Washington (11-4) vs. Colorado (10-5)
Saturday, January 12th @ 7:00 PM PST
CU Events Center (Boulder, Colorado)
Line: Colorado –2.0
TV: ESPNU
Radio: 1000AM KOMO/97.7 FM
KEY PLAYERS: WASHINGTON
Forward – Noah Dickerson
14.4 PPG
6.6 RPG
Guard – Matisse Thybulle
9.3 PPG
3.0 RPG
Guard – Jaylen Nowell
16.5 PPG
5.3 RPG
KEY PLAYERS: COLORADO
Guard – McKinley Wright IV
13.6 PPG
5.1 RPG
PREVIEW
The Washington Huskies Basketball team enters this contest with some momentum after a convincing 69-53 road win over the Utah Utes. The Colorado Buffaloes are coming off a 92-60 dominating home win over the Washington State Cougars. The Huskies will be looking for their first Pac-12 road sweep in over 6 years when they take on the Buffaloes.
ESPN MATCHUP PREDICTOR
HUSKY NOTES
• The Huskies got their first win at Utah since 2012 on Thursday with their 69-53 victory … it was also the largest margin of victory over the Utes by UW since a 17-point win on Jan. 26, 1968 (93-76) in Seattle and it tied the largest road margin of victory over Utah since a 16-point win on Dec. 1, 1951 (60-44).
• Sophomore Jaylen Nowell is one of three players on the initial Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award watch list to be shooting over 50 percent (50.8), averaging over five rebounds (5.3) and 3 assists (3.4) and scoring at least 16 points a night (16.5), joining Hofstra’s Justin Wright-Foreman, Indiana’s Romeo Langford and Texas Tech’s Jarrett Culver.
• Washington has had six different players lead the team in scoring through 15 games in David Crisp (1), Noah Dickerson(5), Jaylen Nowell (6), Dominic Green (1), Naz Carter (2) and Matisse Thybulle (2).
• Crisp has had a solid start in Pac-12 play, averaging 20 points, on 50 percent shooting from the field (12-of-24), 72.7 percent from 3 (8-of-11) and dishing out 2.5 assists with 2.0 steals.
• UW has assisted on 45 of its 88 made baskets over the last three outings (51.1 percent) dishing out 12, 17 and 16 in those contests.
• Against Colorado, Thybulle is averaging 14.0 points for his career, 18.3 over the last three outings and 15.0 when playing in Boulder … he set his career high for scoring against the Buffs a year ago with 26 in Seattle.
• Sophomore Nowell has really seen an uptick in not just his scoring production (16.5 ppg) but in his assists as well as he currently leads the team with 51 (3.4 per game) which is up from an average of 2.7 a year ago.
• Washington is holding its first 15 opponents to just 65.6 points per game, 11 teams have been held under 70 points and UW has won 10 of those games when teams are under 70 points scoring.
• With his 12 rebounds against Cal State Fullerton, senior Noah Dickerson became the ninth member of UW’s 1,000 career points/800 career rebounds club and first since Jon Brockman, UW’s all-time leading rebounder, did so during his career … Dickerson now has 1,381 points and 808 rebounds.
• Thybulle is 24-of-26 from the FT line this season, shooting at a 92.3 percent clip, up from 71.4 percent as a junior, 84.1 percent as a sophomore and 71.4 percent as a freshman.
• Thybulle has reached double-figure scoring in six of his last eight outings and has made 17 from long distance in those outings … he had only made five 3-pointers in the first seven games of the season.
• Thybulle, UW’s career steals leader at 246, is 75 away from first place all time in Pac-12 history (321, Gary Payton, 120 games, 1986-90) and is currently tied for fourth all-time with Stevin Smith (ASU), who achieved 246 in 115 career games from 1990-94.
• Against Utah, Crisp became the first player in UW history to record 1,000 career points (1,231), 300 assists (303), 200 made 3-point FGs (207) and 100 steals (105).
• Six of sophomore Naz Carter’s career 14 10+scoring efforts have come in the last 14 games.
• Thybulle is averaging 2.3 blocks over the first 15 games … that’s up from 1.4 as a junior, 0.7 as a sophomore and 0.9 as a freshman … his career total of 137 blocks is fifth all-time at UW.
• Thybulle is the only player in Division I averaging at least 2.3 blocks and 2.7 steals per game … his 2.7 steals per game also rank tied for fifth nationally and lead the Pac-12.
BUFFALOES NOTES
– Colorado’s 92 points against Washington State was its most in a regulation, regular season Pac-12 game since a 100-91 win over Oregon in Boulder on Jan. 5, 2014. The Buffaloes hit 90 points for the fourth time this season, their most since scoring at least 90 six times in 2015-16.
– Colorado has benefited from home cooking. The Buffaloes are averaging 88.0 points while shooting 50 percent from the field in seven home games. In contrast, on their recent six-game road swing, Colorado averaged 65.3 points while shooting 39 percent from the field and 26 percent from 3-point range.
– Colorado finished its six-game road trip at 2-4. That swing was the front end of a continuing stretch of nine of 11 outside the friendly confines of the CU Events Center. Colorado’s start to the Pac-12 season includes five of seven on the road.
– The six-game swing away from home was Colorado’s longest in the regular season since Dec. 6-31, 1986. All six of those were true road games (1-5) and started a bigger stretch of eight of nine away from home. The Buffaloes played six consecutive neutral site games in March 2012 between the Pac-12 Tournament Championship and the first two rounds in the NCAA Tournament.
– Two home contests in an 11-game span will be the fewest for the Buffaloes since December 1974-January 1975 when they also played seven straight and nine of 10 outside of Boulder.
– The Buffaloes matched Arizona State for the league’s best record, by winning percentage, during the preseason schedule at 9-3. Arizona, Oregon and Washington also entered the conference season with nine wins (9-4).
– The Buffaloes were a perfect 6-0 at home and 2-2 in true road games during the non league stretch. Colorado has already doubled its road win total from 2017-18, when it won just once in 11 tries.
– Colorado leads the Pac-12 in scoring margin (+9.1) while ranking third in 3-point defense (.302) and rebounding defense (32.1 rpg), fourth in overall rebounding (38.3 rpg) and rebounding margin (+6.2)and fifth in scoring offense and defense.
– Defensively, Colorado is allowing 68.5 points per game while opponents are shooting 42.9 percent from the field.
– Sophomore guard McKinley Wright IV paces the Buffaloes at 13.6 points, 5.5 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He had 10 points, seven assists and two steals against Washington State. It was his ninth game with at least two steals and third straight, averaging 2.3 steals over the last three.
– He is second in the Pac-12 in assists while also ranking fourth in steals, ninth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.5), 12th in field goal percent-age (.510) and 14th in scoring. Wright has scored in double figures in 40 of 47 career games while dishing out at least five assists in 32 contests.
– Sophomore Tyler Bey tops Colorado at 9.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocksper game while shooting 55 percent from the field. He is second on the team in scoring (11.8 ppg) and steals (17).
– Bey had career and team season highs with 26 points on 10 field goals made against Washington State. He recorded his fifth double-double of the season, and seventh of his career, by pulling down 10 rebounds. It was his eighth game with double-figure rebounds this season, with seven of those coming in the last 10 contests, a stretch in which he’s averaging right at 10 boards per game.
– Bey has 14 blocked shots over the last seven games (2.0 bpg). With 24 on the season, he has already surpassed his 32-game total of 22 from his freshman year.
– On the Pac-12 leaderboard he is third in overall rebounding and defensive rebounds (6.9 drpg), sixth in blocks, seventh in field goalscoring and offensive rebounds (2.2 orpg), 14th in free throw percentage (.760) and 25th in scoring.
– Junior forward Lucas Siewert is third on the team in scoring (11.7 ppg) and field goal percentage (.496) and leads the Buffaloes in 3-point shooting (.466) and 3-pointers made (25). He was Colorado’s leading scorer at the Diamond Head Classic averaging 14.7 points per game. Siewert scored a career-high 19 points on 7 of 14 shooting in the overtime loss to Hawai’i.
– Siewert logged his first two career double-doubles in back-to-back games. He had 16 points against Colorado State and, for the second-straight game, achieved his personal best of 10 rebounds.Siewert recorded his first career double-double with a career-high 18 points and 10 rebounds in the win over Portland.
– On the Pac-12 charts, Siewert is second in 3-point percentage, 11th in 3-pointers made (1.7 3mpg), 15th in overall shooting percentage and 26th in scoring.
– Freshman forward Evan Battey is fourth on the team in rebounding at 4.8 per game, coming off a career-best 14 boards vs. Washington State. Five of those rebounds came on the offensive end and he’s second on the team in that category with 31, a mark that also ranks 12th in the Pac-12 (2.1 orpg).
– Junior guard Shane Gatling is Colorado’s fourth-leading scorer at 8.5 points per game and is third on the team in steals with 13. He recorded personal CU-highs with 17 points on 5 of 10 from 3-point range against Washington State. His 10 3-point attempts are a team season-high and his five made ties a season team best.
– Gatling ranks eighth in the Pac-12 in free throw shooting at 80.5 percent (33 of 41). He was a perfect 6 of 6 from the line against South Dakota and has made 24 of his last 28 (.857) from the charity stripe.
– Sophomore wing D’Shawn Schwartz is averaging 7.9 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. Schwartz had career highs with 16 points and four assists against Washington State. He has been Colorado’sthird-leading scorer and rebounder over the first three Pac-12 games at 11.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.
– Senior guard Namon Wright is averaging 7.5 points and 3.1 re- bounds per game, but has missed the last two games with a foot injury. He ranks sixth in the Pac-12 in free throw percentage (.844) and 12th in 3-point shooting (.382).
– Sophomore forward Alexander Strating has played in 13 games,finding the scoring column in each of the last two. Strating appeared in just five games for a total of seven minutes as a redshirt freshman in 2017-18.
– Daylen Kountz and Eli Parquet, members of Colorado’s 2018 signing class, have been seeing their minutes grow and both recently made their first collegiate starts. Kountz started against Washington State finishing with eight points, two assists and two rebounds. He is second on the team in assists with 18. Parquet recorded his first collegiate start at Arizona State and is averaging 9.0 minutes per game.
