How did the Huskies win this game?
The Washington men’s basketball team missed its first eight shots, committed 11 turnovers in the opening 11 minutes and fell behind Arizona State 12-0 at the start.
The Huskies also blew a 10-point lead in the final 10 minutes and could have claimed victory in regulation if not for Keion Brooks Jr. fouling Austin Nunez on a three-point attempt with 0.6 seconds and three subsequent free throws that forced an extra period.
However, the next five minutes belonged to Washington and particularly Noah Williams who scored seven of his 18 points in overtime, a season-high tying 22 turnovers and carried the Huskies to a hard-fought 69-66 win in front of 7,332 at Alaska Airlines Arena.
Keion Brooks Jr. led UW (13-9, 5-6) with 22 points and seven rebounds. Cole Bajema finished with 11 points and nine rebounds while Keyon Menifield tallied 10 points, six rebounds and five assists.
After five turnovers in the first four minutes, Hopkins had seen enough and called a timeout.
On the sideline, the UW coach verbally ripped into the Huskies and lambasted them with an emotional tirade.
Problem solved?
Hardly.
Bajema inadvertently stepped out of bounds. Jamal Bey watched a pass sail through his hands and land in the third row of the stands. And Brooks mishandled a pass during a horrendous stretch in which Washington committed 11 turnovers in the first 11 minutes and missed 10 of their first 12 shots.
The Huskies converted 3 of 16 shots and trailed 16-9 with 7:43 remaining in the first half before outscoring the Sun Devils 23-4 the rest of the way to take a 32-20 lead into the break.
Brooks drained a three-pointer that put Washington up 43-33 with 12:29 left and Bajema canned a couple of free throws that also gave UW a 10-point edge at 45-35 with 9:58 remaining.
That’s when the Sun Devils canned three straight three-pointers to cut the Huskies’ lead to 45-44 with 7½ minutes left.
Three minutes later, ASU’s Desmond Cambridge Jr. knotted the score at 48-48 with a layup that set up a frantic finish.
Washington led 52-48 in the final minutes, but Brooks fouled Austin Nunez on the final play in regulation and he drained three free throws to force OT.
The Huskies survived in the extra period because they converted 8 of 12 free throws.
Washington hosts No. 6 Arizona at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The Huskies lost 70-67 against the Wildcats four weeks ago.