Huskies Don't Let Hopkins Live to Coach Another Day, Lose to USC
The final game of Mike Hopkins' time as University of Washington basketball coach turned out no different than his seven-year career in Montlake — the Huskies started off fast and tailed off badly.
Five days after Hopkins was dismissed as coach, effective at the end of the season, his players did what they could to give him another game on the sideline, but they were left with a 80-74 one-and-done defeat to USC in the UW's final Pac-12 Tournament appearance on Wednesday in Las Vegas.
And, with that, the Hopkins' era came to an unceremonious close. He stepped away with a 118-106 coaching record, a near break-even 17-15 in his final go-round. He can now begin collecting unemployment checks.
Freshman forward Bronny James, son of the legendary LeBron, stepped into the role as coach executioner by dropping in three consecutive free throws with 3:29 left in the game to break a tie at 65 and give his ninth-seeded USC team (15-17) the lead for good and.a second-round noon matchup on Thursday against top-seeded Arizona (24-7).
Typical of these veteran, underachieving and eighth-seeded Huskies, they let a nine-point, first-half lead fritter away and were left without any further postseason rewards, missing out on the NCAA Tournament for the 12th time in 13 years.
"A couple of plays here and there just didn't go our way," Hopkins said in his final news conference as the Husky coach. "We kept fighting."
This Pac-12 tourney opener, tipping off at noon at T-Mobile Arena, had different elements to it that might have made Hopkins more successful and kept him in his job longer had he only followed them sooner.
Often stubborn to change, Hopkins got creative and shuffled his lineup by pairing senior Sahvir Wheeler and sophomore Koren Johnson with their matching quickness as the starting guards for the first time, having senior Paul Mulcahy come off the bench. The coach went with 6-foot-10 junior Wilhelm Breidenbach and his jump shot at center rather than the offensively limited 7-foot-1 senior Braxton Meah.
His team rewarded him with one of its finest 3-point shooting displays, at least for a half, downing a red-hot 9 of 13 from behind the line. Unfortunately, the Huskies slipped back into a more typical 2-for-11 mode in the second half.
Finally, the UW shared the ball and had four players finish in double figures with Wheeler leading with 20 points, Moses Wood and Johnson supplying 17 each and Keion Brooks Jr., the Pac-12's leading scorer at 21.3 per game coming in, finishing as the fourth-best point man on his team with 13. They could have used one more guy to step up, but it didn't happen. USC's Boogie Ellis led all scorers with 25.
For Hopkins, the Pac-12 Coach of the Year recipient in his first two seasons, he turned in his fifth consecutive near break-even record or worse without postseason play, hence the job change.
Moses Wood hit 4 of 5 3-pointers in the opening half against USC.
Stephen R. Sylvanie/USA TODAY Sports
"I wish it could have turned out different, but everything happens for a reason," Brooks said. "You're not always going to shoot real well or get every loose ball, but we played really hard and I'm proud of that."
On Hopkins' final day in charge, the Huskies gave up an opening basket and then turned in one of the finest shooting halves of the coach's seven seasons. They were extra dangerous behind the 3-point line over the opening 20 minutes, with Wood doing most of the damage by draining an electric 4 of 5 treys all at once.
They built their biggest lead at 19-10 five minutes into the contest when Wheeler drove to the basket for one of his patented scoop lay-ins, was fouled and added the free throw.
Momentum next shifted to USC, which rattled off nine unanswered points to tie things at 19. Back and forth these teams went.
The Trojans were leading 27-25 when someone flipped on the switch for the Huskies' Wood to go a little crazy around the perimeter.
Over the final 5:25 of the opening half, the lanky, 6-foot-8 marksmen went off, draining a right corner 3 for a 28-27 lead, a left corner trey to pull the UW within 32-31, a mid-range jumper to bring the Huskies within 35-33 and a deep 3 out front for a 36-35 lead.
Wood clearly was in familiar surroundings, knowing his way around the state and the strip. He grew up in Reno and played the 2020-21 basketball season in Vegas for UNLV.
The best was still yet to come in this guy's first-half barrage. Right before the buzzer, Wood leaned into a one-handed shot from the T-Mobile Arena logo, maybe 30 feet out, and watched it drop through the hoop for a 42-37 Husky halftime advantage. That sent him and his teammates into the locker room laughing and pumping each other on the back.
An hour later, Hopkins and everyone in a white UW uniform looked a little somber as the final buzzer sounded and they began to go in different basketball directions, unsure who will be back next season in Montlake and who will be leading them.
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