Washington (9-6, 1-3) at No. 5 Arizona (13-1, 2-1) *
McKale Center | 9 p.m. | FS1, 1290-AM, Varsity Network
Probable starters
ARIZONA
G Kerr Kriisa (6-3 junior)
G Courtney Ramey (6-3 senior)
F Pelle Larsson (6-5 junior)
F Azuolas Tubelis (6-11 junior)
C Oumar Ballo (7-0 junior)
WASHINGTON
G Keyon Menifield (6-1 freshman)
G Noah Williams (6-5 senior)
F Cole Bajema (6-7 senior)
F Keion Brooks (6-7 senior)
C Braxton Meah (7-1 junior)
HOW THEY MATCH UP
The series: Arizona leads the Huskies 58-31 all-time and has won the last five straight games, since Washington beat UA 69-63 in the regular-season finale for both teams in 2019-20. On Jan. 3 last season, Arizona beat Washington 95-79 at McKale Center despite committing 21 turnovers and allowing former Wildcat guard Terrell Brown to score 28 points in part by getting to the line for 8 of 10 free throws. A month later in Seattle, Arizona turned the ball over only nine times and won 92-68, getting 21 points and 10 rebounds from Azuolas Tubelis.
This season: The Huskies and Wildcats will meet again in just over three weeks, on Jan. 28 in Seattle.
Washington overview: After Brown led Huskies to a 17-15 record in 2021-22 following two straight losing seasons, Washington is in danger of more trouble this season. The Huskies went 8-3 in nonconference play, edging Saint Mary’s in overtime to win the Wooden Legacy event over Thanksgiving weekend, but enters McKale Center having lost three straight home games by double digits: 84-61 to Auburn, 80-67 to USC and 74-49 to UCLA.
Brown’s absence has also prompted the Huskies to diversify offensively: Forward Keion Brooks (16.2) and wing Cole Bajema (10-4) are Washington’s leading scorers but there are also threats inside with center Braxton Meah (9.8) at point guard with Keyon Menifield (8.7).
However, the Huskies shoot 3s at only a 30.3% rate, ranking 311th in Division I, and are mediocre inside the arc at 49.7% (ranking 182nd). One of their problems has been the slump of senior wing Jamal Bey, the Huskies’ leading returning scorer. Bey lost his starting job last week after nearly three years in Washington’s starting lineup and has dropped from a 50.7% 3-point shooter as a sophomore in 2020-21, to 31.5% last season to just 26.1% so far this season. This season, Bey is averaging 6.1 points while shooting just 36.0% overall.
The Huskies are working back guard Noah Williams, who suffered a leg injury in the season opener but returned against USC. The former WSU standout can score in multiple ways and handles point guard occasionally on a team that mostly shares the duties among Menifield, PJ Fuller and Koren Johnson.
Defensively, the Huskies are up to their usual tricks in a 2-3 zone defense. They’ll rotate different size players at the top of the zone, often with the 6-7 Bajema at the top but also with smaller guards, while Meah stays around the rim, blocking 7.7% of opponents’ shots when he’s on the floor. The Huskies had another shot-blocker in Oregon transfer Franck Kepnang, but he was lost for the season with a knee injury suffered against Dec. 1 against Oregon State.
He said it: “So many people play zone now but they do it for 40 minutes. So they’re used to it. You have to be ready to attack the zone for an entire game. They just rotate and put different guys (at the top of the zone), based on what they need and how they want to defend. The biggest thing is their five man (Meah) is right at the basket and controlling the paint area. He’s gotten so much better from the start of the season to where he’s at now in scoring, rebounding and running the floor. He’s been a big presence in the middle in terms of his ability to block shots.
“I think a big key is their guards’ ability to get deflections and steals and disrupt the offense. That zone is so high up on the floor it does make it difficult sometimes to penetrate the zone. You can’t be casual, making soft and lazy passes, because they’ll go get it. They want to turn you over.
Brooks “has been consistently good for them all season. He’s been able to make shots, make plays. He’s very active and a skilled player. He plays kind of as a four but he’s probably like a three in terms of skills. He’s not shooting a great percentage from 3 but he can make shots, and he’s a rebounder.
Menifield and Bajema “are probably two of their best 3-point shooters. Jamal Bey was one of the best 3 point shooters in the conference a couple of years back .. .So we’re gonna go with the history of that in terms of how you play him. You’re not going to stand back off of him and dare him to shoot the basketball because he’s gonna make shots.
Williams “is very athletic. He’s explosive about the way he plays. He gives them a lot of energy. He’s only played in three games so he’s probably pretty excited about playing and he’s aggressive kind of kid. He definitely gives them a spark.”
— UA assistant coach Steve Robinson, who scouted the Huskies
KEY PLAYERS
WASHINGTON
Keion Brooks
An Arizona recruiting target last spring in the transfer portal out of Kentucky, Brooks has found more minutes and more shots with the Huskies. He’s not only a versatile scorer but an effective defensive rebounder and shot-blocker who plays and guards multiple positions.
ARIZONA
Courtney Ramey
One reason the Wildcats sliced through the Huskies’ defense last season was that Bennedict Mathurin hit a combined seven 3-pointers in the two games. Without him this season, the Wildcats need Ramey and point guard Kerr Kriisa to not only keep the offense flowing against the Huskies’ zone but also to hit some long-range shots over it.
SIDELINES
Wiring the portal
Half of Arizona’s top six players — Ramey (Texas), Pelle Larsson (Utah) and Cedric Henderson (Campbell) — arrived at Arizona via the transfer portal. But that doesn’t mean that when the transfer portal heats up again this March, UA coach Tommy Lloyd will be poking his head directly in it.
Instead, he’s likely got an ear on the ground right now hearing who may or may not be headed there.
“What’s funny about the transfer portal is if you’re just hearing about a recruit in the transfer portal — and you haven’t heard what’s going on before — you’re probably not going to get him,” Lloyd said on his weekly radio show. “There’s so many moving parts to this recruiting deal. Obviously, you can’t contact the kid directly or even (his) family until their names are in the transfer portal, but trust me, there’s plenty of chatter out there.
“So I’ve never logged on and looked at the transfer portal, to be honest with you. We have guys on the staff that know how to do it, but I don’t.”
Working vacation
While Lloyd says he was glad the Wildcats and their families were able to take advantage of a four-day break for the holidays that ended on Dec. 27, there was one person on the roster who ultimately didn’t want all of it.
That would be Lloyd. The UA coach even spent the day after Christmas wondering where everybody was, until communicating with staffers Riccardo Fois and Jason Gardner.
“I was ready to come back and practice on the 26th,” Lloyd said. “I was literally going through my work, getting everything done, getting ready to practice and I texted Ricky and I’m like, `Hey, what time are you going to be around today so we can get together on a few things?’ He’s like `Well, I’m not coming back till tomorrow.’ Tomorrow? It’s crazy. (I’m thinking) I’m losing my way here. I got staff members picking and choosing when they’re coming and going.
“Then I texted J Gard and J Gard says `Coach, we don’t practice til the 27th. I’m like `OK, there we go.’
Hamstrung Huskies
Washington is expected to pop Fuller and Menifield back in its rotation Thursday, after Fuller missed the Huskies’ game with UCLA on Sunday because of an illness and Menfield was injured in it.
That’s more of the same sort of shifting the Huskies have had to do most of the season.
Last week, they moved guard Noah Williams back in after he missed 12 games with a leg injury suffered in the Huskies’ opener. Earlier, leading scorer Keion Brooks missed two games with a leg injury from a practice, while backup center Franck Kepnang was lost for the season to a knee injury on Dec. 1, forcing the Huskies to go with a smaller post presence when 7-footer Braxton Meah is resting.
“There’s been a lot,” Washington coach Mike Hopkins said on Tuesday. “But we’ve got good players and Noah is adding another really good player that we relied on the beginning. It’s just going to be another chemistry piece of getting those reps together. It’s never easy, but you’re always trying to figure a way moving forward.”
Numbers game
5 — Arizona games starting at 9 p.m. or later this season, counting the Wildcats’ Maui Invitational opener against Cincinnati and four Pac-12 games starting with Thursday’s. Tip times for three other remaining UA games are still yet to be announced.
8 — Former Washington players on NBA opening-day rosters this season, tied with Oregon for fourth-most in the Pac-12 and behind UCLA (12), USC (11) and Arizona (10).
14 — Straight Washington losses against teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.
— Bruce Pascoe
