The atmosphere begged for better than this. The Washington Huskies sold out Hec Edmundson Pavilion for a men’s basketball game on Saturday night for the first time in five seasons, benefiting from the notoriety of their opponent — 11th-ranked UCLA — and the prospect of a star-studded showdown between the teams’ talented freshmen guards.
UW officially announced attendance as 10,000. Count the Huskies’ roster among that total. They were mostly bystanders on this night, too often watching the more cohesive and more talented Bruins wreck them with each ball reversal and alley-oop lob and uncontested 3-pointer.
UCLA won easily, 107-66, torturing the Huskies for 40 minutes with a basket-scoring display befitting its status as the nation’s most efficient offense.