Hopkins' Dire Situation Worsens with 70-61 Setback at UCLA

The Husky coach takes one more step toward unemployment.

A bad situation turned worse for the University of Washington basketball team, which gave itself almost no chance to win at celestial Pauley Pavilion.

The Huskies had little to offer UCLA, getting outscored 8-0 to open the game, later going six minutes without scoring and on Thursday night limping out of the house that Johnny Wooden built with a wire-to-wire 70-61 defeat.

The guys in the road jerseys surely know Mike Hopkins' job is in serious jeopardy, but they were powerless to do anything about it against the Bruins (18-4 overall, 9-2 Pac-12), who were coming off consecutive losses.

It was extra painful to watch the team in the road uniforms. Somebody should have played taps. 

With each setback now, it appears to be just a matter of time before a coaching change involving Hopkins takes place, putting an uncomfortable capper on this season and his time at the UW. 

The results just aren't there. His players clearly seem to be pressing and rudderless. This was their second consecutive loss, following a 95-72 beating from Arizona at home.

UW forward Keion Brooks led all scorers with 23 points, while the Bruins were paced by Jaime Jaquez Jr., who topped his team with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Thirty-three days after the Huskies (13-11, 5-8) suffered a 25-point black eye from UCLA at home, they showed up in Los Angeles and went through added misery. They never led.

The UW missed its first five shots and threw the ball away once while falling behind 8-0. So much for winning one for the embattled leader.

UCLA's Amari Bailey takes a hand to the face from the Huskies' Keion Brooks.  :: Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA TODAY Sports

A clearly frustrated Hopkins was forced to call a timeout at the 16:44 mark and plead for his guys to settle down. They still finished with 13 first-half turnovers. 

Coming out of that momentary pause, Brooks scored his team's first points on a short jumper, but it hardly was enough to rescue a road game that's usually daunting to play even when times are good.

Brooks scored again on a lay-in to pull the Huskies within 14-8, but then everything came unglued.

Hopkins' players didn't score again for six-plus minutes, permitting UCLA to go on a 12-0 run and grab a 26-8 advantage, and it was a game of playing catch-up thereafter.

The teams went to the locker rooms with the Bruins comfortably ahead 38-22. The Huskies moved no closer than six over the final 20 minutes, refusing to roll over but losing just the same. 

Down to just seven games remaining on the schedule and at least one conference tournament outing, the UW has seen its season effectively slip away.

Watching Hopkins left twisting in the wind with no lifeline of any kind has to be disconcerting to all involved in the program.

The UW basketball team next goes across town to face USC on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. 

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