Washington Basketball Madness hopes down to final 3 game stretch
By Cody Tyo
Fatigue mounts, Huskies slow
After the wins over the Arizona schools, Washington faithful were optimistic about a return to the NCAA Tournament (UW’s last bid was in 2011).
Since that big week, Washington is 1-4 with three double-digit losses. The fourth loss was a double-OT thriller at Oregon State. That game came down to a buzzer-beating-three to win it for the Beavers. Big losses and mounting expectations take their toll. And that is exactly what is happening to Hopkins’ young roster. With backs to the wall, Washington must now power through it on the path to Madness.
Speed bump
Washington’s offense has faces trouble when trying to score out of the half court offense. The reason? Poor shot selection. The UW defense has faltered as well. The 2-3 zone was playing as disruptively as any defense in the nation. But the team exposed a weakness in losses to Oregon and Oregon State in defending against trailers in the paint. Since then, the team has fallen victim to some huge scoring efforts in the paint during this rough five-game span.
Most notable was Thursday night — Stanford’s Reid Travis posted a career-high 33 points to go along with five offensive rebounds.