STANFORD, Calif. — Husky associate coach Will Conroy repeatedly yelled: “No threes!” from the sideline.
It’s entirely possible the ample-sized Maples Pavilion crowd, which had plenty to cheer about on Sunday afternoon, drowned out his directives and the Washington men’s basketball team didn’t hear their instructions.
More likely, the hapless Huskies were helpless in slowing down a red-hot Stanford offense that torched them from outside and handed Washington an 81-69 loss, which snapped its three-game winning streak.
The Cardinal connected on 12 of 24 three pointers while UW was 3 of 15 from long range. The disparity in perimeter points couldn’t overcome the Huskies’ 36-26 points in the paint advantage.
Aside from Jamal Bey, who finished with a season-high 21 points on 6-for-11 shooting from the field and seven rebounds, UW players struggled offensively.
Keion Brooks Jr. had 17 points on 4-for-10 shooting and Braxton Meah added 11 points and eight rebounds. The Huskies shot 38.6% from the field.
Washington spotted Stanford an 8-0 lead in the opening 3½ minutes when Brooks swiped a pass that started a fast break, which ended with Menifield’s layup in traffic.
The Cardinal went up 13-4 and 21-10 before UW went on a 14-3 run to cut its deficit to 27-24.
Stanford outscored Washington 11-2 the rest of the first half to take a 38-26 lead into the break.
The Huskies used a 13-6 run to start the second half to narrow the gap to 44-39 with 15:37 left.
That’s when Stanford drained three-pointers on its next three offensive trips to go up 55-41 and put the game away with 13:31 remaining. UW never got closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
Spencer Jones had 19 points, five rebounds and four 3s for the Cardinal (12-18, 6-12 Pac-12), which snapped a three-game losing streak. Maxime Raynaud added 15 points and Brandon Angel chipped in 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Washington (16-4, 8-11) wraps up the regular season Thursday against cross-state rival Washington State at Alaska Airlines Arena.
The Huskies are eighth in the Pac-12 and can’t fall any lower in the final standings. UW has a chance to climb into a fifth-place tie.