Huskies Say Fond Farewell to Seniors, Harsh Good Bye to OSU

The Beavers drop their 17th consecutive game without much of a struggle.

On Saturday afternoon at Alaska Airlines Arena, nine University of Washington basketball players took a bow during Senior Day activities, almost enough guys to hold a full-scale scrimmage.

That might have been more competitive than facing Oregon State, one of the worst teams to come through the Pac-12 — this just 12 months after the Beavers proved to be one of the most endearing in league annals as an unlikely NCAA Elite Eight entry.

After all of UW upperclassmen had been introduced, gifts exchanged and photos with coach Mike Hopkins taken, the Huskies let their overmatched opponent hang around for just 15 minutes before getting serious and hammering out a 78-67 victory.

With that, the Beavers (3-27 overall, 1-19 Pac-12) dropped their 17th consecutive game. 

They haven't won since beating the Utah Utes 88-76 at home on Dec. 30. 

Earlier they lost 10 in a row.

It seems Reser Stadium isn't the only thing in Corvallis that's been dismantled and in great need of a major remodel.

The Beavers simply weren't going to win against the UW (16-14, 11-9) no matter what happened. They don't shoot well. They don't play much defense. It was sort of like last year's 5-21 Huskies. Now OSU is one postseason game away from being put out of its misery.

As for the UW, they will finish in the upper half of the conference standings after prognosticators voted them near the bottom — or as Hopkins likes to say "13th."

"I told them I would give them a high grade for that," Hopkins said.

Numbers Game / Skylar Lin Visuals

The Husky seniors get their reward.


A Few Words / Skylar Lin Visuals

Nate Roberts says something to Terrell Brown Jr.


Beaver Screamer / Skylar Lin Visuals

Maurice Calloo yells at the UW's Daejon Davis.


Good Bye Bey? / Skylar Lin Visuals

Jamal Bey might have played his last Husky home game.


Holding Call / Skylar Lin Visuals

Cole Bajema drives with a Beaver hanging on to him.


Sorn Slams / Skylar Lin Visuals

Riley Sorn gets a late dunk.


Job Well Done / Skylar Lin Visuals

Mike Hopkins greets Nate Roberts after subbing him out late.


Shoe Salesmen / Skylar Lin Visuals

Young fans talk the Huskies out of their shoes.


Charitably, the Huskies let the visitors lead or share the lead uninterrupted for more than three-quarters of the opening half before putting all the pregame pomp and awkward basketball behind them.

With 6:03 left in the opening half, UW senior guard Terrell Brown Jr. gracefully hung in the key and dropped in a shot for the UW's first and permanent lead, at 17-16.

The Huskies next outscored Oregon State 21-8 to the break, with Brown responsible for 10 of those points to establish a comfortable 38-24 advantage.

Brown, the Pac-12's leading scorer, had 12 points on 6-for-8 shooting in the half. He finished with a game-high 24 points by hitting all six of his shots in the next half. The graduating Brown knelt down and kissed the floor at midcourt after the game ended. It was symbolic.

"Being from Seattle and knowing the route I took to get here, I didn't have the best season last year at Arizona," the guard said, who played for five college teams in all. "I got a second chance."

Hopkins should have let some of those graduating deep subs in the game at halftime to make things more interesting. Or more fair.

The Husky coach actually started guard Daejon Davis, who has missed several games over the past month with a shoulder injury. He's still the one-armed man out there. Yet he remains a valuable player on the court even wounded and the UW needs to get him ready for the postseason.

In the opening 20 minutes, the Beavers connected on just 30.8 percent (8 of 26) from the field compared to the UW's glistening 57.1 shooting percent (16 for 28). 

Things only got worse when play resumed after the break. The Huskies eased out to their largest lead at 58-35. Oregon State was able to cut that in half, but it was too late.

"We've been playing defense and we know defense wins games," Brown said.

In one mismatched but entertaining sequence, Emmitt Matthews Jr. went for a wind-up dunk that missed, Jamal Bey caught the big carom in the corner and launched a 3-pointer that wouldn't go down and Nate Roberts slammed through the rebound.

Roberts, in a second strong performance, finished with 13 points and 16 rebounds, giving him 31 points and 32 rebounds in the Oregon series.

Hopkins cleared the bench with 1:20 remaining.

The only thing left to do was start packing for next week's Pac-12 tournament. The sixth-seeded Huskies will face Utah in their Wednesday opener at 8:30 p.m. 

Those UW players who joined in Senior Day farewells, whether they're actually leaving or not, were Brown, Davis, Matthews, Roberts, Bey, Riley Sorn, Noah Neubauer, Jonah Geron and Reagan Lundeen. Hopkins expects some of them to return.

Matthews, Roberts, Bey and Sorn all are scholarship players who have eligibility remaining and still might play again for the Huskies. 

Or, hey, maybe some should hit the transfer portal and end up at Oregon State, which could certainly use their help, any help.

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Husky FanNation stories as soon as they’re published.

Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Husky FanNation on Facebook by searching: Husky Maven/Sports Illustrated

Follow Dan Raley of Husky FanNation on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven


Published
Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.