UW Basketball: Undisciplined Defense Led To 38 OSU Free Throws To Cost Them The Game

Don Ruiz of the Tacoma News Tribune has already noted that defense was a major problem for the Washington Huskies in last night's 68-56 road loss to the Oregon State Beavers.

UW Huskies Insider - " Huskies: The killer problem is defense The News Tribune Blogs, Tacoma, WA
On how this loss was like the one at WSU) "One of the issues was defensively again, we weren’t disciplined on defense tonight. We took far too many gambles, far too many chances. We could sit around and talk about what player didn’t get enough shots or what player stepped up. If we’re not disciplined on defense, that is on me.

When looking closely at the numbers, the biggest consequence of the gambles Romar mentioned was putting OSU on the free throw line 38 times. In particular, OSU guard Jared Cunningham's ability to get to the line 17 times is a significant reason why the Beavers won the game. Travis Margoni of Beyond The Beat cited last night's game as something of a statement game for Cunningham.

Hardwood Notebook: Beavers Take Down No. 20 Washington | February
Cunningham Gets Physical: Jared Cunningham led the way with 19 points for the Beavers, shooting 13-17 from the free throw line -- a career high in attempts at the line. He was physical all game, getting into a brief scrum with UW guard Venoy Overton in the second half as the two positioned for an OSU inbound play. After the referees separated the two, Cunningham immediately waived off his teammates and beat Overton off the drive to draw a foul on Bryan-Amaning. Two possessions later, he beat Overton again and drew another foul. This was leadership enacted, a statement moment wherein the young guard refused to be bullied or intimidated on his own court. OSU's program is seeing a star mature this year in Cunningham.

As a team, the Beavers went to the line 38 times compared to the Huskies' 19 attempts. And although OSU only made 63.2 percent of theirs, the Huskies only shot 47.4 percent from the charity stripe.

Even if UW fans were to call into question whether home cooking accounts for such a wide disparity, bad defense has more to do with that than anything else and that was only compounded by UW's inability to capitalize on the attempts they did have in addition to never finding a way to match Cunningham's aggression offensively.

If you're going to shoot 32.3 percent from the field, making free throws and defending better than they did is a must. Last night they did neither and so as bad as the 12 point loss feels today, over time it will make this performance look far better than it actually was.

Washington Falls To Oregon State 68-56 In An Ugly Game

The best way to put the Huskies' 68-56 loss to Oregon State is that it wasn't quite what you might have expected coming off a loss to WSU in which they presumably were a little extra motivated to redeem themselves.

Granted, playing on the road anywhere is tough, but the Huskies looked uncharacteristically out of sync.

UW Huskies Insider - " Countdown to tipoff: UW at OSU, 6 p.m. The News Tribune Blogs, Tacoma, WA
In the first half, the Huskies depended on their outside shooting. However, Scott Suggs was the only guy hitting.

In the second half, they relentlessly worked the ball inside to Matthew Bryan-Amaning.

But they weren’t fluid in either half. They gave away a lot of points at the free throw line. And while Suggs ended up with a career-high 18 points,and MBA got a dozen, Isaiah Thomas managed only nine.

This now puts added weight on their next contest in a state-of-the-art Matthew Knight Arena that Oregon seems to be playing pretty well in thus far this year, particularly taking into account their 69-43 blowout of Washington State tonight.

Washington's CJ Wilcox Cleared To Play

Don Ruiz of the Tacoma News Tribune checks in with the Washington Huskies' starting lineups as well as CJ Wilcox's status for tonight.

UW Huskies Insider - » Countdown to tipoff: UW at OSU, 6 p.m. The News Tribune Blogs, Tacoma, WA
Meanwhile, we also have confirmation that C.J. Wilcox is available after sitting out WSU game due to a concussion.

Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar has said repeatedly that Wilcox's effectiveness will be tough to gauge as a freshman because he's had the double challenge of trying to adjust to Division I basketball and play through injuries. So it will be interesting to see how much he plays tonight.

Washington Begins Second Half Of Pac-10 Play At Oregon State

The Washington Huskies have insisted since their loss on Sunday against Washington State that they got the shots they wanted, but just weren't able to knock them down.

"Defensively, we have to do a better job in that game and here on out," Romar said. "Offensively, there were times maybe that maybe we settled although we had an awful lot of uncontested shots. I went back and looked we had 29 threes against Cal on the road and made 13 of them. At one point we were 9 of 13 and it was going really well. A lot of those same shots we took against Cal, we took against Washington State. There were a lot of uncontested shots there as well. I thought maybe in this game they weren't going as much. Although we were 5-for-10 early and they seemed like they were going, maybe we could have made an extra pass, did a little more in terms of dribble penetration."

So after an emotional loss to WSU, UW is hardly in a panic - instead they're far more likely to enter tonight's game at Oregon State more focused as they once again look to re-assert themselves as the top team in the conference.

And even on the road, the odds might stand in favor of the Huskies.

HeraldNet.com - Sports: Huskies look to bounce back
Since the beginning of the 2008-09 season, the Huskies are 13-5 in games following a loss. Their only losing streak this season lasted just two games, and that came against top-10 teams Kentucky and Michigan State on back-to-back days in the Maui Invitational 21/2 months ago.

In addition to history working in their favor, there has to be at least some confidence drawn from the fact that they beat Oregon State 103-72 in Seattle in a game which Oregon State seemed to have no answer for Matthew Bryan-Amaning.

Although the Beavers have played better at home than on the road this year, the Huskies figure to pose a formidable challenge.

Hardwood Notebook: OSU "Heading In Right Direction" As Huskies Come To Town | February
In Pac-10 play, the Beavers are 3-2 at home and 0-4 on the road, and OSU will need a hometown advantage to contain the inside-outside Washington threat in forward Matt Bryan-Amaning and guard Isaiah Thomas. Bryan-Amaning had 24 points and 15 rebounds in Washington's 103-72 win over OSU on Jan. 8 in Seattle, and Thomas chipped in 19 points and 8 assists. If OSU can play lockdown defense in the paint on Thursday, the Beavers have a shot at an upset. If not, it could be lights out early in Gill Coliseum.

The combination of a hungry Huskies squad and what stands to be a bad matchup for the Beavers figures to bode well for a Huskies' win on the road.