Inside The Huskies

Utah Slows Down Brown, Gets Beat by the Other Huskies

The UW pulls out a big win in Salt Lake City, rallies from 14-point deficit.

Dan Raley

Utah did what everyone in the Pac-12 should do to the University of Washington basketball team — it tried to take Terrell Brown, the league's leading scorer, out of the game.

On Thursday night in Salt Lake City, this strategy worked well enough that Brown put up just 15 points, seven below his average coming in.

It bothered the UW to the point Mike Hopkins' team fell down by 14 in the second half, seemingly headed for a third consecutive defeat.

However, the Huskies finally showed they're more than a one-man team, getting big performances from Cole Bajema and Daejon Davis to rescue a 74-68 victory at Huntsman Center.

"We just played together," Brown said in a postgame TV interview. "We told everyone in the huddle we were going to be tougher together."

Langston Wilson and Branden Carlson battle inside on Thursday night.
Langston Wilson of the UW and Branden Carlson battled inside.  :: Jeffrey Swinger/USA TODAY Sports

A 6-foot-7 sophomore from little Lynden, Washington, Bajema came off the bench to score a career-high 15 points on 5-for-8 3-point shooting — 13 points over his season average. He simply worked each corner for points.

Davis, a 6-foot-3 senior guard from Seattle and a starter, mostly found the driving lanes that were denied to Brown and he came up with a team-high 16 points. He shot 7-for-12 against the Utes. 

It proved to be an extra satisfying victory for the Huskies (6-6 overall, 1-1 Pac-12), not only because of the way they did it facing so many obstacles, but because their win total now exceeds last year's miserable showing, which ended up 5-21.

Coming off a 28-point game at Arizona, Brown didn't score against the Utes (8-7, 1-4) until more than seven minutes were played. He had just 6 points at halftime, limited to 3-for-8 shooting. He didn't score again for the first seven minutes of the second half. Brown still had 15 and his team needed all of them. 

With this 6-foot-3 senior guard from Seattle held in check to open the next half, the Huskies fell behind 50-36 five minutes into it and looked as if they were on the verge of getting blown out. 

Bajema stepped up and got the comeback rolling when he hit a pair of 3-pointers around a pair of Brown short-range baskets and the UW pulled within 52-46. Suddenly it was a game again.

"We know he can shoot it," Brown said of the former Michigan transfer. "In practice, he's lights out. We give him confidence more and more, that this one's going in. He had it for us tonight."

Davis knocked down a 3 to tie the game at 57 for the first time since midway through the opening half. The Huskies had all the momentum now to close it out.

With 5:34 remaining, Bajema drained a 3-pointer from the corner to give his team the lead for good at 62-59. With his success behind the line, the UW connected on 10 of 22 behind the line as a team.

"The biggest thing is we're fighting," Brown said. "We're going to keep fighting, keep getting better."

Jamal Bey drives for a bucket at Utah.
Jamal Bey drove to the basket against Utah :: Jeffrey Swinger/USA TODAY Sports

The quick-handed Huskies helped their cause by forcing 19 turnovers while committing just 6. Among them were 13 steals, giving the UW an amazing 31 over two games.

With two days off, the UW will conclude a three-game road trip with a game at Colorado (10-3, 2-1), an 83-78 winner over WSU, on Sunday afternoon in Boulder.

The Buffaloes will have 48 hours to figure out what to do about Brown. Or maybe they should let him score and focus on the other guys. The Huskies have made it a little more difficult to play them now.

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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.

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