Washington Basketball: 2019-20 keys for road matchup at Colorado

1. Protect a lead

The Huskies are now 2-5 in conference play and are in the cellar of the Pac-12 Conference.  If they could have maintained late leads, Washington could be 7-0 despite the struggles having to replace Green.  In each of the Huskies’ five losses, they have blown leads in the second half.

The most recent loss to Utah will leave a bad taste in the Huskies mouth for a while.  Washington led 62-55 with 2:32 remaining in the ballgame.  The Huskies allowed the Utes to score their last 14 points from the charity stripe in the 67-66 loss, while freshman Jaden McDaniels and junior Hameir Wright fouled out by the two-minute mark.  It seems like I heard somewhere that if you want to protect a lead late, you don’t want to stop the clock with fouls.

In the 66-64 loss at home to UCLA (#151 NET), the Huskies held slim leads throughout the second half before freshman Jake Kyman went crazy from beyond the arc for the Bruins.  Washington led 54-47 with less than five minutes to go at Stanford (#9 NET), but the Cardinal went on a 14-1 run to finish the game.

The Huskies also led 49-47 with less than four minutes to go but did not score for the rest of regulation and lost 61-58 in overtime at Cal (#153 NET).  And finally, Washington led the Ducks by 16 before losing 64-61 in overtime.