With the loss Saturday to the Oregon Ducks, the Washington Huskies have now dropped three straight games in Pac-10 play. These last two games haven't even been to good teams. The Beavers were 9-11 (3-6 conf) coming into their game with the Huskies. The Ducks were 11-11 (4-6 conf) before the UW game. Both of those games should have been easy wins for the UW team, which had been considered highly talented. However, The Huskies managed to lose both. After watching those games Husky fans must have some questions about the talent level of their squad. Is it possible that this team isn't as good as everyone thought?
During each of the last three UW basketball games Isaiah Thomas has struggled. Against WSU and OSU, Thomas played terribly. Against Oregon he improved a little, but was nowhere near the level fans had grown accustomed to. When it comes to scoring Thomas averaged 13.7 PPG but shot only 29.4% (10-34) from the field and 23.5% (4-17) from three point range. He was only been able to keep his scoring average up because the other teams kept fouling him. He was 17-19 from the charity strip over the three game spread. Beyond scoring, Thomas also struggled with his point guard duties. He had 17 assists over the three games, which might appear good. However, he also had 16 turnovers over those three games and many of them have looked just awful. These turnovers negated any benefit the Huskies gained from his assists.
So what about the other stars, Matthew Bryan-Amaning and Justin Holiday? These two seniors were expected to be able to pick up the slack during those games when Isaiah Thomas was struggling. During the three game losing streak MBA has averaged 13.0 PPG on 44% (16-36) shooting from the field. He has also been pulling down 8.6 RPG. He did have an absolutely terrible scoring game against WSU where he went 1-8 from the field and 4-8 from the line, but he managed to grab 11 rebounds. The biggest complaint about Bryan-Amaning over the three game slide has to be is free throw shooting where he is 7-17. This is nothing new though, MBA has never been a good free throw shooter. Despite his struggles at the line I would say MBA has played well during the losing streak.
During the same three game slide, Justin Holiday has averaged 12.0 PPG on 42.9% (12-28) shooting from the field. Much like MBA, Holiday has been helping the team out off the glass. He has pulled down 8.0 RPG. Also like MBA, Holiday had a game where he just didn't score at all but managed to rebound for the Huskies. Against OSU he went 2-8 from the field but pulled down 7 rebounds. Overall Holiday played fairly well against WSU, OSU and UO.
In addition to MBA and Holiday, other guys showed up to play against the Cougars, Beavers and Ducks. Against the in state rival Cougars, Freshman Terrence Ross dropped 14 pts in only 22 minutes. In the OSU game Scott Suggs scored a career high 18 points. Finally against the hated Ducks, Ross stepped up again and scored 12.
It has been said repeatedly from many sources that the Huskies are a very deep team. They are supposed to be able to play 8 or 9 deep on their bench without a talent drop off. Having a really deep team is great and it is essential for a deep tournament run. It allows your stars to have an off day without the team missing a beat. Other guys are supposed to be able to step in and carry the load.
Based on the last three games I think we are seeing that this idea of the Huskies depth winning them games might have been overblown. It appears that the Huskies are a star driven team. They rely on Isaiah Thomas to win games. When Isaiah Thomas falters, the Huskies falter. That is exactly what has happened these last three games. Isaiah Thomas struggled and the Huskies lost, despite others performing well.
Hopefully, this isn’t true and the Huskies have been losing because their opponents are just out playing them. If it is true we should expect trouble for this UW team. Opponents will just have to focus on Thomas. If they can shut him down they can win. Reliance on one player will result an early exit from the NCAA tournament, for any team, the Huskies included.
Source: Yahoo Sports
I do not believe that the Huskies are driven by stars, but rather that Isaiah Thomas has forced himself to be the focus too much lately. He has been suffering greatly and instead of deferring to the talent around him, has forced himself to try harder and harder shots. As long as Thomas understands fully when to keep shooting and when to play a complementary role, as he has done all season up until now, the Huskies have the potential to go very far.
ReplyDeleteI understand what your saying. Maybe a better title for the post would have been Hijacked.
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