The bright spot for the Washington Huskies in their highly-anticipated meeting with the Arizona Wildcats is unquestionably their defense, particularly holding star Derrick Williams to 2-for-7 shooting in the first half.
However, turnovers have indeed played a factor in this one with UW center Matthew Bryan-Amaning unfortunately taking an undesired place in the spotlight with four of the Huskies’ eight first half turnovers and generally looking a bit too amped up for the occasion.
And so despite holding Williams down, the Huskies go into halftime only holding a 36-31 lead after the Wildcats made a late run.
Without Williams being otherworldly as usual, Arizona relied heavily on Solomon Hill and Kevin Parrom who had a team-high eight and six points, respectively. While Hill’s aggression inside has kept the Huskies off-balance defensively, Parrom has hit two timely 3-point shots.
For the Huskies, Isaiah Thomas and Justin Holliday continue to play outstanding basketball with a game-high 12 points apiece. But once again, Thomas is stealing the show with two beautifully timed lobs for Bryan-Amaning and Venoy Overton for dunks.
Yes, Venoy Overton.
If there’s anything that UW needs to focus on in the second half, it’s rebounding – they were outrebounded 18-16 in the first half and 6 – 3 on the offensive boards.