Brown-led Huskies Hang On To Beat Buffaloes by 2

Alaska Airlines Arena was less than half full. Shots wouldn't drop for anyone. Multiple big men were in foul trouble. Mike Hopkins' team trailed most of the opening half.

Working through all of these complications, the Huskies managed to pull it together and toughed out a 60-58 victory over the Colorado Buffaloes on Thursday night in a late-starting game.

The solution was obvious, one that never gets old.

With former Husky and free-agent NBA guard Isaiah Thomas seated courtside, opposite his retired jersey banner hanging from the rafters, the legendary No. 2 watched the current No. 23 do his creative basketball thing once more.

The old UW shot-maker checked out the extensive offensive arsenal of the new one.

The Huskies turned to Pac-12 leading scorer and senior guard Terrell Brown Jr., who provided 17 of his game-high 26 points in the first half to keep things close, then he and his teammates hung on for dear life to escape with a win. He hit 10 of 17 shots, all from close range, in topping his scoring average by six.

Rushing back from a 15-point deficit, Jabari Walker's shot in the key for the tie wouldn't go down for Colorado and Daejon Davis grabbed the rebound and it was over.

"We're learning to win the close ones," Brown said.

Brown and Emmitt Matthews Jr., who had a 15-point, 11-rebound outing, scored all but 19 of the UW points.

"We're just playing basketball," Matthews said. "At the end of the day, it's whatever it takes."

This enabled the UW (10-8 overall, 5-3 Pac-12) to reverse a 78-64 defeat to the Buffaloes (13-7, 5-5) three weeks earlier in Boulder. This permitted the Huskies to bounce back from a humbling 84-56 Sunday loss to Oregon, a team that Colorado upset 82-78 two days later, with both games played in Eugene.

On his home floor, Brown simply headed for the basket and hit assortment of shot while using his off hand, getting knocked to the floor and throwing up a ball just hoping it would go in. He did this while Colorado tried to double-team him at times.

All six of his opening half buckets were layins with the creative one missing three jumpers and having another shot blocked.

He did this while his teammates missed their first 7 3-point attempts before finishing 2-for-11 at the break.

He did this while front-liners Nate Roberts and Langston Wilson got in first-half foul trouble.

He did this while Davis got banged up and momentarily had to leave the game and the Huskies fell behind by seven, the last time at 27-20.

The first half ended with Brown in typical fashion weaving his way through the key, getting bumped and lobbing up a shot that went in while he crashed to the floor. Colorado led 32-31 at the break.

"It's like this is what I do, everybody knows this is what I do and I can still do it," Hopkins said of his determined guard. "I wish I had that talent."

Brown kept his team close while it needed time to regroup, which it did.

The Huskies outscored Colorado 11-1 over the first four minutes of the next half and 19-5 through the opening seven minutes to take control.

Brown contributed three more lay-ins and the UW moved in front 50-37.

With 12 minutes left to play, the guard was subbed out to take a break and the crowd gave him a round of applause. Of course, it wasn't over.

After a short break, Brown returned and helped the Huskies withstand a furious Colorado run that cut the UW's largest lead from 15 to the final 2. He was limping afterward, but still standing.

The Huskies next play again on Saturday when they host Utah in an afternoon encounter.

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