UW Downs Dons 80-52

by Craig Yamada

All around great game last night for the Dawgs who cruised to an 80-52 victory. In case you missed the game with yet another ugly sweater White Elephant party, here are some highlights compliments of UW:

Romar brought out a fresh lineup coming off his last loss at Texas A&M. MBA got himself back into the starting lineup to play alongside Aziz N’Diaye on Saturday. This may mark the starting five Romar rolls out moving forward in effort to control the boards from the tip. The lineup adjustment paid dividends for the Dawgs as they won the rebounding battle with ease on Saturday and were able to keep USF’s second chance opportunities to a bare a minimum.

UW forced 17 turnovers on defense and scored 23 points off those turnovers. Although they struggled from the field a bit in the early going, they were able to make up for it in other facets of the game. Through rebounding, defense and making the extra pass, they were able to take control of the game in the first half and ran away in the second.

Here are some quick thoughts on the game:

Positives:

• Aziz N’Diaye = Romar said this week that getting Aziz more minutes would be key. And he proved himself correct by giving Aziz big minutes in the first half. Aziz finally looked somewhat comfortable in the post, thanks to some great passes from Gaddy, Overton and IT tonight. They put him in situations where he could convert easy baskets and he flourished with 9 first half points. He also added 4 blocks to his name by nights end on the defensive end.
• Abdul Gaddy = Gaddy threw down his first slam in his Husky career tonight off a Broy-esque drive to the lane. Gaddy found ways to take his man off the dribble all night and was successful in finding the open man all night long as he tallied a team high 7 assists. Gaddy is really coming into his own and if he can sustain this level of play during the Pac-10 season, the Huskies will be in great shape.
• Scott Suggs = Suggs was the only Husky who had his stroke going from deep tonight. He was 3 of 3 from deep and scored 15 points on the night. Suggs was the man off the bench as the rest of the bench failed to make any significant impact on tonight’s game.
• Forcing Turnovers = As a team, forcing turnovers and converting 23 points off those turnovers will win any game for the Dawgs this year. This USF team was down 20 points and stalling the ball tonight. Head scratcher right? UW deployed its 3/4 court trap and was able to get into the passing lanes with ease.
• Unselfishness = Venoy Overton, Gaddy, and IT combined for 19 of UW’s 21 assists tonight. They were a delight to watch in transition tonight. MBA and Aziz both benefited from the extra pass tonight.
• Rebounding = UW won the battle of the boards and thus controlled the game. I expect to see a lot of Aziz and MBA starting games henceforth. UW was tenacious in grabbing offensive and defensive rebounds tonight.

Negatives:

• 3 pt Shooting = Just an off night from top to bottom from deep. The Huskies converted 23% of its attempts from deep tonight (6 of 26). If not for Scott Suggs, this could have been even uglier. Luckily the transition game was on point tonight and carried the load for UW’s scoring output.