SEATTLE — A very different University of Washington men’s basketball team showed up Thursday evening.
That is, the same old Huskies.
UW used inspired defense, savvy decision-making and red-hot 3-point shooting to roll past Cal, 109-77, and ended a three-game losing streak
in the process.
In their first home game in two-and-a-half weeks, the Huskies did what they always to at Hec Edmundson Pavilion: they won by double digits. UW (16-7 overall, 8-4 in the Pacific-10 Conference) improved its perfect home record to 12-0, with a 13-point win over Arizona State being the closest margin.
“I’m not saying that we have been, but it’s easier to coast at home because you can use the crowd as energy,” said senior Matthew Bryan-Amaning, who had 18 points as one of six Huskies in double figures Thursday night. “They can help you get over the top, and that’s how it’s been so far.”
On the way to this win, he Huskies turned around some recent trends. They matched a team record with 17 3-pointers, on 31 attempts, after shooting 33 percent from behind the arc during the three-game losing streak. They had a 30-to-9 assist-to-turnover ratio, which was a huge improvement over the combined 33 assists and 42 turnovers UW had in the losses to Oregon, Oregon State and Washington State.
The Huskies also snapped out of their defensive funk and found success against a zone defense for the first time since … well, the last time they played at home.
Coach Lorenzo Romar said his team was motivated by a three-game losing streak and by “being humbled, maybe even being a little embarrassed, and finally being very disappointed because maybe we let some opportunities slip away. Playing at home certainly is always a plus for us, so you’ve got to add that in too.”
For most of the first half, the Huskies put on a clinic of how to beat a zone defense — most likely because they’ve had so much practice facing it in recent games.
Bryan-Amaning took a rare 10-foot jumper and watched it bounce off the front of the rim and roll in. Six-foot-8 Darnell Gant popped a turnaround jumper from the same distance. Justin Holiday, Isaiah Thomas and C.J. Wilcox rose over the top of Cal’s 2-3 zone to hit 3-pointers, and then Bryan-Amaning hit a hook shot from 7 feet out.
Ten minutes into the game, Holiday provided the exclamation point with a baseline drive and dunk over 6-foot-10 Cal center Richard Solomon.
On this night, whatever the Huskies tried against the zone defense worked to near perfection.
“We’re not scared of a zone,” Thomas said. “We went through a little spell (during the three-game losing streak) where it felt like we were just shooting 3s and we were stagnant and not moving, but we work on zone every day. We’re getting better every day, and it showed (Thursday night).”
By the time 12½ minutes had expired, the Huskies had built up a 44-18 lead and forced Cal out of its zone and into man-to-man. By halftime, UW led 58-34 behind an incredible 10-of-17 shooting from 3-point range.
Cal’s opening 20 minutes was best illustrated by the two players — reserve Emerson Murray and star freshman Alan Crabbe — who had to come out of the game after getting slammed to the floor. It was that kind of half for the Bears.
Crabbe, who took an inadvertent kick to the head from UW center Aziz N’Diaye midway through the first half, watched from the end of the bench while the Huskies poured it on over the final 20 minutes.
For the second time in as many meetings with the Bears, UW’s Thomas was in complete control. He had 23 points and nine assists despite sitting out the final 9½ minutes of Thursday’s game. His most impressive play came when Thomas completed a four-point play on a 3-and-foul early in the second half. He made six of eight shots from 3-point range and has averaged 25 points and 11 assists in a pair of wins over Cal this season.
Afterward, Thomas said he was motivated by the three consecutive losses.
“No matter what it is, it all starts with me — on the defensive end or the offensive end,” he said. “I took that on the chin when we lost those three. That (streak) had a lot to do with me.”
Holiday added 12 points and had three of his four assists in the opening 3:15 of the game. C.J. Wilcox came out of his shooting slump to hit four 3-pointers on the way to 14 points.
It marked the sixth time this season that UW has gone over 100 points in a game, and the 109 points were the most the Huskies have ever scored in a Pac-10 game. In two meetings with UW this season, Cal has been outscored 201-148. No conference opponent has ever given up more points to the Huskies in a regular-season series.
Defensively, the Huskies played mostly aggressive man-to-man while mixing in an occasional full-court press and a sprinkle of zone. UW had 11 blocked shots, three shy of the team record, and forced 16 turnovers.
“We’re more active defensively, for whatever reason, at home,” Romar said. “That fuels our offense; it always will.”
Junior guard Jorge Gutierrez had 24 points, one off his career high, for the Bears. Redshirt freshman Jeff Powers saw the most action of his career and scored 13 points — more than twice the total he had scored at the collegiate level.
The Huskies spread the ball around more, with a season-high 30 assists.
“When we’re really clicking,” Romar said, “we’re pretty good offensively.”
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