TEMPE, Ariz. — Tough stretch.
That’s what Keion Brooks Jr. said weeks ago before the Washington men’s basketball team began a string of games against No. 22 Auburn, USC, No. 10 UCLA, No. 5 Arizona and Arizona State.
“We can’t talk about it,” Brooks said. “We got to be about it.”
The Huskies finished their most difficult stretch of the season with a thud — a 73-65 defeat against Arizona State on Sunday afternoon at Desert Financial Arena.
It was the fifth straight loss for Washington (9-8, 1-5 Pac-12), which dropped every game by double digits, not including a 70-67 loss against Arizona on Thursday.
Considering UW led for most of the game in the three-point setback three days ago, coach Mike Hopkins believed the Huskies rediscovered a winning formula that’s been missing the past three weeks.
And for about 22 minutes, Washington appeared to be evenly matched with Arizona State a until the Sun Devils’ second-half flurry put the game out of reach.
Keion Brooks Jr and Noah Williams each had 15 points while Jamal Bey added 12 and Keyon Menifield 10 for the Huskies.
Making open shots proved to be a herculean effort for both teams in the first half who combined to convert 20 of 67 shots, including 7 of 27 on three-pointers.
The task became increasingly difficult for the Huskies when (Braxton) Meah collected his third foul with five minutes left in the first half that prompted his exit and forced UW to rely on a four-guard lineup with Brooks in the post.
The combination of good defense and bad shooting produced a low-scoring first half that ended when (Noah) Williams missed a midrange jumper and the Huskies trailed 28-26 at the break.
After Meah picked up his fourth foul and went to bench with 18:53 left, the Huskies were vulnerable inside without their 7-foot-1 rim protector.
Washington was down 30-28 when Arizona State used a 24-11 run to go up 54-39.
The Huskies answered with a brief spurt and cut their lead to 54-46 when the Sun Devils buried them with a 12-2 barrage capped by a Jamiya Neal’s highflying dunk with 3:18 left.
Arizona State shot 55.9% in the second half
Devan Cambridge had 18 points, Neal 14 and Frankie Colins 10 for ASU, which improved to 12-3, 3-1.
The Huskies return to Seattle for a couple of games against the Bay Area schools, starting 8 p.m. Thursday against Stanford (5-10, 0-5) followed by Saturday’s matchup versus California (3-13, 2-3).
Note
- Koren Johnson dressed in warmups and missed his second straight game. The freshman guard, who had originally planned to redshirt, is averaging 5.3 points and 17.4 minutes in 14 games as a reserve.