Aztecs hit road to tangle with Huskies

Dec 7, 2014 - 3:28 PM Seattle, WA (SportsNetwork.com) - A battle between a pair of six-win programs is on deck at Alaska Airlines Arena on Sunday, as the Washington Huskies play host to the 13th-ranked San Diego State Aztecs in non-conference action.

Playing at home for just the second time this season, the Huskies still own an unblemished record after six outings. Off to a 6-0 start for the first time since the 2006-07 campaign, Washington most recently defeated UTEP (68-65) a week ago as part of the Wooden Legacy at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

As for the Aztecs, they rattled off five straight wins to begin the campaign before taking a fall against third-ranked Arizona (61-59) on Nov. 26. Coincidentally, the Wildcats are the same squad that took down SDSU for its first loss of the season in 2013-14 and came back to end an NCAA Tournament run by the Aztecs in March as well.

The Huskies have taken two of the previous three meetings in the series with SDSU, although the Aztecs won the most recent encounter last season around this time by a score of 70-63 at home.

After the defeat at the hands of Arizona, San Diego State did rebound with a 57-48 triumph over local foe San Diego on Thursday night at Viejas Arena.

The Aztecs scored the first eight points of the game against visiting San Diego and never looked back, although the final score was much too close for comfort given the talent on both sides. Dwayne Polee II led the hosts with 14 points, hitting both of his 3-point tries, followed by JJ O'Brien and Trey Kell with 13 and 10 points, respectively. SDSU held the Toreros to just 19 points in the first half but then appeared somewhat lethargic coming out of the break.

Once again, what the Aztecs pride themselves on more than anything is their defense, a unit that is holding opponents to just 55.3 ppg on 35.1 percent shooting from the field and a paltry 28.6 percent behind the 3-point line. It also helps that SDSU is forcing close to 16 turnovers per contest, given that the offense is far from explosive with just 66.4 ppg.

Leading the way at the offensive end of the floor for the Aztecs is Winston Shepard and Polee with 10.7 and 10.1 ppg, respectively. However, both shoot below 68 percent at the free-throw line for a squad hitting a disappointing 62.9 percent at the charity stripe.

Washington watched a 13-point, first-half lead against the Miners not only evaporate in the last outing, the Huskies also found themselves trailing by four points with less than four minutes to play in regulation as well. However, Washington was able to battle back and outscore UTEP by seven down the stretch in order to claim the three-point win in the Golden State.

In a game that featured six ties and just as many lead changes, Andrew Andrews scored 20 points for the Huskies as he knocked down 4-of-7 behind the 3-point line, followed by Nigel Williams-Goss and Jernard Jarreau with 16 and 10 points, respectively, the latter adding eight rebounds to pace his team in that category.

Williams-Goss may be shooting only 20.0 percent behind the 3-point line these days, but he is still the leading scorer for the Huskies with his 14.7 ppg. In addition, he is more than willing to do whatever it takes to get Washington into the win column as he also adds 5.5 rpg and is first on the unit with 7.5 apg as well. Andrews pitches in with 12.5 ppg and Shawn Kemp Jr. adds another 10.3 ppg to an attack that generates 73.7 ppg.