UW Shows No Mercy In Beating Bruins for First Time in 10 Games

The Husky nemesis went down hard at Alaska Airlines Arena.

The University of Washington basketball team always loses to UCLA. From Johnny Wooden to Johnny Juzang, it's a winter tradition.

No team has beaten the Huskies more times (108) in program history. It's as if they always expect either the big man formerly known as Lew Alcindor or the perpetually tie-dyed Bill Walton to man the middle every time. 

Powder blue and gold, or whatever dominant shade the Bruins pull on for any particular outing, has always lead to red faces and black eyes.

That is until Thursday night, when the UW finally pushed back against the boys from Westwood and took out a ton of frustration against them by carding a surprisingly unanimous 94-77 decision at Alaska Airlines Arena.

The Huskies (16-13 overall, 8-10 Pac-12) broke a nine-game losing streak to this Bru crew, beat these guys for the first time since 2019 and walked away as the victor against them for just the fourth time in a dozen years.

"It's just good to win a game, period," the UW's Keion Brooks said when asked about getting that elusive win over UCLA. 'It does feel good to get a win for the guys that played here before and probably weren't able to get one."

Consider that UCLA and Gonzaga both ended up in the loss column in Montlake in the same season, imagine that.

Brooks led all scorers with 32 points while hitting 8 of 14 shots, with the graduate forward draining a sizzling 6 of 7 treys. Center Braxton Meah supplied 19 points by connecting on all 8 of his shots, 5 of which were dunks. Forward Moses Wood chipped in 18 points while taking just 6 shots and making 5. Point guard Sahvir Wheeler had a double-double of 11 points and 11 assists.

"I just kicked it up a gear, decided to work harder and do everything I need to do," said Meah, who's wore a light cast on his right hand and is dealing with a lingering bad ankle. 

The UW largely enjoyed this breakthrough moment because it shot extremely well — connecting on 15 of 24 3-pointers— and limited its turnovers to 6. This also was one of the rare times the Bruins (14-14, 9-8) came to town and simply weren't that good, in this case losing their third consecutive game. 

Sophomore Koren Johnson had his fifth consecutive productive game in the win over UCLA.  / Skylar Lin Visuals

UCLA coach Mike Cronin had to know it was going to be a difficult evening when his team was whistled for three personal fouls in the game's first 20 seconds and he drew a technical foul by showing his displeasure.

Mike Hopkins' Huskies briefly trailed by one on three occasions in the first half before reserve sophomore guard Koren Johnson — refusing to cool off much for going on three weeks now — put them ahead for good at 26-25 at the 10:19 mark. He drove the key, went into an electrifying spin move that left all defenders in his wake and banked one in neatly off the glass, drawing style points, as well.

From there, the UW gradually pushed out to an 11-point advantage, the first time at 40-29 on Wood's 3-pointer from the top of the key, before settling into a 44-35 lead at intermission.

The break did nothing to lessen the Huskies' resolve. Just six minutes into the next half, they were up by 18 when Brooks dropped in a 3-pointer for a 60-42 edge, giving him 18 points with that shot. 

"All of us got off to a good start shooting the ball," Brooks said. "We were getting wide-open looks because we moved the ball, shared the ball and we got bodies moving. They're hard to score on when you just play one-on-one."

At the 11:31 mark, the UW had its largest lead of the game at 66-46 when Brooks connected on a pair of free throws. These guys let up just a little as UCLA crept within 13. Nothing really comes totally easy against the Bruins does it, before they put the visitors away.

Guards Lazar Stefanovic and Dylan Andrews topped the Bruins with 22 and 21 points, respectively.

The Huskies play their final regular-season game at home on Saturday against USC. Tipoff is 1 p.m., with Senior Day activities preceding the game.

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