At some point early in games, Mike Hopkins rises from his seat on the sideline, discards his suit jacket and slowly rolls up his shirt sleeves, which indicates the Husky coach is agitated and signaling to his Washington men’s basketball team that it’s time to fight.
For most of first half on Saturday night, Hopkins kept his jacket on and sat comfortably while the Huskies cruised to a 90-55 nonconference romp against Idaho State.
“I was really happy the way our guys came out,” Hopkins said. “We came out focused. It wasn’t perfect, but when we start moving the ball and we went inside first, I thought there was some really good passing and some really good sharing. The guys (who) came in off the bench, I thought really did a good job. Played confident and we were able to get them some good minutes. I was happy with the effort, for sure.”
This was the complete game that Hopkins and Husky fans had hoped to see for weeks.
Washington never trailed and was able to uncork an offense that posted season highs in points, assists (24) and margin of victory (35), while shooting 54.9% from the floor and outrebounding Idaho State 42-27.
Backup freshman guard Keyon Menifield led five Huskies in double-digit scoring with 13 points and seven assists.
At 7 foot 1, Braxton Meah, who finished with 12 points on six dunks and six rebounds in 19 minutes, had very little problems inside against the Bengals who don’t have anyone taller than 6-9 on the roster.
PJ Fuller II, Cole Bajema and Koren Johnson each had 11 points while Keion Brooks Jr. finished with eight points, 10 rebounds and six assists for the Huskies (9-3, 1-1 Pac-12), which won its fourth straight home game in front of 5,733 at Alaska Airlines Arena.
It was a paint-by-the-numbers outing for the Huskies who were never seriously threatened by a Bengals team that has lost 34 straight games to a Pac-12 opponent dating to 1986.
Fuller got things going with a block on Idaho State’s first offensive trip, which led to his fast break three-pointer at the other end.
Soon after, Fuller led a 2-on-1 break and lofted a pass over a defender to Keion Brooks Jr., who flushed a highlight alley-oop dunk for a 9-2 lead with 16:08 left in the first half.
“I was telling myself all day, I knew … that I was going to go out there and just try to play hard,” said Fuller who scored eight points in the first half. “I knew my guys would be right there with me doing their own thing, but just kind of set the tone as best a possible.
“We just knew that we had to come out and punch them in the mouth and keep whupping their … from start to finish.”
The Huskies’ lead fluctuated between 5-9 points before they delivered a decisive knockout with a 14-2 run in the final four minutes of the first half to stretch a 27-20 advantage to a 41-22 lead at the break.
It was the fourth time the habitually slow-starting Huskies were ahead at halftime this season.
“We talked about it a lot,” Brooks said when asked about the slow starts. “I felt like the last game (a 74-68 comeback win over Cal Poly) we didn’t move forward as far as progressing and getting better as a team. I felt we kind of stayed and plateaued. We had room to get better so we came in with a sense of urgency to really pick it up.
“When we get the big lead, continue to push it further. There’s been too many times when we started off slow or started off hot and it’s a tie game or we’re down at halftime. We really focused on pushing the lead and keeping our foot on their neck the entire game.”
Washington’s lead swelled to 38 points in the second half and Hopkins used the final minutes to empty the bench and get a long look at several seldomly-used reserves.
Junior walk-on guard Kyle Luttinen, who saw action in the first half, drained two three-pointers and freshman forward Tyler Lindhardt canned a 3 for their first collegiate points while Husky starters screamed with excitement on the bench.
“That’s what he does,” said Brooks, a Fort Wayne, Ind. native when asked about Luttinen. “I’m not from here, but I’m pretty sure that if you come from around this area you know what he does. A sweet stroke like that doesn’t go away.”
Fuller added: “As Noah Williams would say, that’s what’s on his business card. He shoots that ball.”
And Menifield thrilled the crowd with a high-flying dunk in garbage time that punctuated the blowout win.
Brayden Parker finished 15 points and Brock Mackenzie had 11 for Idaho State, which fell to 3-9.
Washington’s path becomes increasingly challenging over the next few weeks, starting with Wednesday’s home game against No. 19 Auburn. The Huskies host USC and No. 16 UCLA to resume the Pac-12 season before a daunting road trip to No. 9 Arizona and Arizona State.
“You play the preseason to get ready for your league,” Hopkins said. “We’ve played well. We’ve had a lot of great lessons learned. Going to have a great opportunity against a great Auburn team.
“It’s the first time since I’ve been the head coach here where we’ve had a top-20 nonconference team come here and play. It’s a great opportunity.”
NOTE:
— Washington center Franck Kepnang underwent successful surgery to repair a torn ACL, according to sources.