Wildcats pull away from Huskies in 2nd half

In the snow, rain, cold, and a late tipoff didn’t deter 14,545 that showed up at the McKale center to see Arizona defeat Washington 70-52 this evening. Solomon Hill scored 19 points and grabbed six boards to lead the Wildcats to the win.

CJ Wilcox led the Huskies with 15 points on 5 of 16 shooting, including 1 of 6 from three point range. It was another difficult shooting night for the Huskies who only could hit 30.8% of their field goal attemtps.

Sean Kemp, Jr. had seven hard fought points and nine boards but the Huskies were overmatched this evening.

Washington hung in tough during the first half, as Arizona struggled against the Husky defense. Scott Suggs got the Huskies on the board with a 15 foot runner to open the scoring at 18:30. Solomon Hill buried a three to answer. The two teams went back and forth until C.J. Wilcox hit a three and then a runner to push the Dawgs out to a four point lead. Sean Kemp junior pulled down an offensive board and his put-back gave the Huskies an 11-6 edge. Their lead grew to 13-8 as the ‘Cats continued to struggle from the field, hitting just 20% from the field at that point.

Mark Lyons nailed back to back treys and brought the UA crowd to life in a big way, and the Husky lead quickly evaporated. Lorenzo Romar had to take time out. The ensuing play resulted in an Andrews to N’Diaye feed that wound up being a jam. Solomon Hill answered and then an Andrews turnover led to a Lyons transition lay in. Simmons got open for a lay in to answer. Washington then had Aziz and Simmons lay in attempts blocked on back to back possessions, but the Wildcats could not pull away from the game Huskies.

Gaddy hit one of two free throws to bring the Huskies to within one, but Solomon Hill was able to grab an offensive rebound and hit the put back and get fouled. He converted the three point play to make it 25-21. Wilcox answered with a 20 footer, but when Hill answered with a trey from the top of the key, the Huskies would slowly begin to slip away. A Kaleb Tarczewski 10-foot banker in the lane to push it to five.

The next possession would turn the game in the Wildcats favor for good. Tarczewski went to the line for a one and one. His first attempt missed long and Aziz and Kevin Parrom tied up for a jump ball on the rebound. Instead of separating, Aziz wrapped his arms around Parrom and threw him under the basket to the ground into the photographers. Although Parrom undoubtedly did some acting, Aziz still deservedly drew a technical foul for the bonehead play. The Huskies lost possession on the jump ball that would’ve come their way, Hill buried both free throws, and then Tarczewski grabbed an offensive rebound off a ‘cat miss and drew a foul on Simmons. Tarczewski buried one of two and the home team lead by 8 at the half 33-25.

Gaddy caught a pass while standing out of bounds on Washington’s first possession of the second half. Tarczewski hit a hook shot over Aziz and the lead was double digits. Hill hit a lay in followed by a Lyons reverse lay in and Washington was on the ropes with the half barely begun. During the time out the crowd never let up and coming out of the time out they remained on their feet.

N’Diaye picked up his fourth foul with 17:39 left in the game, thus Jernard Jarreau was summoned from the bench.

Gaddy hit a tough runner floating across the key and drew a foul. He missed the free throw and the rebound was tipped out to Lyons, who hit Nick Johnson in stride for a thundering jam. A Wilcox miss led to another Johnson lay in on the transition, and then Gaddy tipped an errant pass out of bounds. By then the Huskies trailed by 15 and showed no signs of offensive power.

Nick Johnson buried a three out of the time out and the route was on. Romar gamely tried to coach his charges but his kids looked out of it. After another lazy Husky turnover led to a Nick Johnson lay in, Romar called time out and watched his team bicker in the huddle. It was a strange thing to watch. Romar got between Gaddy and Andrews as both young men were in each others face. CJ Wilcox looked beside himself and had to be consoled by Simmons. I have never seen a more out of sync and unhappy group under Romar. The basic message from the Husky head coach was that, “its 911, guys. PLAY WITH PRIDE!!”

After the time out Gabe York got into the barrage, nailing a three to push the lead to 22. The Wildcat fans began chanting “Get off the court…get off the court” to the strains of P-Funk’s “We got the bump”.

Washington lulled the ‘cats to sleep for a stretch and pulled to within 14 with a couple of chances to get closer but they weren’t able to convert. When you have only made 17 of 57 from the field with under 4:00 remaining, it’s pretty tough to get close to anything.

Washington heads to Tempe for another late night tip-off, an 8PM contest against ASU in the Wells Fargo arena.