New night, same Huskies: No match for Arizona

For 12 minutes Wednesday night in Tucson, Washington shared no resemblance to the team that lost seven of its last nine. The Huskies were creating turnovers and turning them into points, leading the 12th-ranked Arizona Wildcats, 13-8. The Washington lead was almost as surprising as the snowstorm that dropped a few inches of snow on the Arizona campus.

But Arizona’s Mark Lyons hit a three with 6:37 left in the first half to give Arizona an 18-16 lead. The Wildcats never trailed again, cruising to a 70-52 win Wednesday.

“I’m not looking to next year,” Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar said Tuesday. But it appears his team is.

Washington (14-13, 6-8) sits in ninth place in the Pac-12. Arizona (22-4, 10-4) is a half-game behind Oregon for first place. The Ducks host California Thursday.

Leading 33-25 at the half, Arizona opened the second half with a 19-5 run to put the game away. The lead grew to as much as 22.

C.J. Wilcox (15 points) and Abdul Gaddy (12) were the only Huskies to finish in double digits. Five Wildcats finished in double figures, led by Solomon Hill (19 points), who hit half of his 12 attempts.

The Huskies continued their season’s misery behind the arc, missing 10 of 11 three-point attempts. Wilcox (1-6) hit the Huskies’ lone deep ball.

Aziz N’Diaye, who averaged 11 rebounds in his last six games, grabbed only eight rebounds. N’Diaye’s two points were the Senegal native’s second-lowest of the season. N’Diaye was blanked by Connecticut in December.

With the loss, Washington fell to 0-5 against ranked teams this season. The final road game of the regular season is at Arizona Sate (20-7, 9-5) Saturday night in Tempe, where the Sun Devils Thursday beat Washington State 69-57.