The Washington Huskies returned home to face the San Diego Toreros and barely survived with a 66-63 win.
In a game where the Huskies improved in some areas, it was much of the same story with other aspects of their game.
One of the big positives of the game was that the Huskies recorded a season low 9 turnovers, which was the first time they have been in single digits.
It was a hard-fought battle the entire night with both teams trading jabs and many lead changes taking place throughout the game.
“This was a hard team to play. You look at your team, and they are a little drained, and you are trying to get that energy to come out of them against a high-quality team. I think the staff and the players are very relieved to come up with a victory in the state we were in.” Head Coach Mike Hopkins said.
In the first half, the Huskies found themselves playing from behind most of the half and then went on a massive run to take the lead.
The Toreros were able to exploit the soft spots in the Huskies 2-3 zone defense in the first half and get some easy buckets.
During the first half, the Huskies continued their cold shooting woes that have plagued them the entire season. They were 1 for 7 from behind the arc at 14.3%.
Things were looking good until San Diego went on a run of their own and took a 32-31 lead heading into halftime.
In the second half, the Huskies were able to shoot the ball better from the field and got a nice contribution from their bench.
For the entire game, the Huskies outscored San Diego 20-12 in bench points and that was key factor down the stretch.
The Toreros played a tough game the entire night and wouldn’t go away, every time the Huskies tried to gain separation.
San Diego was led by senior guard Olin Carter III who finished the night with 17 points and 2 assists.
In the end, The Huskies made the plays down the stretch in the final two minutes and were fortunate to sneak by with the win.
“We go through periods where we move the ball and we look like a well-oiled machine and we go through little droughts, but the one thing we can always hang our hat on is our defense. I think for the most part in the second half when we needed to get stops, we did, when we needed to get a rebound, we did.” Hopkins said.
Washington was led by sophomore guard Jaylen Nowell who finished with 18 points and 3 assists. Senior forward Noah Dickerson chipped in with 16 points and 8 rebounds on the night.
For a team that started out the season ranked in the top 25, the Huskies are struggling with inferior opponents so far this year, dating back to their exhibition slate.
The Huskies inability to hit outside shots on a consistent basis is allowing other mediocre opponents to hang around all game long.
They will have to play remarkably better soon and find a way to score the basketball more consistently, if they want to make it far this season.
The Huskies (2-1) return to the court on Sunday, November 18th at 5:00pm PST in Vancouver, Canada when they take on the Santa Clara Broncos. It will mark the beginning of a three-game tournament called the Vancouver Showcase.
Washington vs. San Diego Final Game Stats
Below is the actual video of Mike Hopkin’s Postgame Press Conference…..
