Terrence Ross steps up for the shorthanded Huskies
Jan 15, 2012, 9:12 PM
All season long it has been hard to get a handle on this young Huskies team. Game to game you were never quite sure what you were going to get going in. Forget game to game. Today it was from first half to second half as the Dawgs pull off an unbelievable turnaround against their cross state rivals and come back to beat the Cougars 75-65.
Before the game we learned that CJ Wilcox had been diagnosed with a stress fracture in his leg and would not play. The team would need to lean heavily on Terrence Ross who has embodied the Huskies game to game identity crisis better than anyone else on this team. Today he came out ice cold, shooting just 1 of 9 in the first half yet finished with a career high 30 points and 14 rebounds.
If Ross breathed life back into a Washington team that couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn in the first half it was coach Lorenzo Romar who jump started the complete effort by getting a technical foul. Yes, give an assist to the theatrics.
Trailing 45-37 with 12:16 and few signs of life left to go in the game Romar was T’d up when Ross was called for an offensive foul. Romar gathered his team together and had a message for them according to Ross.
“He said we have to fight and give everything we have and we have got to change our game around with our defense,” Ross said. “I think that is what happened.”
Over the next five minutes the defense stepped up as the Huskies held the Cougars to just one field goal. The offense kicked in and the Huskies took their first lead with 8:46 to go in the game and did not look back.
A loss today would have been disastrous heading into games against Cal and Stanford this week, the two teams that sit atop the Pac 12. The Huskies will be shorthanded once again as Wilcox is not expected to play. When Cal and Stanford look at the tape from today’s game however they will not see a shorthanded Huskies team as Ross stepped up and proved that the Huskies have options.
