The Huskies defeated Mississippi Valley State at home on Monday, setting a record in the midst of a 77-64 win. The record in question was team 3 pointers attempted, last set with 37 attempted in a 2015 game against Oakland. Tonight they surpassed that mark early in the second half. They ended up tying the record for team 3 pointers made with 17. 5 of those came from veteran Steele Venters, who ended up shooting from beyond the arc 13 times, also grabbing 2 boards.
But the lion’s share of the scoring
came from backup guard Parker Friederichsen, who finished with a team high of 17, on 6-14 shooting (5-11 from 3 point land). Ryan Beasley also came up big, not only with his scoring (16 points, 6-11 shooting, 4-9 from behind the arc), but also 10 rebounds. That double double from a smaller guard (Beasley stands 5’11”) no doubt impressed many, not just those in attendance, but Isaiah Thomas, the former UW guard who was in his debut assignment for the Big Ten network. That rebounding effort also extended to the entire team, exemplified by a sequence in the second half from 15:44 to 13:06 in which the Huskies grabbed 8 total rebounds. This helped them win the rebounding battle 46-25. It was plain very early on that the plan for this game was to get as aggressive from deep as possible. Head Coach Danny Sprinkle said as much after exhibition season. The goal was to get better looks from deep, and tonight, the Huskies definitely delivered on that front.
Even with that, the Delta Devils hung in there, thanks in no small part to the scoring of AJ Abrams, who finished with 20 points and 6 rebounds. After Tymias Williams (who finished with 7 points and 8 rebounds) made a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 4, the Huskies scored 13 unanswered points, putting the game firmly in control.
From there, it was about setting the team 3 pointers made record, which they almost did. Color commentator Isaiah Thomas wanted BJ Roy to take the shot, but later acknowledged that with the shot clock off, it probably was not to be. In the end though, this game shows that the Huskies will now place an extra emphasis on the 3 point shot, something that has the potential to both help and hinder them down the road in Big Ten play. Coach Sprinkle said “I liked the threes we were getting, but we need to make more of them. We had 4 or 5 that were in and out.” But this game gave him some encouraging signs, and they knew that there was a weakness in the MVSU defense that they could exploit. For much of this game, it was the Husky big men getting doubled, creating open looks on the perimeter. And that led to an explosion of three pointers, unmatched by a Husky team in a decade, and a comfortable victory, if a little close at first! The Huskies will have to see if they can carry that momentum forward, as they next take on Utah on November 14th. For MVSU, they have Oregon up next on Wednesday.
