Washington let one slip away on Christmas night in Hawaii. Their loss is Houston’s gain, and we can’t take anything away from Houston – the surging Cougars’ 75-71 win in the championship of the Diamond Head Classic was well-earned, with another big rebounding effort, clutch free throws late, and better decisions and execution. They didn’t turn the ball over in the second half for the first 14 minutes, which along with their rebounding gave them a possession edge that helped.
But for Washington, this goes down as a missed opportunity. It was very much there for the taking, a chance to close out non-conference play in the best way.
Washington led at the half and built the lead up to ten less than three minutes into the second half. Houston couldn’t stop Isaiah Stewart inside (25 points on 8-13 shooting, eight rebounds), a fact that would be notable later on, as pretty much any time the Huskies got the ball to him inside, he scored. He went left, he went right, he scored on jump hooks and other close finishes against anyone who tried to guard him.
But the Huskies couldn’t get him good scoring chances for a couple of big stretches in the second half – periods where, not coincidentally, Houston rallied. He went over five minutes between baskets during which the Cougars rallied to within two before he made an old-fashioned three-point play, then when he next scored with under six minutes left, it tied the game as the Cougars had gained the lead. Had they pulled this one out, there’s a good chance he would have taken home MVP honors, though Quade Green would have had a chance as well.
The crucial point in the game came with over a minute to go. Caleb Mills (19 points) put the Cougars up 69-65, and the Huskies called their final timeout with 1:21 left. Out of the timeout, Nahziah Carter put up a three-pointer that might not have been the best shot just by itself, although it was his only miss from deep on the evening, and the Cougars rebounded and got an offensive rebound before giving it right away. Valuable time had come off the clock, however, and the next time down, the Huskies did what they should have done before: get it in to Stewart, who got them within 69-67 with 29 seconds left. At that point, the Huskies were in trouble, and Houston sealed it with free throws.
The game’s final numbers don’t tell the story of how the Cougars won this game in the second half. The final rebounding numbers show Houston edging the Huskies 36-32, albeit with 15 offensive boards; the Cougars came in with a rebounding margin of over 12 per game. Every Cougar who got into the game had at least two rebounds. The Huskies gave the ball away 15 times to the Cougars’ seven turnovers, a significant figure. But the big role of rebounding came in the second half, where the Cougars tracked down several of their own misses for new possessions, and down the stretch any Husky misses meant a one-and-done possession.
Washington didn’t need this game so much from the standpoint of needing a quality resume win in non-conference, as they got that in the season opener in beating Baylor. They have taken care of good mid-majors like Montana, South Dakota and Eastern Washington. The only losses before Wednesday are to Tennessee and Gonzaga, neither of which hurt, and the Cougars should be in the NCAA Tournament again, so this won’t go down as a bad loss.
But it will go down as a missed opportunity. A Diamond Head Classic championship would have been a great way to go back to Seattle and then begin Pac-12 play next week with UCLA and USC coming to town. Instead, they have a long week of practice ahead to get ready for it, knowing they could have added one more resume win, one more win to help the much-improved Pac-12.
Side Dishes
In other action in Hawaii, Ball State took seventh place with a 61-46 win over Portland, then Boise State took fifth place with a 72-67 win over UTEP behind 23 points, nine rebounds and six assists from Derrick Alston and Georgia Tech took over in the second half to knock off Hawaii 70-53 for third place.
As an aside during this holiday season, it’s interesting to note a couple of tweets on a subject many of us surely think about: time off for the holidays. While the NBA has five games taking center stage on Christmas day, the Diamond Head Classic is the only action between December 24-26, and only two games are scheduled for Friday. College football no longer has bowl games on Christmas after doing so for many years, though there are games scheduled for Christmas Eve and today. There are worse ways to spend your holidays, to be sure, but as much as we all love this game, we all could agree that Fran Fraschilla and Michigan assistant Phil Martelli, the latter of who I recall a number of years ago reflecting on how many good teams give up Thanksgiving and possibly Christmas, have an idea worthy of consideration:
To add to a great idea WE should pay to get them home to families and then back to campus !!!!! In college hoops the players and coaches give up Thanksgiving, New Year’s Day and Spring break – Christmas Break should be mandated https://t.co/nTE3uVJv4P
— Phil Martelli (@PhilMartelli) December 24, 2019
Here’s hoping everyone had a Merry Christmas and gets to not only enjoy family time, but also recharge to start the new year on a good note.
Tonight’s Menu
No Division I games are on tap this evening, with two on tap Friday night as action doesn’t resume in earnest until Saturday. Enjoy the night off, but also check in later today for a look at how the conferences shape up and again tomorrow for a new podcast.
