Washington basketball: 3 takeaways from Huskies 68-66 loss to Minnesota

Washington basketball got off to another poor start in the first half against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at the Vancouver Showcase. It came back to bite them in a 25-20 loss.

The Huskies had an opportunity to pull ahead of Minnesota in the first half because UW was shooting better. Minnesota shot 26% from the field in the first half, while the Washington basketball team shot 37.5% so the Huskies led 25-20 at halftime.

The game stayed close the whole second half the Huskies were leading 66-65 when freshman guard Gabe Kalscheur hit a three-pointer for Minnesota with two seconds remaining to win the game. Kalscheur only had nine points in the game however he had the most important ones at the end.

Noah Dickerson led the Huskies tying his career high with 28 points, he was followed by Jaylen Nowell with 22 points. The Golden Gophers were paced by forwards Jordan Murphy who had 18 points and Amir Coffey with 17. Murphy also led Minnesota in rebounds with 11.

Takeaway #1 Noah Dickerson

For the second game in a row, Dickerson led the Huskies in scoring with 28 points. Unlike the win against Texas A&M when he shot 7 out of 19 from the field, Dickerson converted 9 out of 11 shots from the field in this game. He also made 10 out of 13 at the foul line.

Takeaway #2 Offense

Again the Huskies shooting was poor in the first half. Their 37.5% field goal percentage allowed the Golden Gophers to stay in the game, although they only shot 26%. For the game, the Huskies shot 50% going 23-46. Washington had 17 turnovers to the Golden Gophers had 15.

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It is hard to know whether it was really the offense shooting poorly for both teams, or the defenses were just that good. It could have been the combination of both. Outside of Dickerson, Nowell and David Crisp who had eight points of his own, no one else scored more than two points. The rest of the Huskies lineup needs to step up for them to win consistently.

Takeaway #3 Fouls

The Huskies had 24 personal fouls in the game. Sam Timmins came off the bench for the second time in three games, after starting the opening three, fouled out just over nine minutes left. It’s amazing since he only played seven minutes in the game. Hameir Wright starting in the place of Timmins was also in foul trouble picking up four on the night as did Matisse Thybulle.

The foul trouble only allowed Wright to play 22 minutes in the game while Thybulle played 26 minutes. The mild strain Thybulle had before the game against Texas A&M kept him from performing at the highest level.

The next game for the Huskies will take place next Tuesday in Seattle against Eastern Washington.