Keyon Menifield and Koren Johnson crouched low with their arms spread wide at the top of the three-point arc waiting to pounce on unsuspecting Beaver ballhandlers.
The freshman duo comprised the first line of defense for the Washington men’s basketball team that swarmed, smothered and suffocated Oregon State into 18 turnovers and 2-for-19 shooting on three-pointers.
Turns out the Huskies were equally sloppy with the ball while committing 17 turnovers, but they were a little better behind the arc (6 for 24), which proved to be the difference in their 61-47 victory Saturday night.
“I think Koren Johnson and Keyon Menifield can play three games now,” UW coach Mike Hopkins said when asked if the young Huskies were fatigued on a night when Menifield never left the court and Johnson logged 26 minutes off the bench. “It looks like nothing for them.
“Those two guys and even when PJ (Fuller II) and Cole (Bajema) are in there, they keep you uncomfortable. That’s what good defenses do. I felt like we were keeping them really uncomfortable tonight. They didn’t know if we were coming or if we were sitting back.”
It was the fewest points for a UW opponent since the Huskies held Seattle University to 41 points on Dec. 9, 2020.
“It was a little bit of struggle offensively, I thought we started the game exceptionally well,” Hopkins said. “I felt like there was a point in the game where we were really rolling. We got it in transition. We tried to hit some home runs to extend the lead.
“Got to give Oregon State a lot of credit. They played a zone. They mixed it up a little a bit and confused us a little bit, which kept us off rhythm. But we were able to go to the foul line and make enough shots to win the game. It wasn’t pretty, but we found a way.”
Washington entered the game second in the Pac-12 in opponents’ three-point field-goal percentage (29%) and Hopkins made it a priority to shut down Oregon State’s perimeter game because “the majority of their points come from the three-point line and we did a good job of taking that away tonight.”
Considering the Beavers’ inability to connect from long range, the Huskies received a considerable boost when Jamal Bey canned 3 of 7 shots from downtown while scoring a game-high 15 points.
“I’ve been struggling this whole year,” said Bey, who began Saturday night shooting 26.3% on three-pointers. “My teammates and coaches told me to shoot the ball no matter what. That’s what I’m going to try to do and that’s what I’m here to do. I’m trying to keep confidence in myself even if I miss two or three in a row.”
Bey missed his first two three-pointers in the opening 2½ minutes, knocking down a corner three that put UW up for good with 17:17 left in the first half.
“I caught it in the corner and I was wide open,” said Bey, who also had five rebounds and two steals. “I (spun) the ball to make sure I had the grooves of the ball. I breathed a little bit and I said, ‘If this goes in, it goes in.’ I worked on it every day. And you could see me when I celebrated. I was like finally.”
The Huskies (15-13, 7-10 Pac-12) also received superlative performances from Braxton Meah (12 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks) and Menifield (12 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals). Keion Brooks Jr. and Johnson (five steals) each added 11 points.
If not for the turnovers, including a season-high six from Menifield, Washington would have had an easier time with the Beavers, who beat the Huskies 66-65 on Dec. 1 in their first meeting.
“What did the great John Wooden say?” Hopkins said. “Play fast but don’t hurry. It’s the same thing. When Koren is in the game (with) Keyon, you got two dynamic guards with the ball that really find players. We got to find them a little bit earlier. If you got somebody ahead just pass it up. That’s what we were doing a little bit too much, trying to go a little bit too fast.”
After a sloppy first half in which both teams combined for more turnovers (25) than field goals (17), Washington led 26-18 at the break.
Meah flushed a dunk over Beavers big man Michael Ratah, which capped a 7-0 run early in the second half that gave the Huskies a 33-20 lead with 16:26 left.
Oregon State cut its deficit to 33-24, but after a couple of Brooks-to-Meah alley-oop dunks and Johnson’s three-pointer, the Huskies went up 42-27 with 12:02 remaining.
The Beavers made one last run and used a 13-4 run to close the gap to 46-40 at the 6:03 mark.
However, Washington outscored Oregon State 15-7 the rest of the way, including six free throws from Bey and a dagger three-pointer from Brooks.
Jordan Pope and Glenn Taylor Jr. each had 11 points for Oregon State (10-18, 4-13), which is 1-5 in the past six games.
During the postgame meeting, Husky players drenched Hopkins in water and gave him the game ball after notching his 100th win at Washington. His record during a six-year tenure is 100-88 (.531), including 52-59 (.468) in the Pac-12.
“It’s like anything, you’re just always trying to win a championship. Those are the things that really matter,” he said. “The amount of games you coach is how long you’ve done it. The biggest thing is I love the guys that I coached. You saw Jaylen Nowell out there. When you go back and look at the games you’ve coached, wins and losses, it’s the people that you’re with that makes the experience incredible.
“We’ve had our ups and downs. They stayed with it. Kept getting better. Kept coached. Kept a positive attitude. Kept playing hard and we’re finding ways. That’s what I’m really proud of. That’s what it signifies for me.”
Notes
- The Huskies honored former Husky star Jaylen Nowell during a pregame ceremony and gave him a framed No. 5 jersey.
- Washington senior guard Noah Williams, who has been bothered by a knee injury, dressed in warmups and did not play Saturday.
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