The University of Washington's calling card is their defense and their version of the suffocating Syracuse scheme, but truth be told, they haven't always had a potent offense to complement that end of the floor, as evident in their 70.1ppg average.
Thursday night in Seattle against an Arizona State (7-15, 3-9 Pac-12) squad that has, for the most part, been stout defensively, the Huskies converted at a 48.3 perecent clip en route to a dominating 87-64 win over the visitors from Tempe.
The writing was on the wall early in this ticker to ticker victory by Washington (13-9, 8-4), who already led 39-19 with 4:48 left in the first half. That was the juncture where the Sun Devils were finally able to effectively attack the hosts' zone and outscored the Huskies 13-3 the rest of the period entering the locker room with a manageable deficit of 42 to 32.
The good news for ASU in the second half was that their offensive momentum continued scoring 13 points in the first five minutes of that stanza. Alas, the Sun Devils' defensive struggles reappeared as the Huskies were on a torrid pace expanding their lead to as much as 27 points 81-54 with 7:15 left in the contest coasting to a comfortable win in their fifth straight home victory this season.
Not only did Washington post a 53.8 percentage shooting mark from the field, but they were also 5-10 beyond the arc compared to ASU's 2-10 shooting from the same distance in the second half. The visitors ended the contest on a 3:09 minute scoring drought.
Senior forward Kimani Lawrence paced ASU with 15 points, while junior forward Jalen Graham contributed 14 points and eight rebounds. Senior guard Marreon Jackson had another solid contribution off the bench with 12 points, six assists, and four rebounds, although he did struggle quite a bit from the field, converting 4-13 shots. Sophomore guard Jay Heath was the fourth Sun Devil player in double figures scoring 10 points.
Arizona State will try and salvage the road trip to the Evergreen State, looking for a split as they visit Washington State. The contest in Pullman on Saturday tips off at 8:00 p.m. and will air on ESPNU.
