If you are interested in participating in our Pac-10 Hoops Recap, please let me know at ConnorOSU@gmail.com
Washington 74, UCLA 63: The Pac-10 season continued Friday afternoon at Pauley Pavilion, with the Washington Huskies taking on the UCLA Bruins. Both teams came into the game with a 1-0 record in Pac-10 play, knowing that the winner would take an outright lead in the conference for the time being.
The first half of the game was great, with both teams trading baskets. One team would take a lead, and the other would put together a small run of their own. It went back and forth until the final couple of minutes in the first half, when Washington was able to put a little seperation in between them and the Bruins. A key layup with 30 seconds left by Husky forward Darnell Grant gave the Dawgs a 38-31 advantage at Halftime.
The Huskies took advanatge of the momentum they gained in the final minutes of the first half, and used that momentum to build a 17 point lead early on in the 2nd Half. UCLA would slowly climb back though, and a Joshua Smith layup with 4:40 left cut the score to 63-59. But that would be as close as the Bruins got, as the Huskies used good free throw shooting down the stretch to preserve the 11 point victory.
Matthew Bryan-Amaning led the Huskies with 21 points, while Reeves Nelson led UCLA with 19.
USC 60, Washington State 56: Instead of a recap, CougCenter offered up some perspective after the tough loss:
Last year, a Pac-10 team with a surefire NBA player and a lot of youth had a good non-conference season. They only suffered two losses before Pac-10 play. They had wins over Texas A&M and a Montana team that turned out to be NCAA tournament dynamite.
Then the Pac-10 slate started. They lost at home to Oregon, and then were swept on their first conference road trip. They started the season 1-3 and it looked as if they were going to struggle in a very winnable Pac-10 conference.
That team was your 2010 Pac-10 Tournament Champion Washington Huskies.
The season is far from over. ("Some Perspective" via CougCenter)
Updated Pac-10 Standings after the break
1. Washington, 10-3 (2-0)
2. Arizona, 12-2 (1-0)
3. Oregon State, 6-6 (1-0)
4. UCLA, 9-5 (1-1)
5. USC, 9-6 (1-1)
6. Stanford, 7-4 (0-0)
7. California, 7-5 (0-0)
8. Arizona State, 7-5 (0-1)
9. Oregon, 7-6 (0-1)
10. Washington State, 10-4 (0-2)
Once again, if you would like an excerpt from your blog's game recap, please let me know at ConnorOSU@gmail.com.
--Connor