Washington Struggle to Show Up in Blowout Loss to Colorado

The Huskies returned home looking for a spark to rejuvenate their basketball season and ended up with a dud against the Buffaloes.

For a moment, Washington's basketball team had a puncher's chance on Wednesday night against Colorado. 

Yet after coming out of halftime to a single-digit deficit, the Huskies had no response to their situation, fell into a 21-point hole late in the second half and lost 98-81 to the Buffaloes at Alaska Airlines Arena. 

The 17-point defeat is the worst this season following a 12-point loss at UCLA on Jan. 14. 

"From the beginning of the game, they came right at us and it felt like we just couldn't stop them," UW coach Mike Hopkins said after the loss. 

It could have been an even more pitiful result had forward Keion Brooks Jr. not hit his lone 3-point of the game in the waning seconds. 

The 6-foot-7 forward led the team with 22 points and added 6 rebounds while shooting 9 of 14 from the floor in 34 minutes. 

The UW (11-9 overall, 3-6 Pac-12) suffered its second home conference loss of the season to Colorado. The other came when Oregon held on for a 76-74 win on Jan. 4. 

Unlike that outing against the Ducks, the Huskies never seemed to be in this one. Things turned out worse than the final score, too.

Sophomore Koren Johnson, who knocked down a jumper with 8:43 remaining to cut the deficit to 71-57, left the game after the following UW possession with what appeared to be a shoulder injury.  

The 6-foot-2 guard walked out of the arena hunched over and delicately holding his arm, and did not return to the game. Johnson finished with 9 points and a team-high 7 assists in 24 minutes of action off the bench. 

Hopkins confirmed after the game that Johnson suffered a shoulder injury, but didn't know the severity of it. 

The Buffaloes (15-5, 6-3) extended their win streak to four by winning the mid-range game against the UW, making 30 of 55 shots from the floor. 

Colorado also converted 24-of-26 free throws and dominated the Huskies 38-22 in rebounds. 

"Excuse my language, but it was all [bleeped up]," Brooks said. "I'm the team leader. I got to step it up some and try to inspire the whole team to continue to step it up, too. If I'm not doing my part, how can I yell at someone else to do their part?"

UW played without senior center Franck Kepnang, who went out with a knee injury on Dec. 17 at Seattle University, for the 10th straight game.

Hopkins used both senior Braxton Meah and junior Wilhelm Breidenbach at center with mixed results. 

Meah, who had five dunks among his 11 points and hauled down 6 rebounds in 18 minutes, was lacking on defense and gave up too much in and around the paint.

Breidenbach, a 6-foot-10 forward who transferred to UW from Nebraska, drove to the bucket for 6 points in 15 minutes. He suffered defensively, as well.

Neither big man had much of a response for Colorado center Eddie Lampkin, who had his way for 14 points and 10 rebounds in 28 minutes. 

"This team did whatever they wanted," Hopkins said. "They scored in the post at will. One of our principles is no middle drives. They got to the middle on us fairly easily. In these last games, it's been the second half of where our defense wasn't at a high level. Tonight it started at the beginning of the game."

Washington continues its three-game homestand on Saturday by hosting Utah at Alaska Airlines Arena with a 7 p.m. tipoff. 

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