Game Daily: This week in Husky history

Jan 19, 2016, 6:02 PM

Utah traveled to Seattle on Jan. 26, 1968, to take on the Washington men’s basketball team for only the sixth time in the series between the two schools. The Huskies defeated the Utes 93-76 to open a two-game series at home. The Utes entered the matchup ranked No. 10 and the Huskies had prepared for a tough battle all week, knowing they would be the underdogs against Utah before facing Montana the following night. “We will take them one at a time and try to pull some kind of an upset,” then-head coach Mac Duckworth told The Seattle Times midweek regarding the two upcoming games. The UW delivered and gave their coach the upset he had hoped for. The Huskies got a 9-8 edge off a jumper from senior David Carr, from which the Utes were never able to catch back up. The Huskies were ahead by 10 at halftime, up 44-34. Carr and fellow UW starters George Irvine and Jay Bond scored a combined total of 72 points on the night, led by Carr with a team-high 27, and 15 in the second half. “[The Huskies] got more out of their forwards than I thought they would,” then-Utah coach Jack Gardner told The Seattle Times. “And we didn’t get much from our forwards, scoring or defense.” Two guards for the Utes, Merv Jackson and Walt Simon, were the star players in attempting to rally, scoring 24 and 19 points, respectively. Dave West and Rafael Stone were the defensive assignments on Jackson and Simon. “That is as good a set of guards as there is in the country,” West said. The Huskies ended the night shooting 59.4 percent from the field, their best percentage so far that season. The Utes shot only 43.2 percent. For what would be Duckworth’s final year as head coach of the UW, the Huskies ended the 1967-68 season 12-14, 4-10 in the Athletic Association of Western Universities conference and were ranked seventh in the AAWU at the end of the season. In the series history between Utah and the UW, there has never been an overtime game, and the two teams are even 9-9 all-time, leaving room for either team to pull ahead with Sunday’s game at Alaska Airlines Arena. Reach Editor-in-Chief Kathryn Altena at sports@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @kkaltena

Stay up to Date

Subscribe to our weekly newsletters covering the news, arts, and sports.

Game Daily: This week in Husky history

Disruptor interrupts Psych 210, professor and students chase man on to Red Square

2025 Seattle and King County primary election endorsements

UW mechanical engineering students are now required to pay $250 quarterly fee to participate in department-affiliated RSOs

College Inn Pub reopens under new ownership