For George Mason, (4-3) Davonte Gaines scored a team-high 17 points to lead the Patriots.
In the second game on Tuesday, Washington used a hot-shooting first half to defeat South Dakota State 87-76. Terrell Brown Jr. led the Huskies (4-2) with 32 points.
Noah Freidel paced the Jackrabbits (5-2) with 20 points.
On Wednesday, Washington will face Nevada at 6 p.m., and South Dakota State will take on George Mason at 8:30 p.m.
G-Grant Sherfield, Jr. 6’2, 189: 16.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 6.2 apg, 42.5% FG, 41.7% 3pt, 94.4% FT
Sherfield left as part of the great Wichita State exodus like Erik Stevenson did but he has definitely found more success. He had a huge game against George Mason last night with 31 points and 6 assists but it was accompanied by 8 turnovers. That’s been the biggest problem for Sherfield this season as he’s an elite shooter from 3 and the free throw line.
After transferring in from Brown, Cambridge hasn’t missed a step. In his 4th year of college he has averaged at least 15 points per game every season. He’s shooting about 15% above his career average on 2-point attempts so far so you can expect that to regress to the mean a bit over the course of the entire season. Unlike Sherfield however he doesn’t really ever turn the ball over which helps his efficiency.
G- Tre Coleman, So. 6’7, 185: 2.7 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.3 apg, 20.0% FG, 20.0% 3pt, 100.0% FT
Every team needs their 5th option who is okay not scoring the ball and that’s Coleman. He’s in a horrendous shooting slump to start the year (5/25) but last year showed he was a passable scorer in limited reps so at some point he’ll break out. Hopefully it’s not tonight.
C- Will Baker, Jr. 7’0, 245: 12.3 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 0.3 bpg, 58.3% FG, 62.5% 3pt, 72.7% FT
Nevada has not 1 but 2 7-footers in their starting lineup which are reminiscent of the Arizona lineups of old. Baker has come in from Texas and plays more like a stretch 4 than a true center. Last season he shot just 6 of 39 (15.4%) on 3-point attempts and so far this year is 10 of 16. At some point that’s going to crash down to earth. Despite his height he hasn’t had more than 5 rebounds in a game and had 0 against George Mason.
C- Warren Washington, Jr. 7'0, 215: 11.8 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.3 bpg, 61.5% FG, 63.6% FT
Husky fans may remember that Washington started his career at Oregon State. He’s off to his best career start with highs in block rate and field goal percentage with a career low in turnovers. He’ll give Nate Roberts issues on both ends of the court.
The Outlook
I’ll admit that on Monday morning I didn’t expect that the Huskies would be in position to end up with a sweep in Sioux Falls (obviously, since I picked against UW in both games). Just based on team record this appears to be the easiest game since the Wolf Pack are just 2-4. However none of their losses are terrible. Dropping a home game to #159 San Diego isn’t great but the other 3 were against top-75 teams away from home and Nevada took care of George Mason more handily than UW did.
It’s worth noting that Robert Morris transfer AJ Bramah who had been averaging 10.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game was dismissed from the team after Monday night’s games for violating team rules. There’s no telling whether his presence for whatever reason had been hurting team chemistry but they’re now 1-0 without him.
Washington has recently played a bunch of mid-majors who have maybe one dominant 6’9 post player and otherwise don’t have any taller bigs. Now against Nevada there are a pair of 7-footers and the Wolf Pack will have at least 1 on the court at all times and will also play them together. Neither is a truly elite shot blocker but it will be a big body in the middle against a Husky team that relies on driving the ball and attempting to get to the rim.
One key to besting Washington in recent years has been an ability to share the ball and Nevada ranks 24th nationally with assists on 61% of their baskets. They don’t play very much iso ball and there’s a chance that they’re consequently able to dice apart the Dawgs when they play zone. On the bright side Nevada shoots just 36% from the outside which is ~5%+ less than the other two teams Washington has played at this event.
Defensively, Nevada has really struggled and are 325th in opponent field goal percentage. Teams have been able to score the ball at a high rate both from 2 and 3 and also haven’t really forced turnovers. That’s generally not a great combination. Half of their opponents have scored 90+ points while the other 3 have been in the low 70’s range. If Washington is closer to the former than the latter then they should win it going away.
This may be the kiss of death but Washington the last 2 games have showed me more of the team I hoped they would be coming into the year. They’re once again underdogs based on their season-long results but I’m going to open myself to getting hurt and trust in the Dawgs completing a 3-0 sweep in the Crossover Classic.
If you were looking for a pretty basketball game heading into Thanksgiving, this was not the game for you. The Washington Huskies (4-3) fought hard in the first half that saw a lot of sloppy play but ultimately end up losing to Nevada (3-4) by a score of 81-62. The Huskies looked like they may have had their Thanksgiving Turkey at Half-time as the energy quickly dropped on the defensive end and Nevada was able to pull away late.
UW came in looking for the Tourney Sweep and the Crossover Championship with a Win. For those that like to Bowl, a 3rd win would have been the basketball equivalent to bowling a Turkey. Had to throw Thanksgiving and bowling reference out there.
Both team’s were able to get on the scoreboard early, led by Desmond Cambridge and Will Baker for Nevada and an early Terrell Brown three pointer, which was only his 3rd of the season. Daejon Davis put Washington up 5-2 early with a nice drive and knocked down two free throws. From there, UW went cold and turned the ball over on 3 straight possessions, mostly unforced. Nevada ends up going on a 11-0 run to push the lead out to 13-5 until Daejon gets another layup to break the drought.
It was obvious early on that Nevada was giving extra attention to Terrell Brown after coming off a career night of 32 points. UW countered early by having Daejon Davis play the point position and running Terrell Brown off of screens but with little success.
Nevada got up to a 15-7 lead until UW went on a 11-0 run as well to grab the lead at 18-15. The Huskies seemed to be in control but tired legs may have set in with several missed shots that were hitting the front of the rim.
Nevada also moved to a 1-3-1 defense that seemed to stall the UW offense, especially with 7 footer Warren Washington playing up top. Seemed like a strategy to get the ball out of Brown’s hands and caused several misses and turnovers. UW still had the lead at 22-21 with 3:36 left in the first half but a few turnovers in the last 3 minutes gave the lead right back. Bey did finish the half with a 3 to tie at 27 but Grant Sherfield was able to take Nevada into the locker room with a 27-25 lead on an aggressive drive to the hoop.
Both teams shot poorly in the first half, shooting under 33%. UW did shoot a respectable 36% from 3 while Nevada shot 18% from deep. The key of the half was 11 Washington Turnovers and gave up 7 offensive boards to Nevada that led to 2nd chance points for Nevada. Emmitt Mathews and Daejon Davis led UW with 7 points while Terrell Brown only had 4 points on 1-5 shooting.
The story of the 2nd half was poor defense, missed free throws and giving up offensive rebounds, which has been the recipe for previous poor performances. Fatigue was definitely a factor playing 3 games in 3 days but Nevada was also playing 3 straight games. The Washington defense seemed to run out of gas, allowing Nevada to score 52 points in the 2nd half after only giving up 29 in the 1st half. The tired legs led to a lot of reaching and Nevada made Washington pay shooting 25/33 from the free throw line.
Nevada ends up winning by a score of 81 to 62, while hitting 10 free throws in the last 6 minutes. Nevada is led by balanced scoring with 23 points for Grant Sherfield, 21 points from Desmond Cambridge and 15 points and 9 rebounds from Center Warren Washington.
Washington was led by Terrell Brown again with 19 points but unfortunately received zero help in the 2nd half. No other Huskies finish in double figures with Mathews, Davis, Bey and PJ Fuller combining for 8 points in the 2nd half. PJ Fuller had been so great in the first 2 games but did not have it in this one, finishing with just 3 points. One bright note, Freshman Samuel Ariyibi scores his first Husky basket on a nice looking 3 pointer from the corner and recorded a steal shortly after.
Washington heads home with still a successful 2-1 trip but leaves with a bad taste in a very winnable game. The game was up for grabs at halftime and the Huskies could never get going. Washington next plays Winthrop on Saturday at 7 pm back home in Seattle. Hopefully some home cooking can get the Dawgs back on track and get back to playing how they played against George Mason and South Dakota State.
The UW still had a chance at the Crossover Classic Title going into the last game of the tournament but Nevada earned the title after the outcome of the SDSU/George Mason game (SDSU 80 GM 76). The UW, SDSU & Nevada all finished at 2-1 while George Mason finished up at 0-3. Nevada won the 2021 Mammoth Sports Construction Crossover Classic by winning a three-way tie-breaker by virtue of point differential.
Next up for the UW on November 27th at Alaska Airlines Arena is Winthorp (2-3) https://winthropeagles.com/sports/mens-basketball . Winthorp won their first two home games of the season but have lost their past three games in a row, all on the road, including their most recent game against Washington State 92-86. In the WSU game Winthorp's reserve guard, Patrick Good, shot 11-19 from 3 point range. Winthorp is a very smallish team overall having only one player standing over 6'7 (6'9 DJ Burns R-JR). This could be a very good bounce back game for the UW but Winthorp who was 23-2 last season has been staying in the Seattle area for the past five days preparing for the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz3PHuVSre8 PJ Fuller added 21 off the bench, and Washington held off George Mason 77-74 on Monday night in an opening-round game of the Crossover Classic. Terrell Brown Jr. made 8 of 9 free throws, Fuller 6 of 6 and Washington hit 21 of 28 from the line.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRFct2_e418 Terrell Brown Jr scored a career-high 32, 5 reds, 2 ast points vs South Dakota State during the crossover classic. Brown had tied his career-high of 31 four times prior. Washington defeated South Dakota State 87-76 .
Comments
Nevada and Washington each picked up wins on day two of the Mammoth Sports Construction Crossover Classic.
Nevada rebounded from a 27-point loss on Monday night at the hands of South Dakota State to defeat George Mason 88-69 https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401384959 . Grant Sherfield scored a career-high 31 points to lead the Wolf Pack (2-4).
For George Mason, (4-3) Davonte Gaines scored a team-high 17 points to lead the Patriots.
In the second game on Tuesday, Washington used a hot-shooting first half to defeat South Dakota State 87-76. Terrell Brown Jr. led the Huskies (4-2) with 32 points.
Noah Freidel paced the Jackrabbits (5-2) with 20 points.
On Wednesday, Washington will face Nevada at 6 p.m., and South Dakota State will take on George Mason at 8:30 p.m.
Nevada, George Mason Post Game Presser
UWDawgPound (click for full article) https://www.uwdawgpound.com/2021/11/24/22800063/nevada-game-preview-how-to-watch-uw-washington-huskies-basketball
Nevada Wolf Pack Key Players
G-Grant Sherfield, Jr. 6’2, 189: 16.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 6.2 apg, 42.5% FG, 41.7% 3pt, 94.4% FT
Sherfield left as part of the great Wichita State exodus like Erik Stevenson did but he has definitely found more success. He had a huge game against George Mason last night with 31 points and 6 assists but it was accompanied by 8 turnovers. That’s been the biggest problem for Sherfield this season as he’s an elite shooter from 3 and the free throw line.
G- Desmond Cambridge, Sr. 6’4, 180: 16.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.8 apg, 44.0% FG, 32.1% 3pt, 63.6% FT
After transferring in from Brown, Cambridge hasn’t missed a step. In his 4th year of college he has averaged at least 15 points per game every season. He’s shooting about 15% above his career average on 2-point attempts so far so you can expect that to regress to the mean a bit over the course of the entire season. Unlike Sherfield however he doesn’t really ever turn the ball over which helps his efficiency.
G- Tre Coleman, So. 6’7, 185: 2.7 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.3 apg, 20.0% FG, 20.0% 3pt, 100.0% FT
Every team needs their 5th option who is okay not scoring the ball and that’s Coleman. He’s in a horrendous shooting slump to start the year (5/25) but last year showed he was a passable scorer in limited reps so at some point he’ll break out. Hopefully it’s not tonight.
C- Will Baker, Jr. 7’0, 245: 12.3 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 0.3 bpg, 58.3% FG, 62.5% 3pt, 72.7% FT
Nevada has not 1 but 2 7-footers in their starting lineup which are reminiscent of the Arizona lineups of old. Baker has come in from Texas and plays more like a stretch 4 than a true center. Last season he shot just 6 of 39 (15.4%) on 3-point attempts and so far this year is 10 of 16. At some point that’s going to crash down to earth. Despite his height he hasn’t had more than 5 rebounds in a game and had 0 against George Mason.
C- Warren Washington, Jr. 7'0, 215: 11.8 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.3 bpg, 61.5% FG, 63.6% FT
Husky fans may remember that Washington started his career at Oregon State. He’s off to his best career start with highs in block rate and field goal percentage with a career low in turnovers. He’ll give Nate Roberts issues on both ends of the court.
The Outlook
I’ll admit that on Monday morning I didn’t expect that the Huskies would be in position to end up with a sweep in Sioux Falls (obviously, since I picked against UW in both games). Just based on team record this appears to be the easiest game since the Wolf Pack are just 2-4. However none of their losses are terrible. Dropping a home game to #159 San Diego isn’t great but the other 3 were against top-75 teams away from home and Nevada took care of George Mason more handily than UW did.
It’s worth noting that Robert Morris transfer AJ Bramah who had been averaging 10.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game was dismissed from the team after Monday night’s games for violating team rules. There’s no telling whether his presence for whatever reason had been hurting team chemistry but they’re now 1-0 without him.
Washington has recently played a bunch of mid-majors who have maybe one dominant 6’9 post player and otherwise don’t have any taller bigs. Now against Nevada there are a pair of 7-footers and the Wolf Pack will have at least 1 on the court at all times and will also play them together. Neither is a truly elite shot blocker but it will be a big body in the middle against a Husky team that relies on driving the ball and attempting to get to the rim.
One key to besting Washington in recent years has been an ability to share the ball and Nevada ranks 24th nationally with assists on 61% of their baskets. They don’t play very much iso ball and there’s a chance that they’re consequently able to dice apart the Dawgs when they play zone. On the bright side Nevada shoots just 36% from the outside which is ~5%+ less than the other two teams Washington has played at this event.
Defensively, Nevada has really struggled and are 325th in opponent field goal percentage. Teams have been able to score the ball at a high rate both from 2 and 3 and also haven’t really forced turnovers. That’s generally not a great combination. Half of their opponents have scored 90+ points while the other 3 have been in the low 70’s range. If Washington is closer to the former than the latter then they should win it going away.
This may be the kiss of death but Washington the last 2 games have showed me more of the team I hoped they would be coming into the year. They’re once again underdogs based on their season-long results but I’m going to open myself to getting hurt and trust in the Dawgs completing a 3-0 sweep in the Crossover Classic.
Prediction
Washington Huskies- 82, Nevada Wolf Pack- 75
Box Score https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401384960
Box Score https://gohuskies.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2021-22/nevada/boxscore/20070
Seattle Times https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/uw-husky-basketball/with-a-shot-at-three-straight-wins-the-washington-mens-basketball-team-gets-thumped-by-nevada/
Mike Hopkins, Steve Alford Post Game Presser
UWDawgPound (click for full article) https://www.uwdawgpound.com/2021/11/24/22801534/washington-lets-game-slip-away-in-2nd-half-loses-81-62-huskies
If you were looking for a pretty basketball game heading into Thanksgiving, this was not the game for you. The Washington Huskies (4-3) fought hard in the first half that saw a lot of sloppy play but ultimately end up losing to Nevada (3-4) by a score of 81-62. The Huskies looked like they may have had their Thanksgiving Turkey at Half-time as the energy quickly dropped on the defensive end and Nevada was able to pull away late.
UW came in looking for the Tourney Sweep and the Crossover Championship with a Win. For those that like to Bowl, a 3rd win would have been the basketball equivalent to bowling a Turkey. Had to throw Thanksgiving and bowling reference out there.
Both team’s were able to get on the scoreboard early, led by Desmond Cambridge and Will Baker for Nevada and an early Terrell Brown three pointer, which was only his 3rd of the season. Daejon Davis put Washington up 5-2 early with a nice drive and knocked down two free throws. From there, UW went cold and turned the ball over on 3 straight possessions, mostly unforced. Nevada ends up going on a 11-0 run to push the lead out to 13-5 until Daejon gets another layup to break the drought.
It was obvious early on that Nevada was giving extra attention to Terrell Brown after coming off a career night of 32 points. UW countered early by having Daejon Davis play the point position and running Terrell Brown off of screens but with little success.
Nevada got up to a 15-7 lead until UW went on a 11-0 run as well to grab the lead at 18-15. The Huskies seemed to be in control but tired legs may have set in with several missed shots that were hitting the front of the rim.
Nevada also moved to a 1-3-1 defense that seemed to stall the UW offense, especially with 7 footer Warren Washington playing up top. Seemed like a strategy to get the ball out of Brown’s hands and caused several misses and turnovers. UW still had the lead at 22-21 with 3:36 left in the first half but a few turnovers in the last 3 minutes gave the lead right back. Bey did finish the half with a 3 to tie at 27 but Grant Sherfield was able to take Nevada into the locker room with a 27-25 lead on an aggressive drive to the hoop.
Both teams shot poorly in the first half, shooting under 33%. UW did shoot a respectable 36% from 3 while Nevada shot 18% from deep. The key of the half was 11 Washington Turnovers and gave up 7 offensive boards to Nevada that led to 2nd chance points for Nevada. Emmitt Mathews and Daejon Davis led UW with 7 points while Terrell Brown only had 4 points on 1-5 shooting.
The story of the 2nd half was poor defense, missed free throws and giving up offensive rebounds, which has been the recipe for previous poor performances. Fatigue was definitely a factor playing 3 games in 3 days but Nevada was also playing 3 straight games. The Washington defense seemed to run out of gas, allowing Nevada to score 52 points in the 2nd half after only giving up 29 in the 1st half. The tired legs led to a lot of reaching and Nevada made Washington pay shooting 25/33 from the free throw line.
Nevada ends up winning by a score of 81 to 62, while hitting 10 free throws in the last 6 minutes. Nevada is led by balanced scoring with 23 points for Grant Sherfield, 21 points from Desmond Cambridge and 15 points and 9 rebounds from Center Warren Washington.
Washington was led by Terrell Brown again with 19 points but unfortunately received zero help in the 2nd half. No other Huskies finish in double figures with Mathews, Davis, Bey and PJ Fuller combining for 8 points in the 2nd half. PJ Fuller had been so great in the first 2 games but did not have it in this one, finishing with just 3 points. One bright note, Freshman Samuel Ariyibi scores his first Husky basket on a nice looking 3 pointer from the corner and recorded a steal shortly after.
Washington heads home with still a successful 2-1 trip but leaves with a bad taste in a very winnable game. The game was up for grabs at halftime and the Huskies could never get going. Washington next plays Winthrop on Saturday at 7 pm back home in Seattle. Hopefully some home cooking can get the Dawgs back on track and get back to playing how they played against George Mason and South Dakota State.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
G Grant Sherfield- Nevada (MVP)
G Desmond Cambridge- Nevada
G Terrell Brown Jr- Washington
G Noah Freidel- South Dakota State
F Josh Oduro- George Mason
Grant Sherfield (MVP) Drops 23 On Washington
Next up for the UW on November 27th at Alaska Airlines Arena is Winthorp (2-3) https://winthropeagles.com/sports/mens-basketball . Winthorp won their first two home games of the season but have lost their past three games in a row, all on the road, including their most recent game against Washington State 92-86. In the WSU game Winthorp's reserve guard, Patrick Good, shot 11-19 from 3 point range. Winthorp is a very smallish team overall having only one player standing over 6'7 (6'9 DJ Burns R-JR). This could be a very good bounce back game for the UW but Winthorp who was 23-2 last season has been staying in the Seattle area for the past five days preparing for the game.
Washington vs Nevada Highlights (Mountain West Conference Video)
PJ Fuller added 21 off the bench, and Washington held off George Mason 77-74 on Monday night in an opening-round game of the Crossover Classic. Terrell Brown Jr. made 8 of 9 free throws, Fuller 6 of 6 and Washington hit 21 of 28 from the line.
Terrell Brown Jr scored a career-high 32, 5 reds, 2 ast points vs South Dakota State during the crossover classic. Brown had tied his career-high of 31 four times prior. Washington defeated South Dakota State 87-76 .