UW 83, Arizona 78 final
With this win, the Huskies are at least going to win a share of the Pac-10 title, something they haven’t done since 1985. A win next weekend against WSU will clinch the title outright.
Jon Brockman was huge in the second half, scoring 14 points to finish with 19. He also had 11 rebounds. Isaiah Thomas had 19 as well, with 13 coming in the second half.
Jordan Hill, who showed some serious guts coming back, finished with a game-high 27 points and 10 rebounds.
More to come after the game.
Huskies by one, Budinger is out
One part of the Wildcats’ big three, Jordan Hill, came back, though he’s limping heavily, but Chase Budinger is out for sure after picking up his fifth foul a moment ago.
Hill just made an impressive spin move—especially given his gimpy ankle—and hit a fade-away jumper to make it a one point game with 2:10 left.
And did I meantion it’s loud in here? Well it is. That late-arriving crowd is making up for its tardiness now.
Washington up three with 4:45 left in the game
Washington is in the lead, and Isaiah Thomas is on the verge of taking over. He now has 19 point, 13 coming in this half, and has scored five straight for Washington.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, it looks like they’re likely going to be without Jordan Hill for the rest of the day. Hill, who has 21 points and eight rebounds, came down on Matthew Bryan-Amaning’s foot after a missed shot and hurt his ankle. He stayed on the ground for a while and had to be helped off. Hopefully it’s nothing too serious, because Arizona relies heavily on him, Chase Budinger and Nic Wise.
And as I typed that last paragraph, Hill just went to the scorers table to check back into the game. It’ll be interesting to see how that ankle responds.
Also as I was writing this, Chase Budinger just picked up his fourth foul.
Huskies back to within two
The Huskies have battled back to make it a two-point game on a Jon Brockman putback of an Elston Turner miss with 8:35 left, and the crowd is really into the game now. Brockman now has 14 points, nine in the second half, and is a rebound short of a double-double.
Should be another exciting finish here at Hec Ed.
UA 57, UW 51, 11:15 left in the second half
Washington has fallen behind by 10 twice now, but now has the ball with a chance to turn this into a ballgame once again.
The Huskies had better hope today’s game doesn’t come down to free-throw shooting however, because they’ve been terrible from the line today, making just five of 15 attempts thus far.
Isaiah Thomas is heating up, and now has 13 points, but the Huskies haven’t been able to contain Jordan Hill, who already has 21 points.
Wildcats lead is now six
Five minutes into the second half, Arizona is up 47-41 and has the ball coming out of the timeout. Washington has found success with its guards driving, as Thomas and Dentmon have scored hte last seven points, three on short baskets and one on a Dentmon free throw.
The Huskies aren’t having much success stopping the Wildcats, however, and they’ll have to do so to get back in this game. Washington is putting Venoy Overton and Justin Holiday in, so defense is exactly what Lorenzo Romar is hoping for.
Chase Budinger and Nic Wise are both playing with three fouls, so expect the Huskies to attack those two on offense.
Arizona 36, Washington 32, halftime
Not a good offensive half for the Huskies, and the result is a four-point halftime deficit. Isaiah Thomas leads Washington with six points, but is one for five from the free throw line. Venoy Overton, Matthew Bryan-Amaning, Quincy Pondexter and Jon Brockman each have five points.
The Huskies are shooting 36.4 percent from the field and from the free-throw line.
Jordan Hill is leading the way for the Wildcats with 15 points and five rebounds. And
UA 30, UW 27, 3:37 left in the first half
Arizona used a 7-0 run a few moments ago to take the lead, and now has the ball after the timeout with a chance to stretch that lead to five or six points.
The good news for the Huskies is that they’re getting Arizona and foul trouble, the bad is that they’re not converting at the line. Washington is currently three of nine from the line, and Isaiah Thomas is one for five.
Arizona by one
The Wildcats lead 17-16 with 10:41 left in the half, and we’ve been witnessing some wild basketball and strange officiating. The questionable calls seem to be balancing themselves out, but both coaches have gotten pretty fired up so far. Wouldn’t shock me if we see a tech or two called tonight the way this is going.
The good news for Washington is that Nic Wise is out of the game right now with two fouls, and Chase Budinger is playing with two.
UW 9, Arizona 9, 15:49 left in first half
At the first TV timeout, it’s a tie game as both teams are pushing the tempo as expected. Isaiah Thomas has five points to lead the Huskies, and Chase Budinger has five for the Wildcats.
PREGAME
There is some concern heading into this game that the Huskies could come out flat after such a big win over ASU Thursday, but who knew we needed to worry about a letdown game from the crowd too? With just five minutes remaining until tipoff, there are still a ton of empty seats at Hec Ed even though the game is officially sold out. Perhaps it’s just a late arriving crowd and this place will be rocking soon, but right now it looks like we won’t have quite the same atmophere for today’s game as we did Thursday.
Oh, and for those watching on TV, be sure to check out the purple suit jacket being worn by UW coach Lorenzo Romar. He’s been known to break that out once a season or so, and apparently today’s the day for it.
Back with game updates soon.
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