The Washington Huskies outscored the Cats by 12 points in the second half to beat the Cats 81-75. Arizona jumped out to a 6 point lead in the first half thanks to freshman Lamont Jones who scored 14 points on 7-10 shooting. The Cats were down by 9 with 8:50 left in the game and battled to within 2 points with only 1:10 on the clock. The Cats continued to battle all the way until the final buzzer by fouling Washington and then making a series of layups and short jumpers to keep within 2. Unfortunately, Washington's free throw shooting was clutch and they continued to sink free throw after free throw. Quincy Pondexter played almost the entire game and killed Arizona, scoring 30 points. Kevin Parrom defended him most of the night and could not keep up with him.
The Cats just weren't on last night. Nic Wise was 4-15 from the field. Jamelle Horne was in foul trouble all night and only scored 2 points compared to his 22 the last time Arizona played Washintgon. Washington did have Justin Holiday, their defensive specialist, available for last night's game and he was unavailable on their previous trip to Tucson. Derrick Williams fouled out with only 8 minutes of play in the entire game and was held to just 3 points. It was as if the Cats didn't even get to play the game because of all of the fouls.
When Horne and Williams are being shut down, other guys need to step up and fill the roles. Last night was one of those nights. Kyle Fogg had 13 points on 3-9 shooting. Solomon Hill had 12 points on 4-6 shooting and Brendon Lavender had 11 points on 4-4 shooting. I'm really proud of the way those guys stepped up last night. Wise was definitely off, shooting 4-15 and others stepped in to help out. The Cats shot 41% from the floor and 65.5% from the FT line on the night. There is currently a 4 way tie for 1st place in the Pac-10. Mediocrity at its best!