Washington Basketball: Huskies end losing streak against Oregon

The Huskies to Eugene, Oregon on Thursday night January 24 with a 5-0 record this year in Pac-12 conference. They were hoping to end a losing streak going back to first meeting in 2015 on January 18 at home in Seattle. The Huskies won that game 85-77. No one on the Washington basketball roster had ever beaten the Ducks.

The Washington basketball team had their hands full on the road against Oregon. The Ducks started off scoring the first points of the game, then the Huskies went on a 13-0 run to make the score 13-2. The Ducks finally scored again with a three point shot at the 11:10 mark left in the first half. With the Huskies leading 17-5, the Ducks scored seven straight points to get closer at 17-12 with seven minutes remaining in the first half. The Huskies were able to get the lead up to 27-19 at half time. The Huskies looked like they should finally end the losing streak against the Ducks.

In the second half, the Ducks said not so fast. Washington had a comfortable lead of 51-42 with less than nine minutes remaining in the game. The Oregon Ducks defense tightened up to the point that the Huskies offense just couldn’t do anything. Several turnovers and blocked shots later, the Ducks went on a 14-0 tear to give themselves their first lead since the opening seconds of the game.

Washington responded scoring five straight points tying the game at 56-56. With 1.6 seconds remaining in the game looking like it could go into overtime, Jaylen Nowell was fouled by Payton Pritchard while trying to make a three. He made all three foul shots to make it pretty impossible for the Ducks to tie or win the game. With the score 59-56 in Washington’s favor,  the Ducks threw the ball deep onto their side of the court, falling out of bounds without anyone touching the ball. Washington got the ball once again on their side of the court. The Ducks fouled Matisse Thybulle who made two foul shots, putting the game out of reach, 61-56. The Huskies scored ten straight points after the Ducks had gone on their 14-0 run. The Huskies are still in first place and finally beat the Oregon Ducks.

The Washington Huskies were led in scoring by Jaylen Nowell with 20 points which included making 3-4 from three point range. David Crisp had a good game from outside as well, going four for eight. He ended with 18 points. Noah Dickerson tallied 11 points, going 5-5 from the field plus one out of two from the free throw line.

Matisse Thybulle didn’t have a good scoring game from the field, making his only two points from the foul line at the end of the game. Thybulle did, however, contribute seven assists in the game to go with three steals and a block. The Huskies had a hard time trying to keep their hands on the ball, especially while being pressed in the second half. Washington ended with 19 turnovers, and the Ducks had 19 as well.

The Oregon Ducks were led in scoring by freshmen forward Louis King with 19 points. He had a good night shooting, making 7 out of 12 from the field along with four of five from the free throw line. Another freshman forward, Miles Norris, had 10 points coming off the bench.

The Washington Huskies now go to Oregon State to see if they can keep the undefeated conference schedule going on Saturday while the Oregon Ducks face Washington State Cougars at home.