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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
SEATTLE (AP) -- Loren Woods beat the Washington Huskies with his
reputation and his talent.
Looking like the best player in the Pacific-10 Conference, the
7-foot-1 center blocked five shots in the first half as the No. 7
Arizona Wildcats grabbed a 16-1 lead. He finished with career highs
of 29 points and 13 rebounds in a 65-56 victory.
Woods' big game Thursday night came a week after he tied an NCAA
record with 14 blocked shots against visiting Oregon.
The undersized Huskies didn't have an answer for the junior
transfer from Wake Forest, who finished with six blocked shots for
a total of 97 in 24 games this season.
They admitted he terrorized them in the first half, when they
missed their first 10 shots and committed nine turnovers in the
first nine minutes. They were afraid to attack the basket with
Woods underneath.
"Who doesn't know about Loren Woods?" asked Deon Luton, who
led the Huskies with 19 points. "But that's no excuse for us not
to be aggressive, including myself."
In the first half, Washington didn't get a basket before David
Dixon's dunk with 9:15 gone. The Wildcats were up by 20 points
twice and led 34-17 at the half.
Arizona (9-1, 20-4) lost its intensity in the second half.
Michael Johnson's 12-footer with 4:50 to go cut the Wildcats' lead
to 56-51.
That's when Woods reappeared, scoring seven points down the
stretch, including a three-point play with 1:40 to go to put
Arizona on top 65-53.
While Arizona remained tied for the Pac-10 lead with No. 2
Stanford, which beat Oregon 76-61 on Thursday night, the Huskies
(3-7, 8-14) watched their season grow even more dismal.
"You can't dig yourself out of that kind of hole against
Arizona," Washington coach Bob Bender said.
Woods was proud of being at his best when it counted.
"I knew somebody would step up," he said. "It happened to be
me."
Said Wildcats coach Lute Olson: "Loren was the guy at the end
who put the team on his back and carried us."
Gilbert Arenas had 14 points and Wright 12 for Arizona, which
beat Washington for the second time this season.
If Arizona has any shortcomings, it's lack of depth. On Thursday
night, it was their lack of second-half intensity and freshman
point guard Jason Gardner's 1-for-10 shooting.
"I told them at halftime that they needed to play like they
were 10 points down," Olson said. "I've found out that you can
tell juniors and seniors that and expect them to put the game away.
Freshmen don't seem to have the same attitude."
"We didn't have the same focus as we did in the first half,"
Woods said.
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ALSO SEE
Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
Arizona Clubhouse
Washington Clubhouse
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