Is there life left in the Husky Basketball team? Well we are going to find out tonight in Eugene. Common sense would indicate it after losing to the Beaver's on Thursday that they are going to be spanked in the hostile environment of Mac Court.
Bob Condotta reports that as the teams set up for the jump, Aaron Brooks tried to shake his hand. Brooks held the hand out for quite some time but Appleby, with his hands on his knees, didn't budge, inciting a loud boo from the crowd and a derisive chant of "Appleby'' from the student section on UW's first possession. Hopefully that isn't the play of the game.
The Huskies are noticeably improved tonight and are taking the game to the Duck's tonight, and with 13 minutes left the Huskies lead 21-17. 10:45 left and it is now 25-17....looks like the Huskies are fired up tonight.
2:31 left, and Oregon is up by 7, a 16 point swing in the first half....42-35...ugly.
WSU barely got by Oregon St today in Corvallis which shows that every road game can be a challenge, especially when you are playing an underdog. 8:41 left and the Huskies are on the verge of blowing out the Duck's as they have rushed out to a 30-21 lead.
Key to the game has been Ryan Appleby who has been red hot from the field hotting 5-6 on 3's and leading the Dawg's with 17 points. I guess that is a good way to punk Aaron Brook's.
6:32 left in the half and the Duck's have been on a run to tie the game at 33. Spencer Hawes is 1-7 from the field tonight. The rest of the Huskies need to start chipping in or the fast start is going to go for naught.
Oregon has moved out 40-33 at the 3:40 mark....wow! UW has gone back to playing rat ball, and Oregon has stolen the tempo. Very hard to watch this. Hawes is 2-9, and Dentmon is 1-5. Brockman has only gotten one shot off tonight.
56 seconds left and Phil Nelson just hit a three, Huskies down 44-40.
46-40 Oregon at halftime....remember when the Huskies used to play defense?
54-51 Oregon with 16 minutes left in the game...both teams are trading baskets. 14:30 left and the Duck's lead 59-58. Hawes has 10 for the game...he is recovering from a horrid start...this one is a battle.
12:36 left and there is a timeout on the floor as Oregon has stretched the lead back to 64-60.
9:54 left and Oregon is still up 69-65. Oregon's Poppen-Abajian just hit three free throws after being fouled on a 3 point try. Appleby has 21, and Hawes has 12 lead the Dawg's. Phil Nelson just bricked on a three....why not slow it down and work it inside? Nelson follows up with a dumb foul on Brooks who sinks two free throws...Duck's 73-67....7:10 left. Brockman fouls Hairston who sinks 2 and it is 75-67. Duck's are picking up a lot of points on free throws in the second half.
6:45 left and Oregon is on a run and has taken the lead back to 10 at 77-67....free throw, after free throw....typical Pac Ten officiating for the home team.
5:10 left and Oregon is up 80-71. UW has called a timeout to regroup for a run over the last five minutes. This game has been a rollercoaster with plenty of swings, I wouldn't count UW out yet.
Pondexter has scored the last five points for the Dawg's, and they have pulled close again at 82-76 with 3:33 left as Oregon call's a timeout. I think this one goes down to the last shot.
84-76 Oregon with 3:08 after....you guessed it...two Oregon free throws. Guess again, you are right...two more Oregon free throws 86-76. Oregon is 27-30 at the line tonight while UW is 17-18. Huskies are in foul mode right now and the Duck's are not missing so this one is about over with 1:49 left. Pondexter has 13 on the night with most coming in the last ten minutes of the second half....nice to see.
Entertaining game to watch this evening, but UW's defense is like sieve. Duck's win...Brooks finishes with 30 points tonight as he breaks the Washington jinx. Appleby finishes with 23, Hawes with 20, and Pondexter 13.
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7 comments:
A pleasant surprise to see the game on over here, particularly so because the Dawgs are playing alright. Appleby has hit some nice shots and the rest of the team is covering nicely for Brockman's early fouls. I haven't seen many players, especially the guards, use their left hands. Is that an aberration, or normal?
It's normal hair....and it is a problem.
Having seen them play, I finally understand the frustration of some, if not all fans. They're pretty close but make a lot of stupid plays, among them plays that aren't necessarily bad unless you're playing on the road and the call can go either way.
I think the freshmen were overhyped. They're good, flashes of it all over the court today, but they still don't react on their own to changes in style of play. The matchup zone for instance, but the upperclassmen didn't react all that well to it either. It takes time for lightning to strike twice and that's what we needed to have happen this year with such a young team.
The team I watched today is a far cry from the one being mostly disparaged on dawgman. I'm not speaking strictly of the OSU game. I'd say they deserved to be ripped for that one, but they're better than I've read. I think the fan's expectations were out of whack, mine included. I'd like to keep the coach. The left side did get better in the second half, but still too predictable.
Trying ot find objectivity on the Dawgman boards is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
The team is missing a ballhandler, and the guards can't play defense...in this conference it is a tough thing to overcome. The team is young, it will get better with experience and and a couple of additions.
It is a rebuilding year, and not a bad record for a rebuilding year.
This team played fairly well tonight. If they would have played like this at USC, Cal, Stanford, and OSU we would have won all those games. Apples played much better, appears he has gotten his confidence back on his shooting as does Nelson. We just didn't have anyone who could slow down Brooks. Brockman did well and Hawes also after slow starts. Agree with you on PAC 10 officiating as far as home team goes, it even works in UWs favor, but it leaves me wondering why they just can't call the games even. Its like the NBA, if a "star" goes in its probably the other guys foul, too much human intervention. The games next week are now rendered meaningless except for NIT as we have cemented either 7th or 8th. If 7, we will play ASU, hard to beat an improving team 3 times in a year. If 8th, we will play OSU on a neutral court and I believe we can win the rubber game. Assuming we win the first day, we will then face either WSU or UCLA, no question who I want to play against. The only way left to make the NCAA, yes its still there, is to win PAC 10 tourney, a monumental task, but not impossible. I doubt this team however will play the type of games to make that all possible. Like you said, HIE, they went away from the plan and whats working from 14 min to go in second half when we quit getting the ball inside to the bigs, just like against WSU at home. A most curious team, they will be better next year. Read elsewhere that Lorenzo Romar may be shopping for a true point guard despite the scholarship numbers (Condotta?) Truly our achilles heel this year.
Romar needs a true point guard to get this thing going. I don't see Dentmon evolving enough. Blaine Newnham has a great article on Marv Harshman today, and he has some interesting comments concerning the current Huskies, and Cougar's.
Thanks for emphasizing that article. I saw Coogs in the headline and didn't read it. A lot worth reading in there.
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