If the season is going to be salvaged — and that’s a very big IF — then the Washington men’s basketball team couldn’t lose to Stanford.
The Huskies didn’t explicitly say they had to beat the Cardinal, but within the program UW pointed to Thursday’s game as a break in an arduous stretch of the schedule and a chance to halt a five-game skid with a win against the last-place team in the Pac-12 that brought a three-game losing streak into Alaska Airlines Arena.
It remains to be seen if Washington’s 86-69 victory against Stanford is the start of a midseason revival or one of the few bright spots in a season that’s included several disappointments.
At least for a night, the Huskies gave the crowd of 5,692 plenty of reasons to cheer.
It was the first win for Washington (10-8, 2-5 Pac-12) since Dec. 17, and the Huskies moved improved to 10th place in Pac-12 before Saturday’s game against California (3-14, 2-4).
For weeks, UW players insisted they hadn’t given up on the season despite a string of lopsided losses and it appeared as if they unleashed their frustrations on Stanford.
The Huskies feasted on a suspect Cardinal defense and the 17-blowout provided an opportunity for several UW players to enjoy breakout offensive performances.
Braxton Meah hammered four dunks on hapless Stanford defenders and tallied with a game-high 21 points, nine rebounds and five blocks to lead Washington.
Keion Brooks Jr. tallied 18 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. Koren Johnson, who didn’t play in the last two outings, came off the bench and had a career-high 15 points, four assists and three steals while Cole Bajema and Keyon Menifield each had 11 points.
The Huskies stumbled early offensively and trailed 15-11 when Meah flushed an alley-oop dunk off a feed from PJ Fuller II that ignited a 15-2 run to take control of the game. The spurt included a thrilling sequence in which Johnson stripped Stanford guard Michael O’Connell to start a fast break that ended with his drop-off pass to Fuller for a dunk.
On UW’s next offensive trip, Johnson canned a three-pointer from the corner that put the Huskies up 26-17.
Stanford pulled to within 31-26 when Washington answered with a 16-4 run to end the half, which included 12 unanswered points.
The Huskies missed 9 of their first 12 field goals before connecting on 15 of 19 shots to finish the first half to take a 47-29 lead into the break.
Bajema drained a three-pointer that pushed UW ahead 60-40 with 15:31 left and the Huskies never allowed the Cardinal to get closer than (14) points the rest of the way.
Spencer Jones (12 points) was the only player to reach double-digit scoring for Stanford, which fell to 5-11, 0-6.