SEATTLE โ After his surprising Washington Huskies knocked off ASU 68-64 on Thursday, putting them at 6-3 in Pac-12 play, coach Mike Hopkins lunged over in a group hug with his wife and children on the southwest corner of Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
About 15 minutes later, in his postgame news conference, somebody asked him about Arizona.
โThe thing about this league and any great league is you can celebrate for about 4-5 hours, kiss my kids, drink a bottle of water or whatever, and get ready for tomorrow,โ Hopkins said. โWeโre gonna be confident, thatโs really important, but itโs having the energy and a game plan.
โWeโre going up against Saturday a team that could be the best team in the country. At the beginning of the year, they had issues but theyโve got size. Theyโve got shooting. Theyโve got guard play. Theyโve got a complete package and it will be a great test for us.
โBut thatโs why you love coming to schools like this, to play this type of competition and see where weโre at.โ
The Huskies will have to figure out a way to slow down Deandre Ayton and Arizona's inside game Saturday but they did it Thursday by focusing on the outside. UW used its 2-3 zone defense to cut off ASUโs outside shooting early while getting a first-half double-double from Noah Dickerson.
Then they received 10 second-half points from David Crisp, including two gutsy layups within 40 seconds that allowed UW to carry a four-point lead into the final 1:58.
The Huskies never lost the lead again, leading to a wild celebration among the 6,904 fans on hand Thursday at Hec Ed.ย
โThe greatest thing about David heโs like any great guard: You run your team and when things go sour, the great thing about David is he can score,โ Hopkins said. โItโs just the timing of when to do it. So we started the double screen, and he was able to get all the way to the rim. He just made big plays, and timely too. They were defending us pretty well. We had a tough time getting good shots. He made those plays and those were just lifesavers for us.โ
Crisp, though, indicated it was also a matter of taking what the ASU defense gave him, since the Sun Devilsโ focus on Dickerson opened things up.
โWeโve got a lot of weapons,โ Crisp said. โYou gotta respect everyone on the floor. Noah was killing them early and they were reluctant to leave him. And guys like Matisse (Thybulle) and Jaylen (Nowell), they can get a basket, too.โ
Then again, Crisp wouldn't blame the Sun Devils for focusing on Dickerson.
โI wonโt tell you what Iโve been telling him,โ Crisp said of Dickerson. But itโs sort of โthey havenโt found nobody who can mess with you.โ
The first half was a display of what the Huskiesโ 2-3 zone defense can do at its best. The Sun Devils managed to hit just 1 of 10 3-pointers against the Huskies before halftime, with Shannon Evans missing four 3-point attempts, and ASU was 38.5 percent from the field overall.
The Huskies also scored nine points off eight first-half ASU turnovers.
โI just think the guys, the more reps they get in, the better they get at it,โ Hopkins said. โTheyโre learning a whole new system. If you saw our first game (an exhibition) against Saint Martinโs, they made 15 3s.
"Itโs almost like they couldnโt play defense one lick and they just kept getting better. Not only are they getting better at it but they start reading and they start adapting, and thatโs the great thing about our zone, itโs a little bit of both. It can transform, based on personnel, and the longer Matisse and those guys play, theyโve got great instincts.โ
Thybulle had three steals in the first half and another three in the second. The six total steals gave him the school record for steals in a season, 70, with another nine regular-season games to play.
Hopkins referred to him as โSpider-Man.โ
โHeโs No. 1,โ Hopkins said. โWe had a defensive player of the year at Syracuse but they were all big guys, shot-blockers. He impacts the game at the guard spot as well as Iโve ever seen it and heโs got great instincts.ย Heโs got great anticipation, heโs quick and he covers space really well. Heโs got the whole package.
โHe was sick tonight. He had the stomach stuff and he just kept coming at it. (It was) `Please, please get out thereโ and he did. When you think about it: Heโs sick. He has three 3s, had six steals.
โGuyโs a frickinโ machine.โ
The Seattle Times recently had a story on Thybulle's defense.
In his game story for the Republic, Doug Haller wrapped up what has led to ASU's 4-6 record in Pac-12 play after that 12-0 start.
Dickerson and Crisp both raved about the atmosphere in Hec Ed, which had the student section standing and active throughout the game. Of course, it could be even wilder on Saturday when Arizona pays a visit...
