ASU Basketball: 2019 Pac-12 Week 7 Power Rankings
By Trevor Booth
5. Washington Huskies (7-4) LW: 3
A week ago, Washington showed improvement. The Huskies fell by just two points against then-No. 1 Gonzaga and then narrowly defeated Seattle, a strong mid-major program.
In its one game this week, UW added another game to the loss column on Saturday. The defeat came at the hands of another ranked opponent — Virginia Tech.
Played in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the game wasn’t too competitive. Especially in the first 20 minutes.
At the midway point, the Hokies led 39-21. Even though the Huskies outscored Virginia Tech 40-34 in the second half, the halftime deficit proved insurmountable.
Something that doomed Washington was reliance on the 3-point shot.
The Huskies are among the nation’s worst teams from beyond the arc, shooting a dismal 31.7 to start the year. That places them 257th of all 351 Division I programs.
Saturday, Washington shot 30 three pointers while making just a third of them.
The shooting issues also occurred elsewhere.
From the free-throw line, Washington shot 50 percent on 7-of-14 shooting. This was an embarrassing figure considering the Hokies shot above 80 percent from the line.
Virginia Tech also outshot Washington from the field. The Hokies shot 42.9 percent, while the Huskies made just 36.7 of their field goals.
With the loss, Washington fell to 7-4 on the early season. Record-wise, the Huskies are toward the bottom of the Pac-12. But non-conference record isn’t a true indicator of a team’s strength.
Opposed to teams like Colorado and Washington State, which have played easy non-conference schedules, Washington has already played several strong opponents.
Three of Washington’s four losses came to teams that were ranked in the AP Poll when they faced the Huskies. On top of that, Washington has also defeated San Diego, Seattle and Texas A&M — all of which are at least decent.
– Field