Huskies Give Arizona a Game for a Half — and Then Fold Badly
It wasn't quite a sellout, but a large crowd showed up for Saturday afternoon's University of Washington-Arizona basketball game, the most for Alaska Airlines Arena all season.
The place had an electric feel to it, similar to days gone past when Nate Robinson, Brandon Roy, Isaiah Thomas and Jaylen Nowell used to command everyone's attention.
The students never sat down. The 9,268 fans offered a constant hum.
Halfway through first half during a timeout, the Husky football team joined in the festivities, coming out on the floor, holding up the Alamo Bowl trophy and taking a collective bow.
Even the UW basketball team showed up for a half — the good one. The team that's been struggling to find its identity all season. The team you might expect with a talented Kentucky transfer in Keion Brooks and a couple of energetic freshmen guards fearlessly leading it down the floor.
Unfortunately, the Huskies' inner basketball demons re-appeared early in the second half and it was another opportunity missed, as Mike Hopkins' team went down to a 95-72 defeat. The air went out of this one faster than a tire with road spikes in it.
"They just kicked our ass," Brooks said, unfiltered and very candid. "There ain’t nothing else. It’s as simple as that."
Oh, for the longest time, these weren't the same guys who had rolled over earlier in the month and lost by 25 a couple of times and put Hopkins in squarely in coaching jeopardy again.
The Huskies (13-10 overall, 5-7 Pac-12) trailed 3-0 and then not again until a minute remained in the first half against Arizona (19-3, 8-3), the nation's sixth-ranked team.
They went up by nine, at 20-11 on Keyon Menifield's 3-pointer.
They fell behind 38-36 at half, but left the floor following Langston Wilson's emphatic dunk at the buzzer off Menifield's shot or pass, take your pick, and felt good about themselves.
They grabbed the lead one more time, at 44-42, on Braxton Meah's dunk three minutes into the second half while people settled in for what they hoped for would be a final 17 minutes of closely-contested hardwood combat.
Unfortunately, Hopkins' guys didn't have it in them. Not a chance.
"I'm disappointed for our fans," the UW coach said.
The Huskies were outscored 14-0 and a Saturday feel-good moment turned into a 56-42 disadvantage and just another one-sided defeat, with all the mystery gone out of this one with 12 and a half minutes left to play.
Husky quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and most of his football teammates began to leave at that point after watching from high up in the east-end zone seats, leaving their cardboard nachos trays and empty soda cups behind.
Arizona hurt the home team inside and out, with the league's best outside shooter, Kerr Kriisa, draining 3-pointers whenever he wanted and the Pac-12's best inside player, Azuolas Tubelis, and his 7-foot sidekick Oumar Ballo roaming around inside unchecked.
Brooks, as he does most nights, led the UW in scoring with a game-high-tying 25 points while Menifield added 21.
Tubelis also finished with a game-high 25 points, Ballo added 21 and Kriisa dropped in 18 on 6-for-11 shooting.
The Huskies will try to regroup for Thursday night's game at UCLA.
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