SEATTLE – Two seasons after Washington finished 9-22 overall, earning only two victories against teams in the Pac-12 Conference, the Huskies men’s basketball team is once again going dancing.
For the first time since 2011, UW is headed to the NCAA Tournament under second-year head coach Mike Hopkins as a No. 9 seed in the Midwest Region. The Huskies will face No. 8 seed Utah State in Columbus, Ohio in the first-round matchup.
It marks only the second time that the Aggies and Huskies have met in any of the three postseason men’s basketball tournaments. Back in 2006 as a No. 5 seed in the East Region, UW defeated No. 12 seed Utah State 75-61 in the first round.
Hopkins hosted the Huskies at his house Sunday afternoon to watch the Selection Sunday show on CBS. After losing 68-48 to Oregon in the Pac-12 Tournament Championship game on Saturday, the team had to wait and see if it would indeed get an at-large bid.
“Nerve-racking but exciting,” Hopkins said, describing the emotions waiting to learn the Huskies’ tournament fate Sunday.
Throughout February and into early March, Hopkins remained animate that the Huskies’ completely body of work was enough to punch their ticket into the field of 64. Getting into the tournament is one accomplishment, advancing and making a run is another story.
For Hopkins, who hasn’t coached in the NCAA Tournament since the 2015-16 season as an assistant coach at Syracuse, his message to the UW players is simple: be focused and play your best basketball.
Before the Huskies won their first 10 games to open Pac-12 Conference play this season, one of the marque non-conference games came on Dec. 5 in Spokane against No. 1 ranked Gonzaga.
It was just under one month after UW got blown out by then-No. 11 Auburn 88-66, the first road test of the season back in early November. Hopkins knew his team had improved as the Huskies went 5-1 between the two Top 25 games, losing only to Minnesota 68-66 in the Vancouver Showcase on Nov. 21.
“That’s the screaming before GU,” Hopkins said, adding a laugh, “It’s all noise. It’s all hype. The key is focus and play well.
Senior point guard David Crisp, one of four players that will graduate from the program after the 2018-19 season, described the moment when he saw that Washington was in as, “the best feeling ever.”
UW players have a busy week on top of preparing to face the Aggies on Friday, March 22. Some have finals to balance with studying Utah State and practicing before the team travel back East.
Hopkins noted one element working in the Huskies favor heading into the tournament is their zone-defense, and opponents having less time to find holes in it. For most of the season UW has been at their peak when they play at home.
The weakness has been getting the offense to travel, knowing that Hopkins’ zone is easier to pack up and carry game to game relatively speaking. USU has a 9-4 record on the road this season, boasting an impressive 5-1 record in neutral site games.
Arizona State, one of two other teams from the Pac-12 to make the NCAA Tournament, defeated Utah State 87-82 back on Nov. 21, the only neutral site loss this season for the Aggies. Losses, however, have been few and far between for the Mountain West Conference Champions.
Since Jan. 12, when USU beat Wyoming 71-55 on the road to improve to 12-5 overall, the Aggies have won 17 of their last 18 games. The only defeat during that stretch of time was a 68-63 loss at San Diego State in early February, a result the Aggies avenged Saturday night by beating the Aztecs to win the conference tournament.
For the Huskies, who have faired slightly worse since the same mark at 15-4, it will come down to putting together two complete halves’ and being focused throughout.
