Huskies Enter Last-Place Showdown Needing to Use Their Big Man

Center Braxton Meah could be more of a force if people looked for him.

The only constant in a University of Washington basketball season fast gone south has been Mike Hopkins' pet slogan

DMGB.

Doesn't matter, get better.

The sixth-year UW coach repeats it over and over. To his players. In media conferences. Likely in his sleep.

Well, that bit of cheerful wisdom lately hasn't worked for the 11th-place Huskies (9-8 overall, 1-5 Pac-12) as they've lost five consecutive games heading into Thursday night's tipoff against the cellar-occupying Stanford Cardinal (5-10, 0-5). 

It's a last-place showdown with an 8 p.m. tipoff that probably won't be well attended at Alaska Airlines Arena.

Here's another acronym for the Huskies that might stand a better chance for success.

UYBM.

Use your big man.

As this UW team continues to flounder, one of the most confounding things about it is the Huskies' continued or persistence reluctance to use its 7-foot-1 center Braxton Meah. That's 85 inches going to waste every time out.

While the Fresno State transfer is far from a polished product, he repeatedly demonstrates improving hands and footwork, skills that should be showcased rather than used as an afterthought.

While touring the conference's desert outposts of Tucson and Tempe, Meah was ignored like a stale box of popcorn.

Braxton Meah holds his ground at Arizona :: Zachary BonDurant/USA TODAY Sports

In a 70-67 loss at Arizona, he played 37 minutes, connected on 2 of 4 shots and finished with 4 points; at Arizona State in a 73-65 setback, the Husky center played a season-low 14 minutes, took two shots and made one, and posted a season-low 3 points.

Quizzed about this previously, Hopkins has just shrugged and said his players haven't been accustomed to feeding the post.

Well, whatever he's got them doing isn't working at all. This team prefers to shoot the 3-pointer, and the Huskies sink only 30.4 percent of their attempts.

One of the signs of losing is lack of interest in the program that comes hard and fast. On Tuesday, Hopkins held his weekly media briefing and just two people showed up. 

You can only ask him so many times why his team doesn't get more out of Meah. 

With the exception of just a few of its past conference champions, the UW hasn't won without a productive big man in the middle, someone who gets more touches than everyone else.

Jack Nichols, Bob Houbregs, Steve Hawes, James Edwards, Lars Hanson, Christian Welp and Todd MacCulloch, with some of them instantly ready to play but others needing guidance and repetition to become a force inside.

Heading into the Stanford game, Meah averages 9 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. Those stats need to be more like 15 and 10. If they were, the Huskies might have a fighting chance at winning again.

DMGB.

Direct message: go big.

 

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