Huskies Suffer Sunday Letdown Once More, Fall to Stanford

The UW also loses guard Daejon Davis, the former Cardinal, to an injury.

If it's not clear already, the University of Washington basketball team treats Sunday as a day of rest.

Unfortunately for the Huskies, they agreed to play five games on the Sabbath this season — and none of them went well, especially the last two.

The UW finished up 0-for-3 with a pair of cancellations on Sundays after losing to Stanford 87-69 at Maples Pavilion. Barring a trip to the postseason, Mike Hopkins' team won't be faced with this issue again any time soon.

Three weeks earlier, the Huskies came out unready to play on a Sunday afternoon at Oregon and fell behind a demoralizing 48-13 by halftime before limping in with an 84-56 defeat. 

In early January, they suffered a 78-64 Sunday setback to Colorado in Boulder that wasn't that close.

Before that, COVID issues scuttled Sunday games in early December against UCLA at home in Seattle and against Gonzaga in Spokane.

Daejon Davis played at Stanford as an opponent for the first time, but got injured :: Robert Edwards/USA TODAY Sports

This negative Bay Area outcome was potentially the most costly of all — besides a ballgame, the Huskies (12-9 overall, 7-4 Pac-12) also lost the services of guard Daejon Davis to an injury barely seven minutes into the action in his return to Stanford.

Davis, a Cardinal playmaker for four seasons before transferring to the UW and coming home to his native Seattle, ran into a hard screen at midcourt set by Stanford's 6-foot-10, 265-pound Lukas Kisunas, his former teammate. 

Davis didn't get up right away. Two people had to help him gingerly to the locker room. He reappeared in street clothes for the second half and sat on the UW bench with his right arm in a sling.

The Huskies already were struggling by the time of the Davis mishap. They were down 9-0 after three minutes were played.

After winning three consecutive games, these guys looked listless at the outset. Hopkins yanked starting forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. just a minute and 22 seconds into the action presumably for an energy reminder.

The Huskies trailed 15-2 after making just 1 of 8 shots, with the points coming on a Terrell Brown Jr. field goal. 

Brown, the league's leading scorer, was the UW's only consistent offensive threat, finishing with a game-high 30 points on 13-for-23 shooting. He added 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals. Unlike his fellow Huskies, Brown showed he's good to go on any day.

Nate Roberts and Stanford's James Keefe tip off the game.  :: Robert Edwards/USA TODAY Sports

Davis' injury and departure seemed to wake up the Huskies for a brief spell. They went on a 14-2 run to cut the Cardinal lead to 17-16. It was a short-lived rally. 

Stanford (14-8, 7-5) received immediate 3-pointers from guard Spencer Jones and forward Jaden Delaire, and the game got out of hand again and stayed that way. Delaire led his team with 18 points.

By halftime, the Cardinal led comfortably at 46-33. The UW were weighed down by having three starters fail to score over the opening 20 minutes in guard Jamal Bey, Matthews and Davis, which made it tough to keep up.

The good news for the Huskies is they now come home for games against Arizona State and Arizona — on Thursday night and Saturday afternoon, respectively.

Next Sunday, they can watch the Super Bowl, go to church and definitely not pick up a basketball.

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