By John Sleeper
Herald Writer
SEATTLE – It’s difficult to explain.
Just 48 hours after the Washington Huskies played their best, most dynamic game of the year, a 97-92 upset victory against No. 19 Oregon, they rehearsed the sequel to “Dead Man Walking.”
In a game so important for a variety of reasons, Washington rolled over in 68-53 Pacific-10 Conference men’s basketball game against nemesis Oregon State Saturday night before 6,416 snoozing fans at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
“We got outplayed and outworked,” said Doug Wrenn, who led the Huskies with 19 points.
The question of the day is why. Why now? And why against Oregon State (3-6 Pac-10, 10-9 overall), which whipped Washington for the fifth staight time? And why in a crucial game against a team it needs to beat in the standings to crash the Pac-10 tournament?
As great as Washington (2-8 Pac-10, 8-12) looked against the Ducks on Thursday night, it was that bad against the Beavers. Oregon State can only wish it had the raw talent that Washington has. Yet the Beavers held the Huskies to 53 points, one point more than the UW scored in just the first half against Oregon.
The Beavers made up for the talent deficit by superior hustle and a nearly flawless execution in their halfcourt offense. They ran defenders through screen after screen. They took large chunks of time off the clock. They weren’t pretty, but they were patient. And patience is something the Huskies simply can’t deal with now.
“They lulled us to sleep,” UW point guard Curtis Allen said.
Sleepwalking is one explanation, but considering the importance of the game, it seems borderline incredible.
Washington was the anti-Beaver. A team that prefers to run, to use its astonishing athleticism, to get its points in a way that jolts fans out of their seats as if electrified.
Saturday night, Washington’s offense appeared rooted to the floor.
The result: The Huskies too often had to settle for jump shots because they simply didn’t work hard enough. Wrenn was 6-for-19 from the floor. Forward Grant Leep was 0-for-3 and was pulled after just 12 minutes. Guards C.J. Massingale put up just two shots in 22 minutes; Allen just six in 29.
Center David Dixon approached effectiveness with 10 points and 10 rebounds, but suffered because his teammates couldn’t or wouldn’t get him the ball.
“It’s an issue of movement,” UW coach Bob Bender said. “We have guys I believe should be adept at motion offense because they’re not one-dimensional. It starts because we stand too much. Then at the end of the shot clock, the jumper’s usually going to be available because that’s what they would like you to take.”
Said Wrenn: “It’s ridiculous sometimes how we have absolutely no movement.”
The Beavers gradually built a 32-22 lead with 1:45 left in the half on a 12-2 run. It wasn’t so much what OSU was doing as what the Huskies weren’t.
Like shooting. Like moving. Like thinking.
“We didn’t play hard, plain and simple,” Dixon said.
Washington went the last 7:18 of the first half without a field goal. In that time, Washington missed seven straight shots from the floor and turned the ball over twice. For the half, the Huskies were just 6-of-18 from the floor, prompting Bender to unleash a heinie-chewing 30-second timeout with 90 seconds remaining.
As though THAT did any good.
Post Philip Ricci led the Beavers with 21 points and nine rebounds. Guard Jimmie Haywood added 11 points.
For the Huskies, it might be a blessing that they have just one game this week, Saturday at Washington State. They have much to work on, and the fact that the Cougars are winless in Pac-10 play and have a 12-game losing streak means little, as low as Washington is now.
How low? Wrenn was asked if the team is capable of bouncing back.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I honestly don’t know. That was probably the most important game of the season. I really don’t know.”
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