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No, this game against Nevada was there to be won. It was there to be won with a minute left in regulation. It was there to be won with 12 seconds left in regulation. It should have been won in 4.8 seconds in regulation.
Instead, the Huskies inability to close out the Wolfpack in regulation resulted in a 76-73 overtime loss to Nevada on Friday night at the Lawlor Events Center.
“I can’t even explain it,” UW’s Terrence Ross said. “We were so close to winning it in regulation. We missed assignments and it led to a loss.”
And the problems weren’t just in regulation. In the overtime period, Washington jumped out to an early four-point lead.
But as was the case for most of the game, the Huskies couldn’t contain Deonte Burton in overtime.
Nevada’s sophomore point guard abused Washington’s slew of guards, driving past all of them, scoring on all of them, being stopped by none of them. There were times that C.J. Wilcox or Terrence Ross or even Abdul Gaddy contested his shots, but Burton still made them more often than not.
Burton scored 31 points on 9-of-18 shooting and dished out six assists and pulled down six rebounds. But it was more than the total points. It was when and how he got them.
When Nevada needed a big basket he hit them. He scored eight of Nevada’s 10 points in overtime. But none was bigger than his 3-pointer near the end of regulation.
With 10.7 seconds remaining, Washington went up 66-63 on the first of two Darnell Gant free throws. Gant missed the second one, which Dario Hunt flipped to Burton, who took off for the other end of the court.
Romar had told his players to foul Burton on his way to the basket. Tony Wroten tried to foul Burton, but it wasn’t called. Instead, Burton pulled up at the top of the key and buried the game-tying 3-pointer with 4.7 seconds remaining.
“We were supposed to foul and we didn’t really foul like we should have fouled and so he was wide open for a shot,” Romar said.
Washington got a desperation heave from Wilcox that was short.
In the overtime, the Huskies jumped out to a quick 70-66 lead as Ross hit a pair of free throws and scored on drive.
But Burton wouldn’t be stopped.
He drove the lane and scored on a floater and was fouled and converted the 3-point play. On the next possession he buried a pull-up 3-pointer over Gaddy. And suddenly the four-point lead was now a 72-70 deficit. Washington would never lead a gain. Burton made two free throws and then after Washington cut it 74-73, he found Kevin Panzer for an open short jumpshot with 19 seconds remaining.
“He was just on tonight,” Wilcox said of Burton. “He was hitting everything. Every time he shot it, you had to think it was going in because he got going so early. He had a ton of confidence.”
The Huskies had a chance to tie the game, but they never found looks for their two best shooters – Wilcox and Ross. Instead, Gant had 3-pointer blocked and Gaddy’s desperation shot was short.
“We practice that stuff, but we just didn’t execute in the end,” Wilcox said.
The Huskies started off sluggishly in an outing reminiscent of the loss to St. Louis. But unlike the trouncing by the Billikens, Washington didn’t let the game get out of hand.
The Huskies were horrendous in the first half, committing more turnovers than made baskets. And yet, somehow they managed to lead 29-27 at halftime.
How exactly?
Well of the 10 field goals that Washington made, four of them were 3-pointers – two apiece from Gaddy and Ross.
Ross and Wilcox combined for 32 points and during a stretch in the second half, they helped push the lead to 10. But the Huskies offense got a little stagnant when Nevada went to a zone defense.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Burton and Story helped cut the deficit down.
Washington still had a five-point lead with 3 minutes to play. But shots for Ross and Wilcox never came. The Huskies had a season-high 21 turnovers.
“Down the stretch they hit big shots and did what was necessary to win the game,” Romar said. “We had to close the game out and we didn’t close it out. Take away the turnovers, we did a lot of better things than we did at St. Louis, but it was not enough to come out on top.
Ryan Divish: 253-597-8483
ryan.divish@thenewstribune.com
http://blog.thenewstribune.com/uwsports/
