SEATTLE – UC San Diego junior
Justin DeGraaf scored a career-high 11 points, but host Washington held a massive rebound advantage and pulled away in the second half as the Huskies topped the Tritons, 83-56, Tuesday night in front of 5,726 at Alaska Airlines Arena.
The setback was the third straight for the Tritons (4-3), who shot a season low 30%. Washington (4-2) outrebounded the visitors, 54-34, and improved to 3-1 at home.
Bryce Pope led the Tritons with 15 points, and in the process, he passed UC San Diego associate head coach Clint Allard for 13th on the program's all-time scoring list. Playing for the first time this season,
Emmanuel Tshimanga scored seven and grabbed a team-high ten rebounds off the bench.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Neither team was able to score over the first two minutes, but
Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones put the visitors in front out of the gates with a turnaround jumper. Tait-Jones' bucket gave UC San Diego the game's first points for the first time this season. Washington settled in, and the Huskies scored the next eight points to go up 8-2.
Pope connected on a long three from the wing and UC San Diego was within three, 8-5. The Huskies extended their lead to 14 at 27-13, but
Michael Pearson Jr. buried a three forcing a Washington timeout. With under three minutes to go in the half, DeGraaf knocked down a pair of free throws and on the ensuing possession completed a three-point play with a bucket and a foul.
Down 13, Pope drained a three as time expired to cut the deficit to ten, 34-24, at halftime. Pope's six points paced UC San Diego, and Tshimanga grabbed four rebounds in six minutes off the bench. As a team, UC San Diego shot just 25% in the first half (8-for-32).
In the second half, the Tritons continued to hang around. DeGraaf knocked down his second three of the game to keep UC San Diego in it.
However, the Huskies responded with an 11-1 spurt of their own to pad their lead and put the game out of reach.
TRITON TIDBITS
- Pope now has 1,155 career points, good for 13th-most in UC San Diego history.
- UC San Diego wore its alternate gold uniforms for the first time.
- Tuesday was UC San Diego's first setback against a Pac-12 school since moving to Division I. The Tritons are now 2-1 vs. that conference.
- Tuesday was the second-ever meeting between these foes, with the prior meeting coming in 1991 when the Tritons competed at the NCAA Division III level.
- The Tritons shot a season low 54% from the free throw line.
- J'Raan Brooks fouled out for the first time this season.
- For the seventh consecutive game, UC San Diego used a starting lineup of Hayden Gray, Bryce Pope, Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, Francis Nwaokorie, and J'Raan Brooks.
UP NEXT
UC San Diego returns to LionTree Arena for a highly anticipated matchup with crosstown foe San Diego State on Friday night. Tip-off is scheduled for just after 7 p.m. with a live broadcast on ESPN+ and live stats available on UCSDTritons.com.
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of The Big West in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 84 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in Divisions I and II.
