SEATTLE -- Maybe it's too early to be talking about it. After all, the Washington Huskies have yet to play a Pacific-12 Conference game this season.
But something more was lost Sunday at Hec Edmundson Pavilion than the Huskies' 32-game home court winning streak against nonconference teams.
Washington's disappointing and embarrassing 92-73 loss to the South Dakota State Jackrabbits not only ended a run of home court dominance, but it may end up hurting the Huskies come NCAA tournament time.
With one nonconference game before Pac-12 play -- Thursday against Cal State Northridge -- the Huskies can be at best 6-5 going into league competition.
The losses to Duke, Marquette and even St. Louis might seem acceptable. But South Dakota State? At home?
Coach Lorenzo Romar was too bitter about the loss to look at the long-range goals. There was one word that resonated from him.
"I don't care who we play, we don't lose like we did today at home," he said. "It's just unacceptable. Unacceptable."
"It definitely doesn't help us," said freshman Tony Wroten, who scored a team-high 23 points -- eclipsing the 20-point mark for his third consecutive game.
Romar admitted he saw this coming early Sunday morning during the team breakfast. He worried his team might lack energy. With the trip to New York, followed by finals week and then Friday's tough win over UC Santa Barbara, he saw signs his players might be sluggish.
"You know your team, you know the look in their eyes," he said. "You know when they just lack it."
Romar needed to call a time out a minute into the game after they botched an offensive possession and gave up two easy baskets.
"Those are all indicators that right now, we're not focused where we need to be and reading that right away we have to call time out and talk about this," Romar said.
The time out really didn't help. SDSU, behind point guard Nate Wolters carved up Washington with cold precision.
SDSU stormed to a 23-7 lead as a sluggish Huskies defense could only watch as Wolters scored on an assortment of drives. In the game's first 10 minutes, the Jackrabbits were 10-for-16 from the field and 7-for-7 from 3-point range.
"We were very patient. I think what it did to them is it really made them work defensively," SDSU coach Scott Nagy said. "They're a pressure team and they have got to chase and run through screens, and chase and run through screens, and it kind of wore them down. And making shots like that can cut the heart out of anybody."
Wolters scored on back-to-back drives to push the lead to 21 points with 9:42 in the first half.
"We have to know that every game everyone is coming to play," Wroten said. "They aren't going to take us lightly and even though we had to wake up early, we still have to play. Some guys were tired and some guys felt like it would be easy, but we still have to find a way to win."
But Wolters wouldn't let that happen. The junior point guard controlled the tempo, allowing the Jackrabbits to play at their more deliberate pace. And when he needed to, he would break down a defender off the dribble and get to the basket and score or draw a foul.
He finished with a game-high 34 points on 10-for-20 shooting with seven assists and five rebounds. Wolters played all 40 minutes and didn't commit a turnover.
"I haven't seen a performance like that since Jason Kidd was in the then Pac-10 when he controlled the entire game," Romar said. " ... I thought it was an awesome performance. One of the best performances by a point guard I've ever seen at this level."
"Coaches were telling us that he was a really good," guard C.J. Wilcox said. "But he just came out when he came out and had his way with us."
The Jackrabbits finished 28-for-51 from the field (54.9 percent) and 10-for-16 (62.5 percent) from 3-point range. They had four other players in double figures besides Wolters, with Griffin Callahan scoring 16 points.
Washington shot 41.6 percent from the field, including 5-for-18 on 3-pointers. Darnell Gant had 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Wilcox added 12 points.
"We tried to help our team understand how good of a basketball player Nate Wolters was," Romar said. "Bottom line is, energy or no energy, this is unacceptable. It shouldn't happen."
Ryan Divish: 253-597-8483 ryan.divishthenewstribune.com
* blog.thenewstribune.com/uwsports
