Huskies hit rock bottom

Published 11:25 pm Saturday, February 23, 2008

SEATTLE — In an up-and-down season, the Huskies hit what might be a new low Saturday.

And following a 77-63 loss to Arizona State at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, Washington didn’t have a lot of answers, only disappointment.

How could a team that had won three of its past four games, one that was fighting for its NCAA Tournament life in its final home game of the season come out so flat?

“I wish I could tell you,” said junior forward Jon Brockman, who was one of the few bright spots for Washington with 21 points and 15 rebounds. “I have no idea.”

Why can’t the Huskies keep momentum going after positive stretches and big wins this year?

“It’s tough to say what makes all of us go and what doesn’t at some points during the season,” said senior guard Ryan Appleby. “You would think we’d gain confidence and we’d see how to play when we were playing well, but I don’t know why we’re not learning from our wins.”

And how did the Huskies, who have been almost unbeatable at Hec Ed in recent years, finish 4-5 at home in Pac-10 play?

“This is usually the place where we never lose,” Brockman said. “I don’t know.”

Arizona State jumped ahead on its first possession with a Rihards Kuksiks 3-pointer, and led the entire game. The lead grew to as many as 12 points in the first half, but the Huskies used a 7-0 run late in the half and trailed by just six at halftime despite shooting 27.3 percent from the floor.

The Sun Devils started to pull away again in the second half, and led by 17 midway through the half before a 9-0 Washington run got the 9,698 in attendance back into the game temporarily.

ASU freshman James Harden, who led all scorers with 25 points, ended that run with an open 3-pointer, and the Sun Devils outscored Washington 18-7 the rest of the way.

“Obviously that was very disappointing,” said Washington coach Lorenzo Romar. “Arizona State played a fantastic ballgame today.”

Washington, which started this week in ninth place in the Pac-10 standings, could have gotten back into the thick of the conference race with a win. Depending on how other teams did Saturday and today, the Huskies could have moved into fifth place with a win Saturday. Instead, Washington is back in an eighth-place tie with Oregon.

“I know we just blew it,” Brockman said when asked about the Pac-10 race. “We could have passed up four teams, I believe, with that game. But man, I wish I knew why we didn’t come out to play.”

Arizona State avenged its loss to Washington in Tempe, Ariz., earlier this year, and kept its tournament hopes alive by improving to 7-7 in conference play. Arizona State ended an 11-game losing streak to Washington while also stopping a streak of 11 straight wins in home finales for Washington. The Sun Devils came into the game having lost two in a row.

“We wanted to go on the road and at least get one,” said Harden. “Two would have been better, but we just didn’t play well against Washington State. We came back with the mindset that we needed to win, and our guys played like it.”

In addition to Harden, Arizona State had three other starters in double figures, led by Kuksiks’ career-high matching 15 points. A freshman forward from Latvia, Kuksiks had started just four games before Saturday, and did not even play against Washington earlier in the season.

Seniors Ryan Appleby and Tim Morris were introduced before the start of their last home game, though neither had the sendoff they probably would have liked. Appleby scored 12 points, but made just four of 16 field goal attempts. Morris’ last home game ended early, as he fouled out with 7:33 left in the game with three points.

Contact Herald Writer John Boyle at jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on University of Washington sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com /huskiesblog