Washington Basketball: 3 takeaways from Huskies close loss vs Oregon
Washington Basketball almost pulled off the upset over the Oregon Ducks in front of an empty crowd at Alaska Airlines Arena.
After being down (53-38) to the Oregon Ducks in the second half, Washington Basketball outscored the Ducks 19-7 over the next eight minutes. Oregon got the lead back up to nine with 5.35 left but the Huskies were able to get the lead down to one with under two minutes left.
Coming out of a timeout down (73-71) Quade Green missed a three-pointer with four seconds left. Green scored 26 points and was 10-17 from the field. The only other scorer in double figures was RaeQuan Battle with 19 points.
Battle’s best game of the Season
Getting Raequan Battle going was huge, the Huskies have struggled to score this year besides Quade Green (14.8 PPG). Having another additional scorer would be big for the Huskies.
Battle, who showed promise at times last season has struggled so far shooting 23% from the field. Along with the rest of the supporting cast. Consistency has been an issue and needs to be resolved if Washington wants to turn these losses into wins.
Huskies can’t turn the ball over
To win basketball games it’s really important to take care of the ball. Against Oregon, on Saturday the Huskies had 16 turnovers including 13 in the first half.
A big reason why the Huskies were able to come back was that they took care of the ball a lot better in the 2nd half. Limiting turnovers needs to be a point of emphasis for the Huskies moving forward.
Washington needs balanced scoring
Coming into the game Washington has scored (57.3)PPG as a team and the leading scorer is Green with 14.8 PPG. But there is a big drop-off between their first and 2nd leading scorer Nate Roberts (7.3 PPG). Having a consistent 2nd scorer would be huge for Washington.
Erik Stevenson a transfer from Wichita State was supposed to be a huge contributor. But has struggled this year after 4 points tonight. He was coming into the game scoring (6.0)PPG. Stevenson scored (11.1)PPG last year at Witchita State and has the ability to play really well.
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It was a good battle for the Huskies to come back. The cold stretches and the number of turnovers will haunt them as they drop to 1-4. Their next game is Wednesday, December 16th at 8.00 PM on the Pac-12 network.