Huskies Take On Minnesota In NIT Semifinal

The University of Washington men’s basketball team hope their early season visit to Madison Square Garden in December could provide valuable and walk away with a national championship in the National Invitational Tournament.

The top-seeded Huskies (24-10) tipoff against Minnesota (22-14) at 6 p.m. (Pacific Standard Time) Tuesday evening following the other semifinal game between Stanford vs. University of Massachusetts at  4 p.m.

Both games will be nationally televised on ESPN2, on radio at KJR 950AM/102.9FM and on the web at gohuskies.com. The winners faceoff on Thursday in the championship game.

This will be the second visit this season for the Huskies who lost to both Duke (86-80) and Marquette (79-77). says he is “excited that this team was able to refocus and make it to the NIT Final Four. There's no doubt that this team is playing with determination; out to prove that they were one of the best teams in the country even though they weren't invited to the NCAA Tournament.”

Hamilton is the only member of the Husky team who played in the NIT in 1996 and was an assistant coach in 1997 (the last time they were in the tournament). “Make no mistake, this team didn't do quite enough to earn the bid, but nevertheless they're playing with a chip on their shoulder,” Hamilton said Monday from New York City.

The Huskies led the series against the Golden Gophers 9-6 with the last meeting on December 22, 1990 where the Huskies won 72-61.

Hamilton says the game against Minnesota should be interesting. “They are young and athletic and want to play a style similar to Washington, which should make it entertaining from a fan perspective. I think the keys for UW defensively are: 1) not allow transition (fast break) points 2) limit Minnesota to one shot and not give up 2nd chance points 3) Don't give up dribble penetration into the lane.”

“Offensively for Washington it's simple: 1) Be aggressive and get to the FT line. The Huskies are unbeaten (16-0) this year when they have more FT attempts than their opponent 2) limit turnovers. The Huskies we're solid with the ball against Oregon's changing defenses last Friday and will need to do the same against Minnesota and 3) ‘play like you want it’. When this team competes and plays with passion they are hard to beat,” Hamilton said.

The Huskies visited the Ripley's Believe It Or Not store near Times Square and seven-footer Aziz N'Diaye stood next to a statue of the man said to be the world's tallest, 8-feet-11 Robert Wadlow. According to Gregg Bell, UW Director of Writing in a press release:  “Instead of being the tallest Husky, Aziz looked more like Isaiah Thomas next to the Illinois native who died at 1940 at age 22. The players cracked up minutes later as they watched on a television monitor as N'Diaye was prone inside a Mission: Impossible exhibit. Like a towering Tom Cruise, the junior center and native of Senegal crawled under a field of intersecting laser beams. N'Diaye was nimble, tripping off just six beams while slinking the approximately 20-foot field and back.”

Head Coach Lorenzo Romar said Monday in a UW press release “we are in New York, playing for a national championship in the NIT. Our guys are pretty excited. We have a group of guys that are pretty competitive and were just able to turn the page."

Aside from the side trips Hamilton believes last December’s experience will help the Huskies. “They have been in Madison Square Garden before and know what to expect. They also have ‘seen New York’ so they won't be in awe of the environment. It could be a great finish to and up and down year!”

Possible UW starters:

Terrance Ross (31) has averaged 26.3 points per game during
the NIT; he averaged 16.4 during the season.

Tony Wroten, Jr  (14) leds all UW freshmen in points, steals and assists; he averages 16.2 points per game.

Aziz N’Diaye (5) averages eight points a game and provides key blocks at critical times.

Darrnell Gant (44) averages seven points a game and is the
only Husky to have 100 wins in 138 games played.

Abdul Gaddy (0) has scored 10 points or more in 5 of 7 games, averaging 8.1 points a game.

A copy of the NIT Championship Program is available here.

In the NIT (provided by gohuskies.com)

• The Huskies have advanced to the NIT semifinals in NYC for the first time in team history.
• The Huskies are averaging 82.7 ppg and have won their three games by an average of 11.7 points.
• UW is shooting 72.5% from the line (58-for-80) after shooting 61% durving the fi rst 31 games of the year..
• Terrence Ross has averaged 26.3 ppg and 5.3 rpg, including a career-high 32 points vs. Northwestern. He is 12-of-30 (.400) from 3-point range and 28-of-54 (.519) overall from the field.
• Abdul Gaddy is averaging 7.7 apg and recorded his first career double-double with 11 pts and 10 assts vs. Oregon.

UW NIT History

• Washington is making its first appearance in the NIT since 1997 and its sixth overall trip to the post-season tournament.
• The Huskies also played in the 1996,1987, 1982 and 1980 NIT and have compiled a 6-5 overall.
• They recorded their first victory in 25 years on March 13 vs. UT Arlington.
• The Huskies have hosted five games and are 4-1 in those home contests.
• They had previously hosted a game on March 16, 1987 when the beat Boise State 73-68 before losing on the road in the third round to Nebraska in Lincoln. The only other home game they hosted prior to this year was a 1982 second round contest that they dropped 69-65 to Texas A&M.