When it finally happened, the younger Alford nearly single-handedly save 25th-ranked UCLA from one of its most ugly performances in recent memory.
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The Bruins dropped their Pac-12 opener at Washington, 96-93, in double overtime on Friday night while WSU’s comeback fell short as it lost its Pac-12 opener to USC, 90-77.
In the end, Alford’s late rally wasn’t enough. “There are going to be a lot of ups and downs with this team, but we’re starting to get to a point where we’re solid”.
Washington State (8-5, 0-1) will host No. 25 UCLA (9-5, 0-1) on Sunday evening in Pac-12 play as both teams seek their first conference win of the season.
Hamilton has averaged 18.6 points while shooting 53.6 percent from the field over his last nine games.
Alford missed his first 11 shots but still finished with 30 points on 5-of-21 shooting.
The Bruins answered with a 4-0 run before Crisp knocked down a 3-pointer from deep in the left wing, putting the Huskies ahead 93-89.
But Alford knocked down three huge 3-pointers, each of which tied the score in the closing seconds.
Rosco Allen scored five of his 17 points in overtime after banking in the tying basket with 10.5 seconds left in regulation to lift Stanford (8-4). Dime scored eight straight points for the Huskies in the second half, helping the UW maintain its lead, before fouling out with 1:36 to play. One game after committing 25 turnovers at Washington, the Bruins had just nine turnovers, two fewer than Washington State. Washington, clinging to a two-point lead with 16.2 seconds left in the second session, had to overcome a pair of missed free throws from freshman Dejounte Murray. Jordan Loveridge missed two more with 2:27 to go in overtime.
At the other end, Andrews stole the ball from Isaac Hamilton before racing down court and flushing a fast-break dunk that brought the crowd of 6,920 at Alaska Airlines Arena to its feet.
“I appreciate his toughness”, Steve Alford said, “because I hammered him at halftime”.
“We came out a little fidgety in the first half a little bit and not knowing what to expect”. And we wanted Junior to run and run their bigs.
“We gave up too many buckets especially in the paint”, said junior guard Isaac Hamilton. Over his past three games, he has made just 12 of 45 shots (26.7 percent).
“I don’t think we played our roles well at all today”, Alford said. Hamilton enters Sunday’s game as the Pac-12’s 10th-leading scorer (15.3 ppg).
“If we are (tired out), that’s just a soft mental approach”, Alford said.
Still, the Bruins need to regroup ASAP because it does get easier.
UCLA is hoping that the return of two key reserves can help bolster the team through the next three months.
Despite having victory snatched from its hands twice, once at the end of regulation and again in the first overtime, the Washington men’s basketball team hung on to earn its first Pac-12 victory on Saturday night.
Parker scored quickly for UCLA, but the Bruins had to foul.
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Washington State had struggled in its Pac-12 opener against USC but had no trouble scoring against UCLA. Only one of Washington’s starters, senior G Andrew Andrews, had ever played a conference game before Friday night.
