Ross is back again for more of a business trip, although he and his Washington teammates are also creating some lifelong memories away from the court. On Tuesday night, the Huskies nearly pulled off an upset before losing, 79-77, to No. 11 Marquette in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden.
Ross’ shot off the backboard in traffic with 15.6 seconds remaining gave UW a 77-76 lead. Marquette’s Jae Crowder then made a 3-pointer from the right corner with 6.4 seconds to go after Huskies forward Darnell Gant fell down trying to guard Crowder.
Still, the Huskies had a final chance. Abdul Gaddy dribbled down the right side of the court, but he missed an off-balance jump shot at the buzzer with two defenders in his face.
Afterward, UW coach Lorenzo Romar expressed regret on the last sequence.
“Probably in retrospect, I would have liked to (call a timeout),” he said.
However, Romar added he was “encouraged with a lot of things we did out there,” but he said the main problem was the Huskies’ transition defense which allowed Marquette too many easy field goals. The Golden Eagles outscored UW 10-0 in fastbreak points and had 19 points off the Huskies’ 16 turnovers.
“It’s a heartbreaker,” Ross said. “It’s real tough on us.”
In his postgame news conference, Marquette coach Buzz Williams said this season’s UW team is better than the squad that defeated the Golden Eagles ,80-78, on Quincy Pondexter’s late shot in the first round of the 2010 NCAA tournament. He particularly praised Ross and fellow sophomore C.J. Wilcox, calling them two of the five most efficient offensive players in college basketball.
Ross led the Huskies with 19 points and added 9 rebounds. He had some big plays down the stretch, including a tip-in of Gaddy’s missed 3-pointer that tied the game at 75-75. Wilcox had 15 points, while Tony Wroten (13) and Gant (14) were also in double figures. Aziz N’Diaye grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.
Darius Johnson-Odom paced Marquette with 23 points.
In the second half, there were 18 lead changes. In the end, Marquette hung on to improve to 8-0, while UW fell to 4-3 with their third loss in the last four games.
FASTBREAKS
Tuesday’s doubleheader honored Jim Valvano, the former college basketball coach and announcer who led North Carolina State to the 1983 NCAA Championship. Valvano died of bone cancer in 1993. The Huskies’ uniforms on Tuesday featured a patch with the initials of Andrew Moritz, a UW walk-on from 1996 through 1999 who died of cancer on Nov. 26.
UW arrived in New York on Monday and visited the 9-1-1 memorial. The Huskies will remain in Manhattan for the rest of the week and return to the same arena at 9 a.m. Saturday to face No. 7 Duke. In the next few days, they have a busy agenda outside of basketball.
Today, they are planning on visiting a screening of the television show “Person of Interest”, and they also will attend two Broadway musicals – “Memphis” and “The Lion King” – as part of a class. Yet, they know their main focus is on facing Duke.
“It’s a big opportunity for us,” Gant said. “I feel this team is making a lot of progress.”
