12/20/1987

UA defeats Washington by 39

Huskies lose by biggest margin since league became Pac-10

By Jay Gonzales
The Arizona Daily Star

SEATTLE – University of Washington Coach Andy Russo didn't hide the dejection of suffering the worst defeat in his basketball coaching career.

The Huskies had just been manhandled by second-ranked Arizona, 110-71, in the Pacific-10 Conference opener for both teams at Washington's Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

A crowd of 4,557 watched.

"I've never been beaten that bad at any level," said Russo, who is in his third year at Washington and in his ninth as a collegiate coach. "l never even had anybody score 100 points against me at any level.

"I'm really at a loss. You have to give Arizona a tremendous amount of credit. They're a team with a lot of strengths and few weaknesses, and they have the ability to expose your weaknesses well."

This one was for the dark side of the Washington record book.

The Huskies, 3-4, have been beaten by a wider margin three times in their history, and yesterday was their worst conference loss since the league expanded to 10 teams.

Arizona's 110 points was one better than the previous record by a Washington opponent. That was formerly held by the 1972 UCLA team.

It was also the most points Arizona has scored in a Pac-10 game. The Wildcats had scored 96 points in conference games against Oregon (1981-82) and Washington State (last season).

The Wildcats also set an arena record for field-goal shooting accuracy with 70 per cent.

"They're No, 2 in the nation, but I never thought we would lose by 39," said Washington sophomore Eldridge Recasner, the game's leading scorer with 29 points.

"Even In summer league, I haven't been on a team that lost by that much"

Arizona Coach Lute Olson was sympathetic.

"I've been on the other bench," he said. "I don't like to see anything like that."

UA forward Anthony Cook said the seed for the wide margin of victory was planted in the first 10 minutes when the Wildcats' defense pressured the young Huskies into one mistake after another.

Washington's starting lineup consists of four sophomores and a freshman.

"Coach told us to just get into the game and take charge," said Cook, who was one of eight Wildcats who scored in double figures.

"We had to get out there and let them know why we're No. 2, and I think we did. We put a lot of pressure on them. A couple of times they just lost the ball."

Five minutes into the game, Washington had a 5-4 lead, but Arizona responded with a run of 15 points interrupted only by a three-point basket by Jeff Sanor. The Wildcats pulled away to a 49-22 halftime lead, and shot 69 percent in the first half.

Washington helped the Wildcats by committing 17 turnovers in the first 20 minutes.

"We came out tentative offensively, and we paid the price for it." Russo said.

‘We've played good teams who have put a lot of pressure on us, and we've done real well. I told the team in the locker room that we have played well, and there was no reason why we couldn't."

Olson said much of the difference was in experience. The Wildcats start three seniors and two juniors. The top three reserves have all been starters at one point in their careers.

"I like the fact that because of our experience, our kids came out confident," Olson said. "I thought the difference was that it was an experienced team against an inexperienced team."

But it wasn't just defense and experience that carried the Wildcats.

Offensively, of the eight players who scored in double figures, three did not miss a field-goal attempt.

Guard Steve Kerr was four-for-four from three-point range, making him nine-for-10 in the last two games. He scored 14 points.

Cook was six-for-six from the field for 13 points, and reserve Ken Lofton was five-for-five for 11 points. Sean Elliott led the Wildcats with 18.

Arizona was 11-for-14 In three point field goals. The 11 three-pointers were one short of the Pac-10 record held by Arizona State.

"We did a great job in our shot selection," Olson said. "That's been one of the strengths of our team."

The Wildcats, 9-0, travel to Washington State tomorrow for the second game of the road trip.

Yesterday's victory bettered Arizona's school record for victory margin by two points. The previous record was set last season at Washington State.