SEATTLE (AP) – Dejounte Murray carried Washington with 25 points, Marquese Chriss added 11 and the Huskies snapped a four-game losing streak with a 64-53 win over Stanford on Saturday.
"He was born with some shiftiness and there are not a lot of people that have that like that," Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said.
The Pac-12's leading scorer Andrew Andrews did record a field goal the entire game and was held to just eight points (all on free throws) by the Cardinal.
Marquese Chriss added 11 and the Huskies (16-11, 8-7 Pac-12) picked up a needed victory to keep its slim NCAA tournament hopes alive, despite Andrews failing to score in double figures for just the second time this season. Andrews, the Pac-12 leader in scoring at 20.4 points, finished with eight points, all coming at the free-throw line.
Romar said after the game that Andrews suffered a strained MCL in his knee in Washington's loss to California on Thursday and did not practice Friday.
"He was a little limited. We told him to use his head and he came out in that second half and was like a maestro," Romar said.
Murray made up for an off-day by Andrews and fellow perimeter shooters David Crisp and Dominic Green. The trio was a combined 0-of-18 shooting and Washington was just 3 of 22 on 3-point attempts.
But Murray could not be slowed. He made 10 of 14 shots, the majority of those driving to the basket when he found openings in Stanford's defense. He also grabbed nine rebounds and had a key assist on Malik Dime's dunk in the closing minutes that helped extend Washington's lead. Dime finished with 10 points.
"(Andrews) didn't really care about scoring as you can tell and he was facilitating the whole game," Murray said.
Rosco Allen led Stanford (13-12, 6-8) with 20 points, and Dorian Pickens added nine for Stanford.
"Second half we weren't as poised as we needed to be," Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. "They are long, active, very athletic and I don't think we showed the poise you need to have against a team like that."
Despite going scoreless for more than 5 minutes early in the second half, Washington was able to take the lead on Matisse Thybulle's 3-point play with 13:41 left that snapped the Huskies' scoring drought and was followed by Murray's left-handed drive to the rim and a 3-pointer from Chriss. Andrews was fouled shooting a 3 and finally got on the scoresheet, hitting two of three free throws and Washington's lead was 40-35 with 11:58 remaining.
Stanford pulled within 40-39, but Allen missed a driving layup attempt that could have given the Cardinal the lead. Thybulle answered with another 3-point play, and Dime's lob dunk from Andrews gave the Huskies a 45-39 lead with 8:59 left. Murray's driving layup 90 seconds later pushed Washington's lead to 49-41, its largest of the game.
Stanford pulled within four twice, but Washington stemmed every run. Murray capped his night with a breakaway dunk in the final minute as the Huskies pushed their lead to 15.
Stanford returns home, where the Cardinal will host USC on Thursday (Feb. 25) at 8 p.m. PT at Maples Pavilion.