University of Washington
Arizona State
Huskies Host Arizona On Sunday Afternoon
January 10, 2016 | Women's Basketball
Pac-12 Networks | Live Stats | Tickets
SEATTLE -- The Huskies will look to move back above .500 in the Pac-12 on Sunday afternoon when they host Arizona at 2 p.m. at Alaska Airlines Arena. The conference matchup between the Dawgs (11-4, 2-2) and the Wildcats (10-5, 1-3) will also be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Networks.
What To Look For
- Kelsey Plum owns the national lead in scoring, averaging 27.4 points per game.
- Plum passed Rhonda Smith for fourth on the all-time Husky scoring list last Saturday at Colorado.
- The Huskies RPI is No. 41, which is sixth in the Pac-12 behind Stanford, UCLA, ASU, OSU and USC.
- The Huskies are third the Pac-12 in points per game, averaging 78.5 per contest.
- Chantel Osahor is averaging nearly a double-double (11.4 pts / 9.5 reb) and had a career-best 24 at Colo.
- Osahor and Talia Walton each have five double-doubles on the season, including one each last weekend.
- Walton is seventh in the Pac-12 in scoring at 17.1 ppg, notching double figures in 14 of 15 contests.
- Osahor is third in the Pac-12 with a 2.2 assist to turnover ratio (47 assists / 21 TO's).
- The Huskies were picked sixth by both the coaches and the media in the Pac-12 preseason polls.
- Plum was chosen as preseason All-Pac-12 by the media.
- Osahor became the fourth player in program history with a 20-rebound game vs. Seattle U.
- Eleven of the 12 Pac-12 schools are over .500 and five teams are ranked in the AP top-25.
- Katie Collier (16) and Brianna Ruiz (15) had career highs against Fresno State.
- Walton's 33 points in the opener were a career high, while her eight 3's were second-most in UW history.
- Plum became the 12th player in program history to score 1,500 points vs. Seattle U. (She now has 1,848).
- Hannah Johnson and Deja Strother made their Husky debuts against Santa Clara.
- Dating back to last year, the Dawgs have won 17 of their last 21 home games.
- The Huskies two non-confernece losses came against ranked teams, #21 Oklahoma and #23 Syracuse.
- Mike Neighbors is third among active Pac-12 coahes with a conference winning percentage of .575 (23-17).
- After making 15 at Utah, Kelsey Plum has regained the national lead in free throws and now has 111.
- Alexus Atchley and Mathilde Gilling have settled in as the Dawgs top options off the bench.
- Atchley had a career-best eight points against Arizona State, while Gilling made her first-career 3-pointer.
- Kelli Kingma missed the first four games with a concussion. She made a career-best two 3's against UCR.
- The win over South Dakota was the 50th of Mike Neighbors' head coaching career (Now 54-28 all-time).
- UW's top-three scorers (Plum/Walton/Osahor) have combined to shoot 166-193 (86.0%) from the foul line.
- Washington finished 20-3 in non-conference games over the past two seasons.
- Collier's ability to run the floor as a post has opened up the Husky transition offense.
- 19 of Atchley's 42 rebounds have been from the offensive end where she has a knack for the hustle board.
- Walton (206) has a shot of breaking the UW record for 3-pointers made held by Jazmine Davis (265).
Previous Matchups With Arizona
The Huskies are 38-21 all-time against Arizona, including winning the last six meetings. Last year, Washington prevailed 79-69 in the only meeting, which came in Tucson. The last meeting came in Seattle was back in 2014, which the Dawgs won 55-52.
Scouting Arizona
Arizona fell at Washington State on Friday, but before that had a big win, upsetting No. 21 California in Tucson, 57-52. The Wildcats are now 10-5 on the season, including 1-2 in the Pac-12. Arizona's leading scorer is Malen Washington who comes off the bench and averages 10.8 points per game. The Cats have three players in double figures, but used a balanced attack and allow just 55.4 points per game.
Plum's Preseason Honors
Kelsey Plum in an All-America candidate and piled up some honors preseason. She was named the No. 10 player in the country on the list compiled by ESPNW. Plum was also named to the Wooden Award Preseason Top 30, the Naismith Early Season Watch List and the preseason All-Pac-12 Team.
Walton On The Perimeter
The Huskies have a bigger front line this season, allowing Talia Walton to see more time on the perimeter. That shift has been a positive for the match up nightmare as she is averaging career bests in scoring and shooting percentages. She also already has games of 33 and 29 points, while making 38 3-pointers on the year. Walton has also been a defensive threat on the perimeter where she leads the team with 30 steals, using her long arms and instincts that made her the UW all-time leader in blocked shots when she played inside more.
Plum's Scoring Prowess
Kelsey Plum has now scored in double figures in 80 of 82 career games, incuding at least 20 points 54 times and 17 games of at least 30. She now holds the Washington record for games of at least 20 points, breaking Jazmine Davis' record of 51 at Washington State. The record for games in double figures is 98 by Giuliana Mendiola. Plum already holds the record for 30-point games with 17 of the 44 total top-scoring games in Husky history. Plum also holds the Washington records with 746 points and 22.6 ppg scoring average both that led the Pac-12 last season. Plum also set Husky records with 45 points against Oklahoma and with 207 made free throws last year. She is currently ninth in the NCAA among active scorers with 1,869 points and the only junior in the top-20. She is also second among active players in scoring average at 22.8 ppg. Plum is on pace to become the 17th player in Pac-12 history to reach 2,000 points later this season and could become only the 11th player in NCAA history to score 3,000 points next year.
Size In The Paint
After being perimeter oriented the past several seasons, the Huskies have a new look this season with some size in the paint. Talia Walton has moved mostly to the '3', while Chantel Osahor, Katie Collier, Deja Strother and Mathilde Gilling have played nearly all of the minutes inside. It gives the Huskies a big lineup with each being at least 6' 3".
Veteran Roster
Washington has yet to start a player without at least three years in the program and the main two players off the bench of late are both seniors giving the Dawgs an extremely experienced look. The usual starters include fifth-year senior Talia Walton, redshirt junior Katie Collier, true juniors Kelsey Plum and Chantel Osahor and redshirt sophomore Brianna Ruiz. Off the bench, seniors Alexus Atchley and Mathilde Gilling lead the team in minutes. Overall, Washington has seen 2,756 of the possible 3,000 minutes (91.9 percent) played by Huskies with at least three years in the program.
