The Washington Huskies won a hard-fought battle over the Seattle Pacific Falcons 70-61 in their home season opener.
During the first half of the game, the Huskies issues from last season seemed to manifest itself early. Turnovers were the story of the game as the Huskies committed 19 of them.
Often times, the Huskies would shoot themselves in the foot with turnovers and couldn’t seem to find a rhythm because of it.
With the Huskies trying to find their way early, it allowed Seattle Pacific to gain confidence and hang around with the Huskies throughout the entire game.
Sophomore guard Jaylen Nowell paced the Huskies with 23 points and 6 rebounds and made some crucial shots down the stretch.
Another bright spot was the play of senior point guard David Crisp who finished with 20 points on the night. He made some baskets at the end that helped the Huskies gain separation and seal the game.
Defensively, senior guard Matisse Thybulle was sensational as he had 8 steals, 7 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. His impact was so crucial to keeping the team in the game when the Husky offense went into a drought.
The Huskies were trailing the Falcons at halftime 27-26 and needed to find some adjustments to play better in the 2nd half.
When they returned to the court, the intensity and energy level of the team drastically changed and their pressure frustrated the Falcons early in the half.
Seattle Pacific wouldn’t go quietly into the night as they made a game out of it, and held a lead in the 2nd half for a bit.
Senior forward Noah Dickerson was taken out earlier in the second half and didn’t play the rest of the game. He was held out of the Nevada exhibition game with an injury that the coaches wanted to take precaution with.
The game was a close contest all the way until the last four minutes of the game, when the Huskies finally made the plays and ran away with the game.
Seattle Pacific was led by Coleman Wooten who finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds on the night.
It was a typical exhibition win to start out the home slate but the Huskies will have to drastically improve in a hurry, with some tough games coming up next week.
“There was a lot that I didn’t like! This is a long process. It’s all about getting better and we’ll get better from this. We got to get better if we want to win.” Head coach Mike Hopkins said after the game.
The Huskies return to the court next week on Tuesday, November 6th at 7:30pm at Alaska Airlines Arena when they take on the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers.
Washington vs. Seattle Pacific Final Game Stats…..
Below is the actual video of Mike Hopkin’s Postgame Press Conference…..
