The Huskies were 0-5 on the road this year but the remedy was against a rebuilding Utah program. It wasn’t easy for UW as this was a game they should have easily won in terms of talent level but the Huskies struggled throughout the majority of the game on the offensive end of the court.
There was only one Husky in double figures, Terrence Ross with 14 points, and UW shot 42% from the field. A couple of the normal performers on the offensive end struggled mightly; CJ Wilcox went 2-13 from the field and 1-5 from 3pt, Tony Wroten only had 8 points because he found himself riding the bench due to foul trouble for long stretches in the game.
There still seems to be something mental in their heads when it comes to road games. They couldn’t close out the Utes. They even were able to force the Utes into fouling them down the final stretch but no one could make a free throw. Terrence Ross missed 5 free-throws in a row before he finally made the next two, to seal the game.
Game Notes and Thoughts:
- Utah did a good job in game-planning against Tony Wroten. They forced him to be a jump shooter and when he would find ways to the bucket they would make sure to foul him so he would miss the layup and then miss the free throws. This was smart basketball for the Utes.
- CJ Wilcox was cold for his second straight game. He could not find the bottom of the net, in front of 40+ of his friends and family.
- Shawn Kemp Jr. played some really good minutes. There was one series where he brought down a big defensive rebound and then on the offensive end put back a missed shot. He also had 2 blocks.
- Desmond Simmons is truly the junkyard dog. He had 10 rebounds and was doing a lot of the little things right. He did have one mind lapse at the end of the game where he had a stupid foul to put Utah at the line.
- Huskies continue to struggle on the road, this is a game they should have won by 20+ due to the talent level of each team but was unable to find any sort of rhythm.
- The defense looked a little better in this game and that may have been what kept them in it due to their offensive struggles.
- UW also really has no identity, almost every possession they try a different method to score or to defend. There is no set rhythm or identity because nothing seems to work 100% of the time.