Huskies sweep Arizona schools but is it too little too late?

Photo credit: (Rick Scuteri / The Associated Press)

The Washington Huskies will end their regular season with a losing record at 15-16 (5-13 conference record). The team that finished their out of conference schedule with a 10-3 record and looked to have their ticket punched to the NCAA Tournament looked absolutely wretched for the last 2 months mounting loss after loss including a horrific 9-game losing streak.

However, on Thursday, the Huskies looked like the team in their 1^st half of the season with dominating back to back wins over the Arizona schools. It may be too little too late as the Huskies now face a challenge of having to win 4 straight games to win the PAC12 and earn an entry to March Madness. Impossible? No. Improbable? Yes.

@Arizona ST.     W            90-83

The game started off as if the Huskies were headed to defeat.  With ASU leading by as much as 61-49 early in the 2^nd half. However something kicked in, perhaps it was pride, and the Dawgs scored 9 straight points then eventually tied the game at 65 with 10 minutes left.  The Huskies then took the lead at 5:17 by a score of 73-72. The Huskies put the pedal to the metal and finished the game unlike they had within the entirety of conference play.

And now we bring to you…

All of @Dreamville_33's dunks from tonight in one tweet ⬇️#TougherTogether pic.twitter.com/P9FZC3lxDU

— Washington Men's Basketball (@UW_MBB) March 6, 2020

“We’re not defeated and we don’t feel defeated,” Carter said. “We still have aspirations of winning (the Pac-12 Tournament). We’re going to take it one game at a time. This was a start.”

Isiah Stewart led the way on the boards with 12 rebounds and 14 points on 6-8 shooting. Naz Carter scored a season high of 23 on 9-14 shooting and 5-8 from 3 point land. Jayden McDaniels added 16 and 6 rebounds.

As a team the Huskies shot 50% from the field and 42% from the 3 point stripe. The Huskies found chemistry and combined for 19 assists and only recorded a mere 12 personal fouls. While out-rebounded 39-31, the Huskies were again accurate shooting at 43% and perhaps more importantly, their defense held Arizona State to 35% shooting while forcing 11 turnovers.

good morning#TougherTogether x #FridayFeeling pic.twitter.com/3OrBBuBsnb

— Washington Men's Basketball (@UW_MBB) March 6, 2020

@Arizona            W            69-63

Jayden McDaniels scored 20 and Isiah Stewart threw in 16 points as the Dawgs put away the Wildcats on Saturday night. They had help from Jamal Bey who had 12 points.

“The last two games we’ve made big plays down the stretch,” Washington coach Mike Hopkins said. “I thought our defense was the best defense I’ve seen in a long time. We were taking away angles. We’re making our foul shots. That’s how you close out games. Before in the close games we weren’t doing those things.”

tonight was fun 💪#TougherTogether pic.twitter.com/3zasLgDQue

— Washington Men's Basketball (@UW_MBB) March 8, 2020