"No defense" Huskies lose at Arizona, 106-97

TUCSON, Ariz. — In the final seconds, as Jon Brockman's hard foul on Arizona's Jamelle Horne left the McKale Center crowd incensed and players on both sides exchanging angry words, it looked like the Washington Huskies were spoiling for a fight.

But by then it was too late, the sequence an anomaly on a night when the Huskies too often gave in.

"I didn't think we fought like we needed to," said UW coach Lorenzo Romar after Washington's 106-97 Pac-10 men's basketball loss to the Wildcats here in front of 14,434.

The lack of aggressiveness was particularly true on defense as Arizona scored the most points against the Huskies since the Wildcats scored 112 here against UW in 1998.

"No defense," said Brockman. "That's all there is to it."

The loss knocked the Huskies (15-5 overall, 6-2 Pac-10) out of sole possession of first place and ended a four-game winning streak that had moved UW into The Associated Press rankings for the first time in more than two years, at No. 23. Now they'll need to win at No. 14 Arizona State on Saturday to avoid getting swept.

Players weren't sure if the ranking and attendant publicity were the cause, but they agreed that this wasn't the way UW had played to earn that ranking.

"That was a wake-up call for us," Brockman said. "For whatever reason, we came out, as coach Romar would say, with our cool jackets on, thinking we could just play cool and win the game when that's not the case."

Ominous signs were evident from the start as Arizona — which improved to 13-8 overall and 3-5 in Pac-10 play, keeping hope alive for a 25th straight NCAA tournament bid — jumped out to a 7-0 lead.

"We competed about as hard tonight for 40 minutes as I've seen us," said Arizona interim coach Russ Pennell, who got the job in November when Lute Olson was forced to retire for health reasons.

UW used 5-for-11 shooting from the three-point line to regain the lead, and led 38-37 at halftime. But Brockman said, "It kind of falsely looked like we were in control."

Indeed, Arizona grabbed the lead on its first possession of the second half, and then took it for good at the 16-minute mark. Arizona led 51-48 with 14:40 left when center Jordan Hill — who had 18 points and nine rebounds — picked up his fourth foul. That figured to be good news for UW. Instead, Arizona went on an 18-4 run over the next four minutes to take control, getting started with a couple of three-pointers after the Huskies decided to go to a zone defense.

"That was a pivotal point of the game," Romar said. "You would have thought we would respond. Instead, they responded."

The Huskies went to a small lineup of Brockman and guards Isaiah Thomas, Justin Dentmon, Venoy Overton and Elston Turner, and cut the lead to three at 91-88 with 1:51 left. But Arizona's Zane Johnson hit a wide-open three-pointer on the next possession and the game was never again in doubt.

Arizona hit 34 of 40 free throws in the second half, and 41 of 51 for the game.

"We faced a team that had their backs against the wall and they came out clawing and scratching," Romar said. "We didn't match their intensity."

Indeed, Arizona hit 14 of 22 shots in the second half and 28 of 54 for the game, 51.9 percent, only the third time this season an opponent has hit more than half of its shots against the Huskies.

"They just came out and played harder than us in the second half," Thomas said.

Arizona's Nic Wise (29 points), Chase Budinger (25) and Hill combined for 72 points.

Brockman led UW with 27 points and 16 rebounds but fouled out with 25 seconds left when he slammed into Horne on a breakaway layin attempt. Horne hit the floor hard and Budinger and a few Huskies momentarily looked ready to rumble before tensions settled as Brockman immediately apologized to Horne.

"I'm not that type of player," Brockman said. "I'm never trying to hurt anyone out here. I was just trying to make a play on the ball, and I got him with my body."

A rare moment of aggression for the Huskies on this night.

WASHINGTON (15-5)
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Pondexter	15	2-7	3-4	3-3	2	4	7
Brockman	35	11-18	5-8	9-16	0	5	27
Gant	9	1-3	0-0	1-3	0	2	2
Thomas	30	7-21	1-2	2-4	4	4	15
Dentmon	33	7-14	2-2	2-3	4	4	23
Overton	21	2-3	1-1	0-0	3	5	5
B-Amaning	16	2-5	1-3	1-3	1	2	5
Holiday	27	1-2	0-0	1-1	2	4	2
Turner	14	4-8	0-0	2-3	2	4	11
	200	37-81	13-20	22-39	18	34	97

Percentages: FG .457, FT .650. Three-point goals: 10-26, .385 (Dentmon 7-12, Turner 3-6, Overton 0-1, Thomas 0-7). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 1 (Holiday). Turnovers: 15 (Thomas 4, Holiday 3, Brockman 2, Dentmon 2, Overton, Turner, Pondexter, Gant). Steals: 6 (Brockman 2, Turner, Thomas, Dentmon, Overton). Technical fouls: None.

ARIZONA (13-8)
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Budinger	39	7-14	8-11	3-8	4	1	25
Hill	26	7-9	4-9	4-9	2	5	18
Johnson	18	1-4	0-0	1-1	0	2	3
Wise	37	6-13	14-14	0-3	8	1	29
Fogg	31	4-4	7-7	1-3	3	2	16
Onobun	13	1-2	3-4	0-1	1	3	5
Judkins	4	0-0	2-2	0-1	1	2	2
Lavender	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Horne	29	1-7	3-4	2-6	0	2	6
Jacobson	2	1-1	0-0	0-0	0	3	2
	200	28-54	41-51	13-37	19	21	106

Percentages: FG .519, FT .804. Three-point goals: 9-20, .450 (Wise 3-7, Budinger 3-7, Fogg 1-1, Horne 1-2, Johnson 1-3). Team rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 0. Turnovers: 16 (Hill 5, Wise 4, Judkins 2, Horne 2, Fogg 2, Jacobson). Steals: 7 (Wise 2, Fogg 2, Horne, Onobun, Hill). Technical fouls: None.

Washington	38	59	—	97
Arizona	37	69	—	106

Attendance: 14,434. Officials: Mike Littlewood, Kevin Brill, Jim Giron.