 10 to Marquette’s 19 of 27.
NOTES: Washington will remain in New York for the next few days before taking on No. 7-ranked Duke Saturday (9 a.m. PT) as part of the CARQUEST Auto Parts Classic. Washington is 1-3 all-time against the Blue Devils. Washington and Duke have not met since 1990, when Duke won 74-64 . . . The Washington-Marquette game marked the Huskies’ first appearance in Madison Square Garden since November 2007, when they played at MSG as part of the preseason NIT. In that tournament, the Huskies lost a pair, 77-63 to 16th-ranked Texas A&M and 95-85 to No. 21 Syracuse.
University of Washington 2011-12 Schedule/Results
(Rankings Are Current)
| Date | Opponent | UW Rnk | Opp Rnk | W/L | Score | Rec. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11/4/11 | vs. Seattle Pacific | — | — | W | 77-60 | 0-0 |
| 11/12/11 | vs. Georgia State | — | — | W | 91-74 | 1-0 |
| 11/13/11 | vs. Florida Atlantic | — | — | W | 77-71 | 2-0 |
| 11/14/11 | vs. Portland | — | — | W | 93-63 | 3-0 |
| 11/20/11 | at Saint Louis | — | 23 | L | 77-64 | 3-1 |
| 11/25/11 | vs. Houston Baptist | — | — | W | 88-65 | 4-1 |
| 12/2/11 | at Nevada | — | — | L | 76-73 (OT | 4-2 |
| 12/6/11 | vs. Marquette | — | 11 | L | 79-77 | 4-3 |
| 12/10/11 | vs. Duke | — | 7 | — | — | — |
| 12/16/11 | vs. UC Santa-Barbara | — | — | — | — | — |
| 12/18/11 | vs. South Dakota St. | — | — | — | — | — |
| 12/22/11 | vs. Cal-State Northridge | — | — | — | — | — |
| 12/29/11 | vs. Oregon State | — | — | — | — | — |
| 12/31/11 | vs. Oregon | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1/5/12 | at Colorado | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1/7/12 | at Utah | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1/10/12 | vs. Seattle U. | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1/15/12 | vs. Washington St. | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1/19/12 | vs. California | — | 24 | — | — | — |
| 1/21/12 | vs. Stanford | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1/26/12 | at Arizona St. | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1/28/12 | at Arizona | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/2/12 | vs. UCLA | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/4/12 | vs. USC | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/9/12 | at Oregon | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/12/12 | at Oregon St. | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/16/12 | vs. Arizona State | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/18/12 | vs. Arizona | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/25/12 | at Washington St. | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/1/12 | at USC | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/3/12 | at UCLA | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/7/12 | Pac-12 Tournament | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/8/12 | Pac-12 Tournament | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/9/12 | Pac-12 Tournament | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/10/12 | Pac-12 Tournament | — | — | — | — | — |
2 Comments
Go RSL!
I know it finished late, but why no mention of why Romar did not call time out when Gaddy drove the court toward Husky bench as if setting up time out. Was it a ploy? Who knows. Sloppy ending kind of took away from basically a good game.