Huskies Woof It Up At Northwestern's Expense

Only 2 Pac-12 basketball teams were in action Friday, and the Washington men moved on to the third round of the NIT. The Arizona St. women weren't as successful, however.

Washington used a 14-1 run midway in the first half to take control of what was initially a very competitive game with Northwestern, and an overall dominant NBA audition by Terrance Ross to put themselves into position to really woof it up at the Wildcats' expense. The Huskies took a 39-32 halftime lead, and then put on a show on both ends of the floor in the second half, to pull away to a 76-55 win.

Ross went for a career high 32 points, including 6 made 3 pointers, and added 8 rebounds, a pair of steals, a block, and an assist to dominate the game, and overshadow Northwestern's John Shurna, who ended his stellar career with a 24 point, 6 rebound, 4 steal effort.

Washington's C.J. Wilcox drilled 4 3 pointers, and added 20 points to the Huskies' total. Tony Wroten had only 2 points, but was content to manage the ball, with 7 assists, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocked shots. Aziz N'Diaye had a big game as well, with 11 points and 7 rebounds.

The Huskies (23-10) will next play the winner of another Big-10-Pac-12 matchup, Sunday's Iowa-Oregon game, which will be played at 2 PM at Matt Court.

The Arizona St. women didn't fare so well against the Pacific Tigers from the Big West Conference. Pacific used a 13-2 run right before halftime to take a 33-24 lead after Arizona St. had led most of the first half.

The Tigers used a 9-0 run while shutting the Sun Devils out for nearly 4 minutes to take a 53-36 lead, and though Alex Earl, who co-led Arizona St. with 14 points, had 7 consecutive points that cut the deficit back down to 6 points, another 13-2 Pacific run put the game away, and put an end to the Sun Devils' 20 win season.

Tomorrow, Colorado returns to NCAA action against Baylor, the Oregon St. women host St. Mary's in WNIT play, and the women's NCAA Tournament begins, with 16 games, including Stanford's first contest, against Hampton (the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champions, not the hotel maid staff). California's first NCAA game comes Sunday, against Iowa.

Elsewhere, the NCAA tournament saw 2 15 seeds upset 2 seeds, something that has only ever happened 4 times before (once to Arizona).

If you had Norfolk St. over Missouri, and Lehigh over Duke, not to mention Ohio U., a 13 seed over Michigan, South Florida, the team that knocked California out in the play-in game, a 12 seed over Temple, and Xavier, a 10 seed, over Notre Dame in your Yahoo "Wisdom of the Crowds" bracket contest, you are in great shape! And doubtless doing better than Connor!

And if you thought California's first half against South Florida, where the not so Golden Bears had only 13 points, was an anomaly, the halftime score of the Temple-USF game was 19-15. No, the shot clock is not shut off for these Bulls' games.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com