The Washington Huskies fell 84-61 to the Auburn Tigers on Wednesday night at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle, ending their six game home winning-streak, and dropping their season record to 9-4.
Senior transfer from Kentucky Keion Brooks scored a team-high 15 points, while Braxton Meah grabbed nine boards to go along with eight points. Freshman guard Koren Johnson added a season-high 12 points in 22 minutes.
As a team, the Huskies took too many contested shots, shooting just 37% for the game, including 5-20 from three. Washington was a dreadful 7-33 (21%) from the field in the first half, but the Huskies’ strong defense was enough to keep the game close for the first 20 minutes. After Auburn went on a 16-3 run late in the first half, the Huskies were able to stop the bleeding and cut the score to 31-23 at the break.
Auburn (10-2) seemed to figure things out offensively in the second half, navigating the Huskies’ zone defense with more precision. The Tigers scored 53 points in the second half alone, nearly outproducing Washington for the game. Auburn led by as many as 27 points in the second half, while shooting 72% from the field. The Tigers also had a massive advantage on the boards, out-rebounding UW 42-24 on the night.
UW will be back in action on Friday Dec. 30 hosting the USC Trojans with tipoff at 7 p.m. followed by a match-up with the No. 13 UCLA Bruins at home on Jan. 1. with tipoff at 4 p.m. Both games will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.
Northwest Sports Desk 