Terrence Ross Puts the Huskies On His Back to Beat UCLA 71-69

It wasn’t a pretty win but it was an exciting one. The Washington Huskies had 16 turnovers in their win over the UCLA Bruins and 10 of them came in the first half. The majority of the turnovers happened when there was no pressure on the ball, UCLA wasn’t forcing the turnovers, UW was simply throwing the ball away. It looked like a game that the Huskies could potentially throw away.

Another major problem for the Huskies was Josh Smith. He was a monster in this game, he scored a career high 24 points and also had 9 rebounds. He just couldn’t be stopped when he had position in the paint. He was taking over the game for the Bruins. He scored nearly 35% of the Bruins points. He had 35 of his family members there to support him and he was able to give them quite the show.

In the first half alone, Smith scored 14 points and made it so the Huskies were never able to take a sizable lead. UW only carried a one point lead into half-time, thanks to a bank shot in the last seconds by Terrence Ross.

That was just the beginning of what Ross had in mind. The Huskies were down by 10, Tony Wroten was out with a injury, and it looked like UW was about to let this game slip away on their home court but that was when Ross took the game into his own hands. He put the Huskies on his back and helped them go on a 15-2 run to take a 68-65 lead.

He wasn’t done as he added one more three point shot to put the Huskies at 71 and the Bruins were able to get to 69 but no further when time expired. Ross finished with 22 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 1 steal.

Other Thoughts: 

• Shawn Kemp Jr. was impressive against the big man, Josh Smith especially as a freshman. He was able to hold his own down in the paint. He also had a couple of big dunks, a block, and 2 rebounds. He looks like he is trying to earn back some of the minutes that Austin Seferian-Jenkins has out-worked from him.
• Seferian-Jenkins is a big and physical person but Smith was able to get ASJ to foul him on almost every defensive series ASJ saw against Smith. It wasn’t a pretty game for ASJ. He didn’t see much action after his first two fouls.
• Darnell Gant had an impressive game; he had 12 points and was able to log some really big minutes for the Huskies. He was playing like a senior leader out there today.
• Tony Wroten is going to get his thigh checked out but the injury looks to be minor.