TUCSON, Ariz. — The Washington Huskies headed home Saturday night, consoling themselves with the knowledge that they had earned a split during their two-game trip to the desert.
Playing in front of an energized crowd of 14,602, the Arizona Wildcats were simply too hot to handle, and their 84-69 victory at McKale Center left little for the Huskies to second guess.
“I think we have to be happy that we got a split,” forward Jon Brockman said. “A split on the road in the Pac-10 is tough. You obviously want to win every game, but if you can split every road trip, you’re looking pretty good. … We played like garbage, so we can’t be happy about the whole road trip. We need to get back to how we were playing Thursday night against Arizona State.”
Actually, coach Lorenzo Romar thought the Huskies’ play against Arizona did have something in common with the first game of the trip — but that wasn’t a good thing.
Washington (12-8 overall, 3-4 Pacific-10 Conference) had gotten into trouble at Arizona State when the Huskies rushed bad shots, then righted themselves when their shot selection improved.
On Saturday, no amount of righting would help once the Wildcats found their stride.
“I have said that if you have good shooter who shoots open shots, you will make those shots,” Arizona interim coach Kevin O’Neill said. “Sometimes the basket looks as big as a swimming pool.”
It must have looked like the ocean against Washington. Arizona hit 28 of 45 shots (62.2 percent), including 13-for-22 on 3-pointers (59.1 percent).
Freshman guard Jerryd Bayless was 9-for-11 (5-of-6 on 3s) for 26 points. Sophomore forward Chase Budinger added 25.
“We just made two (future) pro basketball players look like pro basketball players,” Brockman said. “Chase and Bayless, if you give them any kind of room, the ball’s going to go in. Every player in the game will tell you if you get going early, the rest of the night is a breeze. I think we just let them get going early.”
Washington also had a good shooting night, hitting 30 of 57 shots (52.6 percent). That helped the Huskies stick around for about 15 minutes, even after Brockman picked up an early second foul and went to the bench for almost eight minutes.
However, just before halftime, Washington began rushing shots, and the Wildcats ended the half with an eight-point run that gave them a 45-32 lead that was never seriously threatened.
“In spite of them scoring and shooting at a high clip, we were right there,” Romar said. “But now if you’re going to take quick, tough shots, a team like that is going to make you pay. If they’re not going to have to play defense very long and they’re in a rhythm, that’s not a good combination.”
Brockman led the Huskies with 24 points despite playing just 27 minutes. Ryan Appleby added 13, and Joe Wolfinger opened some eyes with 11 points while playing his first meaningful minutes since the start of conference play.
“I think the big reason that I played was because (Arizona’s 6-foot-10) Jordan Hill was camping out in the key just waiting to block shots,” Wolfinger said. “If I take him out of there, I could stretch the (defense) out, and if someone smaller tries to guard me I can just rebound over them.”
Romar was impressed enough to say Wolfinger might have earned additional playing time Thursday, when the Huskies begin a four-game homestand against Stanford.
“I like our team,” Romar said. “If we won tonight and lost the other night … everybody would be all excited: ‘Hey, we’re going to rule the world.’ But we reversed it. It doesn’t mean we’re down. We got a split.”
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