Thursday, January 06, 2005
WASHINGTON 84, USC 59
If the MCI Center's atmosphere is lifeless dead, then what can the L.A. Sports Arena's atmosphere be described as?
At least one Seattle-based basketball team won tonight. The Washington Huskies (#12 in AP and #14 in ESPN/USA Today polls, respectively) took care of business in Los Angeles, routing the woeful USC Trojans 84-59. The Huskies are now 3-0 in the Pac-10, after starting off 0-5 last season in the conference. What a difference a year makes.
It helps when you have some players. Tre Simmons lived up to his name, going 4-for-4 from beyond the arc, scoring 22 points, leading the Huskies. Paraphrasing Fox Sports West analyst Kurt Rambis (yes, THE Kurt Rambis): "It must be nice to be a shooter with a name like Tre." Well said, Kurt. In one of the many "WHAT THE HELL" moments of the year, Rambis didn't wear glasses or have any facial hair on him. What is the world coming to? Oh, and Matt Vasgersian was the play-by-play guy. I'm sure David will like to hear about that.
The Huskies led 10-0 until USC scored their first basket 5 1/2 minutes into the ballgame. USC couldn't hang with Washington's athletes at all. While watching this game, I told myself many times that Henry Bibby deserved to fired. This is Bibby's team out there. Interim coach Jim Saia doesn't have a chance in hell with this team. There's a reason why Rick Majerus decided not to take the USC job after all. It's because there aren't a lot of players on campus right now. The only player the Trojans have right now is former Rainier Beach star Lodrick Stewart, whose brother Rodrick transferred from USC to Kansas. Rodrick will start classes at Kansas next week. Don't even get me started on the overrated Craven twins, Derrick and Errick.
Washington took a 36-19 lead into halftime. As Vasgersian said on the telecast, let's "roll the ugliness", a great line from "The Jerk".
USC had 17 turnovers in the 1st half, leading to 20 Huskies points. The Trojans were also outhustled by Washington big time. Every loose ball went to the Huskies. That's one reason why Washington and USC are in two different positions right now.
For the game, the Huskies didn't shoot remarkably well, only 44%. But compared to last Sunday's 42% performance against Stanford, they will take it. Considering the opponent they faced tonight, 44 percent isn't too bad. When you cause your opponent to turn over the ball numerous times, you're going to get a lot of fast break opportunities. That's Washington's game and they didn't go away from that. Of course, it also helps to have a player like Simmons who can shoot the 3 very well.
Mike Jensen scored 14 points, 6 of those points coming in the Huskies' first 10 points of the game (see the 10-0 run to open up the ballgame). Brandon Roy had 10 points. And Nate Robinson only had 8 points tonight, but with the Huskies' depth, it didn't matter if he didn't have a big night. That's why Washington is going to be playing in March right there, because they have the players who can step up when Robinson doesn't have a great performance. To be fair, Robinson could have scored more than 8 points, but fed the ball to his teammates on a few occasions. That's a solid player right there, not always taking the shot, but giving it to his teammates who have the better shot opportunity.
The Huskies are 13-1 overall, 3-0 in the Pac-10. They head to Pauley Pavilion on Saturday to take on UCLA. The Bruins beat Washington State 80-77 in double overtime tonight.
Before I end this post, it's a shame that the Western Washington market couldn't get this game on Fox Sports Northwest. I can tell you from my time down here in the South that when the Arkansas Razorbacks have a game on Fox Sports Net, the Fox Sports Net channel here will pre-empt their programming so they can air the Arkansas game. Keep in mind that the FSN channel I have is Fox Sports Southwest. The Arkansas games are broadcast on Fox Sports South. There's no reason why Fox Sports Northwest can't get the telecast of the Washington-USC game, even if it is the USC broadcasting crew. For christ's sake, this is the #12 team in the nation. These aren't the Huskies of the mid-1990s, you know.
It's amazing when someone in Arkansas (me) can watch the Washington Huskies yet people in Western Washington can't. Unreal.
Anyways, have a good night.
At least one Seattle-based basketball team won tonight. The Washington Huskies (#12 in AP and #14 in ESPN/USA Today polls, respectively) took care of business in Los Angeles, routing the woeful USC Trojans 84-59. The Huskies are now 3-0 in the Pac-10, after starting off 0-5 last season in the conference. What a difference a year makes.
It helps when you have some players. Tre Simmons lived up to his name, going 4-for-4 from beyond the arc, scoring 22 points, leading the Huskies. Paraphrasing Fox Sports West analyst Kurt Rambis (yes, THE Kurt Rambis): "It must be nice to be a shooter with a name like Tre." Well said, Kurt. In one of the many "WHAT THE HELL" moments of the year, Rambis didn't wear glasses or have any facial hair on him. What is the world coming to? Oh, and Matt Vasgersian was the play-by-play guy. I'm sure David will like to hear about that.
The Huskies led 10-0 until USC scored their first basket 5 1/2 minutes into the ballgame. USC couldn't hang with Washington's athletes at all. While watching this game, I told myself many times that Henry Bibby deserved to fired. This is Bibby's team out there. Interim coach Jim Saia doesn't have a chance in hell with this team. There's a reason why Rick Majerus decided not to take the USC job after all. It's because there aren't a lot of players on campus right now. The only player the Trojans have right now is former Rainier Beach star Lodrick Stewart, whose brother Rodrick transferred from USC to Kansas. Rodrick will start classes at Kansas next week. Don't even get me started on the overrated Craven twins, Derrick and Errick.
Washington took a 36-19 lead into halftime. As Vasgersian said on the telecast, let's "roll the ugliness", a great line from "The Jerk".
USC had 17 turnovers in the 1st half, leading to 20 Huskies points. The Trojans were also outhustled by Washington big time. Every loose ball went to the Huskies. That's one reason why Washington and USC are in two different positions right now.
For the game, the Huskies didn't shoot remarkably well, only 44%. But compared to last Sunday's 42% performance against Stanford, they will take it. Considering the opponent they faced tonight, 44 percent isn't too bad. When you cause your opponent to turn over the ball numerous times, you're going to get a lot of fast break opportunities. That's Washington's game and they didn't go away from that. Of course, it also helps to have a player like Simmons who can shoot the 3 very well.
Mike Jensen scored 14 points, 6 of those points coming in the Huskies' first 10 points of the game (see the 10-0 run to open up the ballgame). Brandon Roy had 10 points. And Nate Robinson only had 8 points tonight, but with the Huskies' depth, it didn't matter if he didn't have a big night. That's why Washington is going to be playing in March right there, because they have the players who can step up when Robinson doesn't have a great performance. To be fair, Robinson could have scored more than 8 points, but fed the ball to his teammates on a few occasions. That's a solid player right there, not always taking the shot, but giving it to his teammates who have the better shot opportunity.
The Huskies are 13-1 overall, 3-0 in the Pac-10. They head to Pauley Pavilion on Saturday to take on UCLA. The Bruins beat Washington State 80-77 in double overtime tonight.
Before I end this post, it's a shame that the Western Washington market couldn't get this game on Fox Sports Northwest. I can tell you from my time down here in the South that when the Arkansas Razorbacks have a game on Fox Sports Net, the Fox Sports Net channel here will pre-empt their programming so they can air the Arkansas game. Keep in mind that the FSN channel I have is Fox Sports Southwest. The Arkansas games are broadcast on Fox Sports South. There's no reason why Fox Sports Northwest can't get the telecast of the Washington-USC game, even if it is the USC broadcasting crew. For christ's sake, this is the #12 team in the nation. These aren't the Huskies of the mid-1990s, you know.
It's amazing when someone in Arkansas (me) can watch the Washington Huskies yet people in Western Washington can't. Unreal.
Anyways, have a good night.