GAME: Arizona State (17-4 overall, 6-2, Pac-12) at Washington (12-9 overall, 4-4, Pac-12). WHEN: Saturday, 6 p.m., Alaska Airlines Arena. TYPE: Conference. MEETING: 75th (UW leads 38-36). STREAKS: UW L 4; Arizona State W 2. RANKINGS: Neither school ranked. COACHES: Herb Sendek, Arizona State; Lorenzo Romar, Washington. TV: ESPNU. RADIO: KJR 950 AM
Two nights after blowing an early 11-point lead at home over 8th-ranked Arizona, Washington hosts an Arizona State team (17-4, 6-2) putting together its best season since the 1980-81 season when it started 19-2.
The Huskies’ 57-53 loss to Arizona Thursday extended their losing streak to four games. Washington had not dropped four straight since the middle of the 2007-08 season. Washington has not been swept at home by the Arizona schools since head coach Lorenzo Romar’s first season at UW in 2003.
Arizona State has won nine of its last 11 games, losing its only two Pac-12 contests at first-place Oregon Jan. 13 and at home to second-place Arizona Jan. 19.
Scoring 72.8 points per game, the Sun Devils own the Pac-12’s fifth-highest scoring offense. Only four players in the Pac-12 score more per game that freshman guard Jahii Carson (17.6). Carrick Felix (14.9), Evan Gordon (11.2) and Jordan Bachynski (10.2) also pace the Sun Devil offense. Arizona State leads the conference in rebounding (28.7), led by Felix (8.3).
For Washington, coming off a dreadful shooting performance Thursday night, hitting only 35 percent of its shots (3 of 18 from behind the arc), Arizona State does not bring any relief. The Sun Devils own the conference’s second-best defensive field goal percentage (39.2). Washington possesses the conference’s second-worst defensive field goal percentage (42.6).
During Washington’s four-game losing streak, opponents have shot a healthy 49.3 percent from the field, compared to 37.4 percent opponents shot during UW’s four-game winning streak to open the Pac-12 season. Against Arizona, Romar started Shawn Kemp Jr. for the first time in place of slumping Desmond Simmons. He had seven points and one rebound in 20 minutes, Simmons had two points and three rebounds in 18.
With a 1-5 record against the RPI Top 50, including bad losses to Oregon State, Utah, Nevada and Albany, it may be now or never for the Huskies regarding their longshot chances at an NCAA tourney at-large berth. Washington still gets another shot at conference leaders Oregon and Arizona, as well as a second game with Arizona State in Tempe. But if there’s no rally, winning the Pac-12 Tournament is the lone shot.
SERIES: Dates to Nov. 28, 1977, when the Huskies recorded a 68-62 victory over the Sun Devils at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. Washington has a five-game winning streak over the Sun Devils, its most recent victory a 77-69 decision Feb. 16. In that game, Terrence Ross scored 18 points, C.J. Wilcox 14 and Tony Wroten 13 for the Huskies, who had a 24-point lead before allowing Arizona State a late burst.
UW STATS / NOTES
- SEASON SUMMARY: Record: 12-9. Home: 7-5. Road: 4-3. Neutral: 1-1. Vs. Pac-12: 4-4. Vs. Pac-12 North: 3-2. Vs. Pac-12 South: 1-2. Vs. Non-Conference: 8-5. Points: 1441 (68.6). Field Goal Pct.: 43.6. 3-Pt. FG Pct.: 35.9. Free Throw Pct.: 68.4. Rebounds: 754 (35.9). Assists: 244 (11.6). Turnovers: 275 (13.1). Steals: 99 (4.7). Blocks: 95 (4.5). Points Against: 1389 (66.1). Opp. FG Pct.: 42.6. Opp. 3-Pt. FG Pct.: 31.9. Opp FT Pct.: 65.6. Opp. Rebounds: 696 (33.1). Opp. Assists: 255 (12.1). Opp. Turnovers: 268 (12.8). Opp. Steals: 132 (6.3). Opp. Blocks: 65 (3.1). Ratings Percentage Index (RPI): Ranked 71st (58th last week).
- PAC-12 RANKINGS: Scoring Offense — 7th (69.4). Scoring Defense — 9th (66.6). Scoring Margin –11th (+2.8). FG Pct. — 9th (44.0). FT Pct. — 7th (68.8). 3-Pt FG Pct. — 1st (37.0). Rebound Margin — 8th (+3.8). Blocked Shots — 5th (4.35). Assists — 9th (11.70). Steals — 11th (4.70). Turnover Margin — 7th (-0.35).
- C.J. Wilcox (19.0) ranks 2nd in Pac-12 scoring and Scott Suggs 22nd at 12.2. Wilcox is 1st with 2.70 3-pointers per game 5th in 3-point percentage at 41.9.
- Wilcox, who had only 11 points Thursday, has scored 20 or more points in 11 of his past 16 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 9.2 per game. N’Diaye also ranks 1st in offensive rebounds (3.50) and 1st (63.2) 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 (323-210 overall, 230-120 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 | 21 | 45.7 | 41.0 | 75.0 | 4.6 | 1.9 | 18.6 |
| Scott Suggs | 18 | 39.4 | 36.6 | 87.8 | 2.3 | 1.7 | 12.1 |
| Abdul Gaddy | 21 | 41.3 | 34,5 | 69.1 | 3.0 | 3.6 | 11.3 |
| Aziz N’Diaye | 21 | 62.1 | 0.00 | 44.9 | 9.2 | 0.3 | 10.5 |
| Andrew Andrews | 18 | 37.1 | 26.8 | 74.3 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 7.8 |
| Desmond Simmons | 21 | 34.8 | 36.4 | 75.0 | 7.5 | 1.1 | 5.0 |
| Shawn Kemp | 14 | 45.7 | 0.00 | 60.0 | 2.1 | 0.1 | 4.3 |
| Jenard Jarreau | 20 | 37.5 | 0.00 | 80.0 | 2.7 | 0.3 | 2.9 |
| Hikeem Stewart | 12 | 30.0 | 0.00 | 1.000 | 0.3 | 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 | 21 | 43.6 | 35.9 | 68.4 | 35.9 | 11.6 | 68.6 |
| Opponents | 21 | 42.6 | 31.9 | 65.6 | 33.1 | 12.1 | 66.1 |
ARIZONA STATE NOTES: Arizona State opened the season with a four-game winning streak and has produced two other winning streaks of four and six games. ASU has played just one ranked team, No. 14 Creighton Nov. 24 (lost 87-73). The Sun Devils have had just one losing steak, falling at Oregon State (72-62) and Oregon (68-65) Jan. 10 and Jan. 13, respectively . . . Arizona State is coming off a 63-59 victory over Washington State. Carson had 25 points and did not commit a turnover.
ARIZONA STATE HEAD COACH: Herb Sendek is in his seventh year as head coach of the Sun Devils. Sendek, the 2009 Pac-10 Coach of the Year, is nearing his fourth 20-win season with the Devils. Sendek began his college head coaching career at Miami of Ohio, where he worked from 1993-96. He coached at North Carolina State from 1997-06. His teams have made six NCAA Tournament appearances. Sendek is a Pittsburgh native who graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University.
COMING UP: The Huskies travel to Los Angeles next week for games against UCLA and USC. UW returns to Alaska Airlines Arena Feb. 13 to host Oregon.
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 | L | 81-76 | 12-8 |
| 1/31/13 | vs. Arizona | — | 8 | L | 57-53 | 12-9 |
| 2/2/13 | vs. ASU | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/7/13 | at UCLA | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/10/13 | at USC | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/13/13 | vs. Oregon | — | 12 | — | — | — |
| 2/16/13 | vs. Oregon St. | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/20/13 | at Arizona | — | 8 | — | — | — |
| 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