Do the Washington Huskies Have a Chance Against Arizona?
By Ben Renner
The Washington Huskies haven’t been playing well with their one-man team approach. Do they have a chance to beat the seventh-ranked Arizona Wildcats?
No. 7 Arizona is 19-2 on the season overall and a perfect 8-0 in the Pac-12 Conference. The Washington Huskies are reeling, having dropped four of their last five, with their only win a two-point nailbiter over hapless Colorado.
The Washington Huskies are 2-6 in the Pac-12 and looking for answers. They miss the foreboding presence and senior leadership of center Malik Dime, who is still out with a broken finger he suffered in a win over Oregon State earlier this month.
Without a Dime in their pocket, the Washington Huskies have floundered. They have no big man to defend the rim, and the brilliance of Markelle Fultz is simply not enough to overcome the stream of easy baskets their defense allows on a regular basis.
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Now they travel to McHale Memorial Center to take on the leaders of the Pac-12. Is there hope for the young Huskies in this game? Sure.
We know that Fultz is a NBA Lottery talent and he’ll likely see Arizona’s best defender, Kadeem Allen most of the game. Fultz will likely get his points even against Allen, but what has made this Huskies team disappointing is not only the bad defensive efforts, but also the over-reliance on Fultz to score.
On paper, as is always the case when a team is an 18-point underdog, it looks impossible for the Huskies to win. However, there’s hope outside the stats. No. 10 Oregon just took a loss to lowly Colorado this week, giving the Wildcats sole possession of the Pac-12. Arizona will travel north to take on the Oregon schools this week. Looking ahead to facing the Ducks in Eugene could cause this young Wildcats team to look past the Huskies.
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With the Washington Huskies reeling at this point in the season, it’s easy to overlook them. If Fultz can turn his wizardry into a career scoring night, the Huskies will be in this game longer than you think. Catch the game today at 12:30 on FOX.