The Washington men's basketball team continued their consistent, poised play with a split of two games in Arizona over the weekend. Even Thursday's 92-81 loss to the Arizona Wildcats demonstrated how good this team is. Despite their worst shooting performance of the season, the Huskies stayed close, in a hostile arena, against the 11th-best team in the country. I don't know if there is a phrase to describe the opposite of a Pyrrhic victory, but this was just that, so for now let's call an encouraging defeat a "Husky special."

Sunday the Huskies' shooting improved marginally, but it was defense that carried them past Arizona State. The Dawgs covered the perimeter, forced 21 turnovers, and held Sun Devils' All-American Ike Diogu to 14 points, his second-lowest total of the year. Nate Robinson, whose nickname isn't "The Lord of Leaping" but should be, scored eighteen points in Sunday's second-half. His shooting slump may be over, which bodes ill for the L.A. schools, who visit Seattle this weekend. The Huskies play USC Thursday at 7pm and UCLA Sunday at 2pm. The UW will sell the few seats remaining for each game beginning Monday morning at 8:30.