The Huskies went into Arizona and came away with a hard-fought 67-60 victory. Even though the Wildcats are down – much like the rest of the Pac-12 this year – it’s still never easy to win in their gym, so I’d venture to say this was one of the more impressive Husky victories of the season.
Noah Dickerson did, indeed, return to action, though he was kept out of the starting lineup in favor of Sam Timmins (Hameir Wright didn’t play at all due to illness). I wonder if the Huskies were going to feel this game out and decide as they went whether or not Dickerson would actually see any action. Like, if the Huskies had jumped out to an early 15 point lead or something, would they have kept Dickerson on the shelf? Odds are, not starting him was a way to simply limit his minutes. If he went out in the first half and didn’t have it, then they could’ve rested him the rest of the way and saved him for ASU tomorrow.
Either way, Dickerson was a welcome sight! He only put up 10 points and 3 boards, but he accounted for a bunch of the foul trouble that Arizona found themselves in during the second half, including sending their best big man to the bench with 4 fouls for a long time.
As usual, there were plenty of stars to go around. David Crisp continued his quality play, finishing with 17 points to lead the team. Matisse Thybulle was the straw that stirred the drink, with 15 points, 5 blocks, and 5 steals. One can only wonder what he would’ve finished with if he hadn’t been in so much foul trouble late in the game. Jaylen Nowell had a quiet game with 12 points, 6 boards, and 4 assists, but always came up big when the team needed a boost. And, Naz Carter started off as cold as can be, but finished on fire with 10 points, 4 boards, and 2 steals.
It was a tough back-and-forth game in the first half, as both teams traded turnovers like they were kids in the 50’s trading baseball cards. The Huskies managed a 1-point lead at the break, then got out to a quick start in the second half, managing to keep the Wildcats at arm’s length the rest of the way. None of our typical cold spells; there was always an answer to every Arizona run.
We go on to play Arizona State tomorrow night, which I GUESS is the second-best team in the conference, but holy fucking hell they just lost to the now 2-win Cougars by 21 points in their own arena! I had it in the back of my mind that if the Huskies beat the Sun Devils that might guarantee the Pac-12 is a 1-bid conference, but even if we LOSE that might be a safe assumption!
I’d still like to see the Huskies get to 11-0 in conference. This is our last chance for a quality win in the regular season, and say what you will about the Pac-12 and the Sun Devils, but they were able to beat some good teams in their non-conference slate and the rankings like them accordingly. Not that I’m worried about the Huskies making the Tourney anymore – I feel like that’s a foregone conclusion at this point – but I would like to get as high a seed as possible, to make it interesting.