Pac-12 Tournament: Huskies Fall to Oregon 83-77
By Ben Renner
The Pac-12 Tournament ended early for the Huskies, who lost to top-seeded Oregon 83-77 yesterday.
For the Huskies, the Pac-12 Tournament was likely their last chance to get into the National Championship Tournament beginning on March 15. If they could either string together a few impressive wins over nationally-ranked opponents or win the Pac-12 Tournament outright, they would have been in the running for a National Championship. They had a golden opportunity to make their case yesterday with a win over eighth-ranked Oregon, which came in as the Pac-12’s number-one seed for the tournament.
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Instead, the Dawgs fell to a more experienced Oregon team in the Pac-12 Tournament Quarterfinals yesterday. The Huskies started strong, forcing Oregon to play their pace and their style of basketball. But when the Ducks were finally able to slow the game down, they ground down Lorenzo Romar‘s young pups.
After the slow start, Oregon, led by Elgin Cook, who scored 19 for the Ducks, built an 11-point lead midway through the second half. Then Andrew Andrews came alive for the Huskies. After a slow start for Andrews, the lone starting senior guard started to put the team on his back. A fast and furious flurry of points by the Huskies, including 10 by Andrews, pulled the eighth-seeded Huskies to within two of the Ducks. But Oregon held Washington off with four free throws in the final 33 seconds.
The Huskies are likely to appear in the NIT after the loss. They still beat expectations for the season despite their failure to get into the National Tournament bracket, but a postseason appearance after being picked to finish 11th in the Pac-12 by many experts isn’t bad. Romar seemed pleased overall with his team’s effort this season: “In terms of our own expectations, we felt we could go a little bit further than we did. But it wasn’t due to a lack of trying and selling out for the cause of what we wanted to do.”
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For the Ducks, they’ll go on to face Arizona in tonight’s Pac-12 Tournament semifinals.