SEATTLE — On an afternoon when the red-hot University of Washington men’s basketball team was trying to sleepwalk its way to another home win against an inferior opponent, Huskies senior Matthew Bryan-Amaning was a tall splash of water.
The 6-foot-9 center hoisted a dormant UW team on his able shoulders Saturday, scoring a career-high 30 points to carry the Huskies to an 88-75 victory that was a little too close for comfort.
“It’s never fun to play against Arizona State,” UW coach Lorenzo Romar said afterward. “They always make it difficult. We’re just excited we were able to come out with a victory and move on. As my good buddy, (St. John’s coach) Steve Lavin says: ‘Sometimes you just have to move the chains.’ That’s what we did (Saturday).”
Playing against one of two teams tied at the bottom of the Pac-10 standings, front-running UW (15-4 overall, 7-1 in the conference) played much of the first half as if it had never before seen a zone defense. Bryan-Amaning’s 16 first-half points were the only thing that kept the 20th-ranked Huskies from getting blown out of their own building, while a few teammates chipped in to help the cause down the stretch.
C.J. Wilcox hit an off-balance 3-pointer with 5:50 remaining to give UW a 66-63 lead, and the Huskies never trailed again. Isaiah Thomas scored nine points in the final 3:05 to help hold off a late ASU charge, while teammate Venoy Overton hustled back on defense to block a fast-break layup from the Sun Devils’ Jamelle McMillan and maintain a five-point lead with just over a minute to go.
And Scott Suggs put the final nail in ASU’s coffin with a baseline 3-pointer for an 81-73 lead with 62 seconds remaining.
But it was Bryan-Amaning, the big man who often found himself matched up with defenders 6-7 or smaller at the base of the ASU 1-3-1 zone, who carried UW for most of the afternoon.
“(The Sun Devils) were focused on our guys out on the perimeter,” Suggs said. “Anytime you have Matt one-on-one on the block, it’s a mismatch.”
Bryan-Amaning, whose previous career high was 28 points in the season-opening win over McNeese State, said the one-on-one coverage in ASU’s zone was just what the doctor ordered.
“I love it,” he said. “As long as I keep doing what I’m supposed to do (against the zone), I’ll be all right.”
ASU (9-10, 1-6) brought two 7-footers off its bench but mostly tried to match up with Bryan-Amaning using smaller players.
ASU guard Ty Abbott, who was one of two Sun Devils to score 20 points Saturday, said size was no excuse in his team’s inability to slow down the UW post player.
“He’s a skilled big man, so when he gets angles to the basket, it’s tough to stop him _ whether you’re a guard or a big man,” Abbott said. “We have to do a better job of moving our feet and staying in front of him.”
UW’s Thomas scored nine of his 19 points down the stretch and finished with eight assists, ending a two-game streak of double-doubles. With six rebounds, Thomas looked for awhile like he might actually pull off a triple-double in this one.
But there were plenty of times when Bryan-Amaning didn’t need any assistance. He hit 11 of 16 field goals and was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free-throw line. Bryan-Amaning combined an array of nice post moves with putbacks and an occasional alley-oop dunk — the most impressive of which came early in the second half, when he reached up for a Thomas pass that appeared to be out of his reach and threw it down for a tomahawk finish.
“Wherever (Thomas) throws it, I’m going to go get it,” Bryan-Amaning said. “Y’all forget, I’ve got a 7-4 wing span. If it’s behind me, I’m going to go get it.”
Other than Bryan-Amaning, who had 16 points in the first half alone, the Huskies came out of the gates rather slow. UW missed 11 of its first 17 shots, while ASU caught fire to jump out to a 33-27 lead with four minutes remaining in the first half.
The Huskies rallied to make eight of their next 10 shots and salvage a 40-39 halftime lead, but they struggled to get into much of an offensive rhythm.
“Zones, especially theirs, are a little frustrating because it slows us up,” Thomas said. “We’ve just got to get used to it. We had one day to prepare. Arizona State, they do it every day, so they’re good at it. But we sustained it and got the win.”
Thomas did a little defensive damage of his own after halftime, holding Abbott to seven second-half points after switching defensive assignments.
“I don’t think we win the game (Saturday) if he doesn’t guard Abbott in the second half,” Romar said.
Despite it all, the Huskies really didn’t pull away until the final three minutes. UW led 70-68 before going on an 18-7 run down the stretch to register the 11th double-digit win in as many home games this season.
This victory wasn’t as comfortable as some of the others — despite Bryan-Amaning’s efforts to blow the Sun Devils out of Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
“I came out of the game, and I had 20-something (points), and I’m thinking everything’s going all right,” Bryan-Amaning said, “and I look up, and we’re up two. Then I’m like, ‘I need to refocus.’”
Bryan-Amaning seemed focused all afternoon long, and on this day Romar was certainly glad to have him on his side.
“Without those 30 points, it would’ve been a little more difficult for us,” Romar said late Saturday afternoon. “You would hope somebody else would have stepped up.
“But the fact of the matter was, he was out there. And we were glad to have him.”
Notes
UW’s Thomas is averaging 9.1 assists per game since Dec. 31, which ranks second in the nation. Ohio University’s D.J. Cooper is averaging 9.2 assists per game during that span. … Suggs made his third consecutive start Saturday and had his most effective game since joining the lineup. He scored 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting and made 2 of 3 shots from 3-point range. … The Huskies’ 88 points are the highest total in a home game against ASU since Herb Sendek took over the Sun Devils in 2006.
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