SEATTLE — The three-pointers that fell so frequently — and from a variety of players — in the first half had many Husky fans at Alaska Airlines Arena staring in disbelief and wondering “Where has this team been all season?”
Mekhi Mason and Tyler Harris each connected on three shots from behind the arc. In addition, the Washington men’s basketball team received three-pointers from Great Osobor, Wilhelm Breidenbach and DJ Davis.
“We were hitting shots,” Mason said succinctly. “We shot it really well.”
That’s an understatement.
Washington connected on 9 of its first 12 three-pointers, including seven in a row, to take a double-digit lead into halftime.
Then, without warning the Huskies’ red-hot perimeter shooting turned as frigid as the freezing temperatures outside in the second half while missing 12 of their final 13 shots from downtown.
“Tale of two halves,” coach Danny Sprinkle said after UW’s 86-72 loss to Nebraska. “The disappointing part was it kind of started with about three minutes left in the first half for us.
“We didn’t come out with energy for whatever reason. That’s what we challenged them at halftime. Forty minutes of energy. … It wasn’t there in that second half.”
That’s also an understatement.
The Huskies took control early while connecting on eight of their first nine three-point attempts that thrilled the crowd of 6,384 and gave UW a 31-18 lead midway through the first half.
Washington led 47-37 at halftime, but momentum changed immediately after the break.
Nebraska began the second half with a 15-2 run to surge ahead 52-49 while UW converted 1 of 9 shots, including 0 for 3 on three-pointers during the six-minute stretch.
The Huskies regained their footing thanks in part to Mason, who drilled a three-pointer that put them on top 57-56 with 11:17 remaining.
The lead didn’t last long, but it was a one-possession game with eight minutes left and UW had plenty of time and chances to recover.
However, Nebraska outscored Washington 14-5 over a five-minute stretch and Brice Williams capped the run with a three-pointer to go up 75-63 with 2:48 left that essentially sealed the third straight win for the Cornhuskers.
“We got hit and we didn’t hit back,” said Mason, who finished with a season-high tying 23 points on 8-for-12 shooting, including four three-pointers.
Sprinkle said: “We scored enough to win,” while noting superlative performances from Osobor (17 points, eight rebounds and five assists) and Tyler Harris (14 points and 11 rebounds). Vazoumana Diallo added 10 points.
However, the Huskies will lament a porous defensive effort that allowed Nebraska to shoot 55.2% from the field and score 49 points in the second half.
“Our energy can’t be related to us making shots,” Sprinkle said. “We have to be more mature than that. You’re never going to win games if you’re a front runner. If we’re only defending and playing hard when we’re making shots, we’re not good enough to do that.
“In that second half when shots weren’t falling and we got a little sloppy, our energy really dipped, which is something I got to correct.”
In their previous outing, the Huskies appeared poised in the final minutes while making the requisite plays to capture a hard-fought 71-68 win at Minnesota on Saturday.
This time, Washington converted 2 of 8 shots during an eight-minute stretch near the end when the outcome hung in the balance.
“I’m very surprised because some of the plays we were trying to call we weren’t executing them and that’s always attributed to the point guard. I don’t care who it is,” Sprinkle said. “Get us organized and run that play. We struggled with that tonight.”
Williams led the Cornhuskers (15-8, 5-7 in Big Ten) with 23 points while Juwan Gary had 17 and Connor Essegian 16.
The loss dropped Washington to 11-11 and 2-9 in the conference with nine games remaining.
The Huskies end their homestand at 7:30 p.m. Saturday against Northwestern before a daunting five-game stretch that includes road trips to Ohio State, Penn State, Iowa and Wisconsin.
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