The Husky Haul
Fansided

Washington basketball falters in the second half at USC

By Herbert Nightingale

SEATTLE, WA - DECEMBER 08: Head coach Mike Hopkins of the Washington Huskies urges on the fans during the 2nd half against the Gonzaga Bulldogs at Hec Edmundson Pavilion on December 8, 2019 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Mike Tedesco/Getty Images)
SEATTLE, WA - DECEMBER 08: Head coach Mike Hopkins of the Washington Huskies urges on the fans during the 2nd half against the Gonzaga Bulldogs at Hec Edmundson Pavilion on December 8, 2019 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Mike Tedesco/Getty Images) /
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Washington basketball lost their seventh straight game, this time at the hands of USC, who they destroyed earlier in the season

Washington basketball was led by Jaden McDaniels, who dropped 14 of his team-high 19 points in the first half, wasn’t enough for the Huskies, who ended up falling 62-56.

The USC Trojans started the second half with a 9-0 run, which put them up by four points. After the Huskies regained the lead shortly, USC took control and never looked back, extending the lead as far as 10, and never letting Washington trim the deficit inside five points.

Besides McDaniels, the Huskies only had two other players in double figures in Isaiah Stewart, who had 13 points, and Nahziah Carter who had 11. McDaniels also led the Huskies in rebounds, pulling down 12, followed by Stewart who grabbed 11. The rest of the team combined for 15 total rebounds.

Senior forward Nick Rakocevic, the Trojans leading scorer, had 13 of his 19 points in the second half. Senior Jonah Mathews was second in scoring for USC, with 11 of his 16 points also coming in the second half. Rakocevic and Mathews displayed senior leadership down the stretch, hitting big shot after big shot, and the Huskies couldn’t answer.

USC was without their leading scorer and rebounder, freshman Onyeka Okongwu who missed the game with a concussion. When the two teams met in Seattle earlier in the year, with Okongwu, Washington was able to pull away with a 72-40 win.

The Huskies now head to Westwood to take on the UCLA Bruins on Saturday night. In their first outing, the Bruins upset the Huskies in Seattle 66-64. Hopefully, we’ll see a better finish out of this Husky team, because Thursday night was a tale of two halves, and if they can play the way they did in the first half for 40 minutes, they’ll have a great shot at pulling themselves out of this funk.

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