Washington’s defense porous again in loss to Oregon

Published 1:30 am Saturday, February 6, 2021

By Lauren Kirschman / The News Tribune

Quade Green’s answer probably explained more than he intended.

Speaking to the media after Washington’s 86-74 loss to Oregon (10-4, 5-13 Pac-12), the Huskies’ senior point guard was asked to diagnose the problem with the Huskies’ struggling defense.

“We’re still trying to figure that out,” Green said. “We don’t know yet.”

Maybe it’s not the answer UW (4-13, 2-10 Pac-12) fans would like to hear 17 games into the season, but the numbers say it’s an honest one. The Ducks — missing two of their top scorers and shooters in Chris Duarte (17.8 ppg) and Eric Williams (12.3 ppg) — still finished 12-of-25 from the 3-point line.

It’s the second straight game a team has made more than 10 3-pointers against UW as Oregon State hit 11 en route to a victory on Thursday. Three Oregon players — Jalen Terry (5-of-7), Will Richardson (3-of-6) and Eugene Omoruyi (3-of-4) — made at least three 3-pointers on Saturday.

“The game tonight was decided the 3-point line,” said UW head coach Mike Hopkins. “Losing Duarte and Eric Williams, I think their best 3-point shooters, we felt like that wouldn’t be one of their strength and that was the best shooting performance we played against this year.”

UW has given up at least 77 points in 11 straight games — the longest active streak in the country, according to CBS. The Huskies have also allowed 80 or more points eight times this season. Last year, they allowed 80 points in just three games all season. UW ranks last in the Pac-12 in scoring defense (78.1 ppg), tenth in field goal percentage defense (44.8%) and eighth in 3-point percentage defense (33.6%).

Hopkins made defensive adjustments before a close loss to UCLA on Feb. 13 with the addition of a matchup zone. The change helped briefly as UW earned back-to-back wins against Colorado and Utah. But now the Huskies have dropped three consecutive games — and Hopkins said there aren’t many adjustments left to make.

“We’re breaking down a few too many times,” Hopkins said. “Tonight we tried to go back to our original zone, for the most part, just to give them a different look. I felt with losing those 3-point shooters that it would be a little bit different. But once they got hot, we tried to make the adjustment.

“Once they were hot, they were hitting end of the shot clock 3s, they were hitting from deep. That was 12 3s, shooting 50% from the 3-point line is not a winning recipe for us. There were some breakdowns for us, for sure, but they also made some tough shots.”

UW trailed by only one point, 21-20, with 10:50 left in the first half. But the Ducks then launched an 8-0 run to go ahead 29-20 and eventually entered halftime with a 42-31 lead. Oregon picked up where it left off in the second half, opening on a 12-5 run that pushed its advantage to 54-36 with 16:24 remaining. The Huskies never got back within single digits.

“They came out hitting shots,” Green said. “We couldn’t get no stops. Pretty much that’s what happened. We couldn’t get no stops.”

UW did put together a 10-0 run to cut the Ducks’ lead to 11 with 4:13 remaining, but the Huskies couldn’t get the stops it needed to get back within striking distance. Two free throws and a layup from Oregon pushed the advantage back to 15 with 3:26 left. After a technical foul on Hopkins for arguing an offensive foul call against guard Jamal Bey, Oregon added two more free throws and another layup to go ahead 84-65.

“Against Oregon State, there was a lot of lack of communication and tonight it was awareness,” Hopkins said of UW defensive struggles. “That just means when the ball gets into a certain part of the defense, shooters are moving and you have to be aware. Then you also have to be aware — some guys might not be great shooters but after they make one or two, you have to change the way you’re defending them. That’s where we didn’t make the adjustment.”

Oregon shot 48.3% (29-of-60) from the field, out-rebounded the Huskies 32-21 and had 13 second-chance points to UW’s five. While the Huskies shot 51% from the field and 47.4% from three, they still turned the ball over 14 times — leading to 22 points for Oregon.

Green had 23 points for the Huskies, while Marcus Tsohonis added 15. Omoruyi finished with 25 points and five rebounds for Oregon.

With seven games remain on the schedule, UW is now entering the final stretch of a season Hopkins described as “frustrating” and “challenging.” The Huskies will return home next week to face USC and UCLA, and Hopkins said UW’s practices will focused on defense until then.

“The 3-point line is something that we defend, that we take pride in,” Hopkins said. “The last two games, you see 11 and 12 (threes). … We can’t do that. We just can’t do that. I shouldn’t say the whole practice will defense (for us), but the majority of it will be, for sure.”