Husky Basketball: Northern Illinois Defeated 67-57

Only a few minutes after Washington’s football team was defeated by Boise State in the Maaco Bowl Las Vegas, the basketball tipped off in Montlake against a Northern Illinois team that has struggled so far this year, entering play with an 2-8 record. The Huskies maintained a reasonable 10+ point lead throughout most of the game, and though sloppy play and the hot shooting of Northern Illinois forward Abdel Nader, who finished with 18 points, brought the score within single digits with a few minutes remaining, Gaddy and Wilcox hit free throws down the stretch and the win was secured.

Dec 22, 2012, Seattle, WA, USA; Washington Huskies center Aziz N

While it wasn’t a game to be all that excited about if you’re Coach Romar and his team, it’s obviously better than a loss, and I think the Huskies will take it for now. It would be nice to see a bit more of the progress that we saw in the solid win over Cal Poly only a few days ago, but perhaps not letting games like this slip away is progress enough at this point. I’ve also been continuously impressed by the way the Huskies have fixed their rebounding problem, and though allowing offensive boards can still occasionally be an issue, winning the battle on the glass 41-23 is great by any standards.

Wilcox has continued to shoot the ball well, and he finished with 21 points, while N’Diaye’s rugged and efficient play allowed him to score 13 points on 7 shots while pulling down 12 boards, 8 of them offensive. Washington will take the court once again on the 29th of December at the University of Connecticut. As always, thanks for reading.