ASU drops Pac-12 opener
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) C.J. Wilcox scored 17 points, Andrew Andrews added 14 and Washington raced past Arizona State 76-65 Thursday night in both teams' Pac-12 opener.
Washington (9-5) dominated almost from the start, building a 17-point halftime lead and extending it by doing almost whatever it wanted against Arizona State's defense.
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The Huskies scored 42 points in the paint and had 11 offensive rebounds that led to 12 second-chance points.
Nigel Williams-Goss had 12 points and seven rebounds for Washington, which plays top-ranked Arizona on Saturday.
Arizona State (11-3) fell flat once Washington got rolling.
The Sun Devils stagnated offensively in an awful first half and had a rough night from the 3-point arc, making 2 of 14.
Jahii Carson led Arizona State with 15 points. Shaquielle McKissic and Jordan Bachynski added 13 points each.
Arizona State had a solid run through nonconference, with victories over UNLV and Marquette and one lopsided loss to No. 20 Creighton.
Washington has gotten off to some slow starts under coach Lorenzo Romar and had a few rough patches in a difficult nonconference schedule. The Huskies lost both of their games against ranked teams, to San Diego State and Connecticut, and were beaten by UC Irvine, Indiana and Boston College.
Washington got off to a fast start against Arizona State behind good shooting and by getting to the rim despite the presence of Bachynski, Arizona State's 7-foot-2 center.
Blackwell got the Huskies started with eight points in the opening 4 1/2 minutes and they kept rolling, using on a 28-5 run to build a 38-21 lead.
Williams-Goss had no trouble getting into the lane against Arizona and Wilcox hit a pair of 3-pointers - one from deep at the shot-clock buzzer - during the run.
Washington scored 26 of its first 30 points in the paint and hit 16 of 31 shots to lead 40-23 at halftime.
The Sun Devils couldn't seem to make anything.
They started off OK, but went cold fast by forcing shots inside and missing most of the open ones they got.
Arizona State made 9 of 31 shots in the opening half, including 1 of their 10 3-point attempts.
The Sun Devils were better to start the second half, making four of their first six shots to cut Washington's lead to 44-34.
Just when the fans started getting into it, the Huskies went on a quick 8-0 run that included 3-pointers by Andrews and Wilcox.