NIT: Washington beats Oregon

Once again, the onus will be on Devoe Joseph for having another terrible game, because, as you recall, Joseph was nothing short of horrendous in the last Ducks exit from the tournament. In this game, Joseph wilted in an important game, took too many shots, and he was extremely inefficient. I mean, extremely. He scored 12 points on 4-15 shooting and went 3-10 from three. Inexcusable. Nobody should be taking that amount of shots, and it’s incredible to think that the Ducks came within five with all those wasted possessions from somebody who self-destructed in another key game.

E.J. Singler, the team’s leader, finished with 19 points on 5-12 shooting, although he knocked down 6-7 free throws and went 3-6 from three. Singler corralled nine rebounds while also dishing out four assists in quality game. But how about Garrett Sim? He wilted as well, and the sharpshooter was colder than a Floridian downing a Frappuccino in the dead of winter in Europe. He wasn’t that bad, but it feels like it since we’ve become accustomed to Sim hitting everything in sight. He made up for a 1-5 day from three-point range with seven assists.

You know who needs more reps on offense? Tony Woods. This guy is playing his best basketball when it matters most, and it showed in a 7-9 game filled with some great offensive highlights. The rugged big is officially turning a corner and will be a huge part of this team next year, and Woods will no longer be the block artist with no offense game. He has game, even if he had just one rebound.

The best player for Oregon was Olu Ashaolu, who finished 7-12 with a couple of blocks, nine rebounds, and he even went 6-7 from the charity stripe. I wept one tear of joy for that last line (just kidding, not even Bill James himself would tear up at a statistical improvement like that).

Before the game, I joked with staff writer Mike Vamosi that I hoped Tony Wroten would choke and pull a Kevin Johnson in the ’93 playoffs. Instead, Joseph choked (again), while Wroten attacked the basket like crazy, hoarded rebounds, played some D, and scored 22 points. As usual, he wasn’t very efficient, but he showed off his natural talent and made life miserable for Oregon.

Again, anybody who thinks that Tony Wroten is better than Terrence Ross needs to do themselves a favor and watch more Washington Huskies games. Ross went 9-18, to prove that he can make the shots he takes, even if it’s in a high quantity. Ross had a game-high 24 points and is a man on a mission, busy torching opponents seemingly at will.

C.J. Wilcox wasn’t as efficient as usual, but he knocked down all six of his free throws and hit half of his threes in another solid performance. It didn’t seem like he scored over 15 points, but Wilcox, in fact, notched 17. Darnell Grant impressed me as well, as he ended up with seven boards and six points in a quiet, I’m Going to Chip in 5, performance.

One Washington player has especially impressed me during this entire tournament, and that man is guard Abdul Gaddy who has been a terrific distributor in recent games and was the guy with enough swagger to call out Oregon…and help demolish them. Gaddy orchestrated the offensive attack with ten assists, and he once again added substance on the boards with seven total rebounds. He isn’t much of a scorer, but he managed to score 11 points without being a liability as a shooter.

Oregon fans should be feeling a mix of disappointment and unhappiness. This was a terrific basketball game with two of the best 50 offenses (top 30 for the Huskies) going at it in a game without many turnovers. It was poetic basketball. The happiness stems from the fact that we have come this far. The disappointment is obvious. We got knocked out of a tournament we should have gone farther in (we got the loaded side of the bracket with Washington) and lost to our biggest rivals in basketball. Oh, and we received another shockingly poor game from Devoe Joseph; not the way we wanted to see him go after just 80% of a season.

You can follow me on Twitter @SorianoJoe and Autzen Zoo @Autzen_Zoo.

Like us on Facebook at Autzen Zoo.