Arizona senior forward Jamelle Horne failed to score in 15 minutes off the bench.
Photo by Mike Nelson-US PRESSWIRE
Washington wins 85-68. Huskies are 6-1 in the league, alone in first place. Arizona is 4-2.
Looks like Sean Miller — who certainly admires point guard play — had some nice words for Isaiah Thomas after the game in the handshake line. With less-than-adequate point guard play and no proven second scorer, Arizona can only go so far this season and will have trouble beating really good teams.
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Must be nice to have a point guard like that: Isaiah Thomas finishes with 110 assists and 22 points. And, oh yeah, six rebounds.
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A 3-pointer by Washington freshman Terrence Ross gives the Huskies a 78-65 lead with about three minutes left.
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Too many easy baskets for Washington, which leads 75-63 with 3:52 to play.
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One of those nights for Jamelle Horne. He’s scoreless, and that Arizona depth — supposed to be a strength of this team — did not come to play.
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Arizona lost on offense with D-Will on the bench. Washington’s Venoy Overton gives the Huskies a 65-56 lead on a driving scoop shot through traffic. The crowd is fired up, and the Wildcats are getting closer to the cliff with 7:42 left.
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Derrick Williams with four fouls with just more than 10 minutes to play. At least he has played more than eight minutes, which is all he got last year in Seattle before fouling out.
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Critical time for Arizona. Washington and Isaiah Thomas are raising the roof after blocking a shot from Kevin Parrom, saving the ball from going out of bounds and hitting a 3-pointer on the other end.
Huskies lead 59-50 with 11:15 to play.
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Monster one-handed jam from D-Will after taking a pass from MoMo Jones from the baseline.
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Derrick Williams hits double-double status with more than 12 minutes left.
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Is Kyryl Natyazhko even playing offense for Arizona?
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Matthew Bryan-Amaning taking over the game down low for Washington, and then we have dueling stars. Derrick Williams throws down a dunk after his own miss, and Isaiah Thomas responds with a drive for two and the foul. Washington leads 54-48 with about 13 minutes to go.
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Tweet from TucsonCitizen.com’s Scott Terrell: Jordin Mayes should take his free throws from the top of the key. His odds would be better.
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Jordin Mayes misses two free throws and is 0 of 4 from the line tonight.
He is 6 of 18 for the season.
Can anyone explain that to me?
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Why was Isaiah Thomas shooting the free throws after Matthew Bryan-Amaning was fouled? Who knows? Thomas misses the first foul shot … and then Washington alerts the officials the freebies should go to Bryan-Amaning. He then gets two foul shots — so Thomas’ miss never happened.
Bryan-Amaning makes both free throws, of course.
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Kevin Parrom: No easy buckets.
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Your Pac-10 scoreboard: Washington State beats Arizona State 78-61.
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MoMo Jones with a steal and a fast-break layup to give the Wildcats a 44-43 with 16:03 to go in the half. Washington reclaims the lead with a dunk from Matthew Bryan-Amaning, but it’s now anybody’s game after Arizona trailed by 10 in the first half.
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Derrick Williams asserting himself in second half. He has scored seven points in not even three minutes, including a 3-pointer.
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Tie game at 38 after a dunk by Derrick Williams following a steal by Kyle Fogg. Pretty quiet there in Alaska Airlines Arena.
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Sean Miller burning timeouts at a Kevin O’Neill-like pace. He has used three in the game, including one 54 seconds into the second half.
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Nice start to the second half for Arizona. The Cats get the ball deep to Derrick Williams, who passes out of the double team to Jesse Perry cutting down the lane. That’s the efficient kind of halfcourt offense that was missing in the first half.
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Stop us if you’ve heard this before: Arizona’s point guard play has been ineffective. Shooting guard Brendon Lavender was running the show late in the first half.
MoMo Jones and Jordin Mayes have combined for five turnovers and one assist.
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Halftime. Washington leads 36-31. Could be worse for the Cats, considering their poor shooting.
The Huskies have used a 2-3 zone to good effect, really packing it in and making life difficult for Derrick Williams. The sophomore forward has six points on 2 of 7 shooting.
“We’ve done a decent job,” Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said in the halftime interview, talking about defending Williams. “He’s going to come out with a vengeance in the second half. We’re going to have to really concentrate on him.”
Williams does have seven rebounds.
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Arizona goes on a 7-0 run before Isaiah Thomas nails a 3-pointer. Washington leads 36-29 with less than a minute to go in the half.
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Stat update: Arizona 7 of 25 from the field.
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Arizona trails 30-22 with 3:13 before halftime. It’s time to hang in there and regroup for the second half without falling behind more.
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Isaiah Thomas with the running alley-oop pass to 6-foot Venoy Overton, who stretches for the dunk. OK, I can once again vote for him for Pac-10 Player of the Year.
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Kyle Fogg stops Washington’s 7-0 run with a 3-pointer to bring the Wildcats within 20-16. But it’s going to hard — uh, probably impossible — for Arizona to hang in the game unless it gets Derrick Williams on track offensively.
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Arizona’s poor shooting has been the story as Washington leads 20-13 with 8:42 to go in the first half. Justin Holiday has nine points for the Huskies.
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Jesse Perry’s defense on big man Matthew Bryan-Amaning forces turnovers on consecutive possessions.
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Arizona uses 10 players in the first eight minutes of the game. Washington leads 13-11 at the second media timeout.
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Isaiah Thomas missed all three free throws after being fouled on a 3-pointer. I can no longer vote for him for Pac-10 Player of the Year.
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Weird. Jordin Mayes misses two free throws and is 6 of 16 from the free throw line this season. What gives? A kid with that kind of sweet stroke looks like he should be hitting about 80 percent.
And then Mayes fouls Isaiah Thomas on a 3-point shot.
As I’ve said before, there just aren’t any easy answers for Arizona at the point guard position.
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Arizona with the break as Isaiah Thomas picks up a blocking foul, when it should have been a charge on Jordin Mayes.
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Washington on a 7-0 run to take a 13-8 lead, and Sean Miller calls timeout. Isaiah Thomas has five of those seven points in the run.
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Aziz N’Diaye vs. Kyryl Natyazhko … who do you like if they brawled?
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What will Arizona get from Jamelle Horne tonight? He had 22 points in one game against Washington last season. He had two points in the other.
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Ignore the rebounding note below. Huskies come out of timeout and get three offensive rebounds before Arizona commits a foul.
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Washington has switched to a 2-3 zone as Arizona leads 8-6 with 15:56 to go in the half. The Wildcats have been active on the offensive glass — and there has been a lot of opportunities. Arizona is 2 of 10 from the field.
Arizona has an 8-3 rebounding edge, which is a good sign as the battle of the boards ranked as Sean Miller’s top concern tonight.
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MoMo Jones makes a nice steal of the in-bounds pass but then is so pumped up that he tries to take on three Huskies on the drive. Not the smart move, but he gets fouled and makes two free throws.
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Isaiah Williams challenges Derrick Williams on the drive and picks up a foul from Derricks Williams with 17:57 to play in the half.
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Huskies start the game by defending Derrick Williams with 7-foot Aziz N’Diaye.
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Naming rights are immediate. Call it Alaska Airlines Arena.
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Scott Suggs is starting his second game for the Huskies at guard. He is a super 3-point shooter, but the main reason he is in the lineup is to give Washington more size along 5-9 point guard Isaiah Thomas. Suggs is 6-6.
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This will be the spot for our in-game coverage and observations from tonight’s big game between Arizona and Washington.
Did we say big game? Feels good, huh? The Pac-10 has had precious few big games in the past couple of seasons … and the same goes for Arizona. These teams aren’t powerhouses, but Washington is 20th nationally and the Wildcats are 25th in the coaches poll, so it’s a battle of ranked teams in what should be a rocking Hed Edmundson Pavilion.
(Is it too soon to call it Alaska Airlines Arena? The company reached a naming-rights agreement today.)
Anyway, Arizona is going to need something great out of sophomore forward Derrick Williams, who would like to forget the last time he played in the building. Last season, he fouled out in eight minutes as the Cats lost in Seattle.
Not only does Arizona need his scoring against what can be a very big front line, but it’s all hands on deck in the rebounding department.
“It all starts with Washington’s rebounding,” Arizona coach Sean Miller. “They’re the best offensive rebounding team in our conference and there is a huge gap between the second best.”
More Arizona basketball coverage from the TucsonCitizen.com Sports Network:
Steve Kerr to head back to Final Four as CBS announcer
Pac-10 Player of the Year: Who do you like so far?
Arizona notebook: Wildcats begin ‘make or break’ stretch
Javier Morales: Arizona-Washington game preview and prediction