Washington Basketball blows a late lead to the Stanford Cardinal on The Farm. What are the takeaways as the Huskies go forward without Quade Green?
Washington Basketball (11-5, 1-2) lost to the Cardinal (13-2, 2-0) 61-55 at Stanford Thursday night. The Huskies were ranked #41 in the NET rankings, while the Cardinal were #17.
Stanford struggled in the first half as the Cardinal is still fighting for respect despite their fine record and being the only undefeated team in Pac-12 conference play. Washington held the home team to 20 points and took an eight-point lead into the locker room. Four of Stanford’s top five scorers were held to only two points total in the first half.
The Huskies offense wasn’t functioning much better. Word broke earlier in the afternoon that Washington would be without point guard Quade Green. In fact, Green would be declared academically ineligible for the winter quarter meaning coach Bob Hopkins would be without his floor leader until the NCAA Tournament. After their performance down the stretch against Stanford, attendance in the Big Dance may be questionable.
In the second half, coach Jerod Haase made the offensive adjustments necessary to spark the Cardinal. The two teams played evenly throughout much of the second half. However, with just four minutes to go in the ballgame, Stanford decided to go on a 14-1 run to finish off the game and the Huskies.
Washington came into the game splitting their games in the conference opening weekend to the LA schools. Considered to be a contender in the Pac-12, the Huskies will have to regroup before going forward in the next game at California (#182 NET) on Saturday, Jan. 11, with the following issues to address.