No. 25 Washington braces for San Diego
A return home to Seattle and Alaska Airlines Arena takes some of the heat off No. 25 Washington -- in a literal sense. After trailing wire-to-wire in an 88-66 blowout loss on Friday at No. 11 Auburn, the Huskies' team bus caught fire. Luckily, no one was injured, allowing center Noah Dickerson to joke about the situation on Twitter. His tweet read, "When (things) couldn't have gotten any worse tonight ..." Washington (1-1) is back home Monday night, up against an opponent on fire to start the 2018-19 season in its own right. San Diego comes in off a pair of blowout wins to usher in Sam Scholl's first full season as coach. Scholl was named interim coach before last season's West Coast Conference Tournament when Lamont Smith was placed on administrative leave. The university introduced Scholl as permanent replacement in April, after the Toreros won two games in the College Insider Tournament, sealing the program's first 20-win campaign since the 2007-08 squad that reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. "Everything we do on a daily basis and a monthly basis, is on your desk," said Scholl at WCC media day. "You're deciding what you're doing, how you're doing it; what you're implementing, when you're implementing it." Scholl, an 18-year assistant in the conference with stops at San Diego and Santa Clara, had no shortage of experience before taking over the program abruptly. It's paid dividends into the very early phases of his tenure. The Toreros (2-0) continued on the positive conclusion to last season with blowout wins over Weber State and UC Davis to open 2018-19. Forward Isaiah Pineiro powered San Diego in each of its two wins, scoring 25 points with 12 rebounds in an 83-66, season-opening romp over Weber State, and notching 28 points, eight rebounds and six assists in the 76-57 victory Friday at UC Davis. Pineiro's efforts led the Torreros to advantages of plus-9 on the glass in both wins. Washington surrendered 41 rebounds in the loss at Auburn, including 19 on the offensive glass. "We wanted to take away the (3-pointers), so we got hurt on both areas," Washington coach Mike Hopkins told the Seattle Times. "If we take away the (3-pointers), they got 15 to 20 points on offensive rebounds." The Huskies maintained a slight rebounding edge in the season opener Tuesday versus Western Kentucky 39-33, but forced the Hilltoppers into 16 turnovers and a 37.7 percent average shooting from the floor in the 73-55 rout. Those defensive numbers more in line with the better performances from Washington's 2017-18 season, when it ranked No. 33 nationally in opponent turnover percentage, per KenPom.com metrics. Washington rallied from down nine early in the debut, behind 18 points from Dickerson and 17 from guard Jaylen Nowell. Both reached double figures in points at Auburn, with 12 and 16 respectively, but they also combined to commit 11 of Washington's 18 turnovers. San Diego won the turnover margin in each of its first two, giving up possession eight times in both games against 15 and 10 turnovers apiece from Weber State and UC Davis. |