DOWN WITH PANTS!

The Huskies played an outstanding game but ran out of gas in the last five minutes and lost to Gonzaga 99-87 tonight. The game was pretty damn good until those last minutes or so when foul trouble really hurt the Huskies. Add that to 6,000 screaming Zag fans and a Gonzaga team that was on a mission to show they weren't as bad as their loss to Illinois on Saturday and it's no wonder they won.

It's disappointing to see the Huskies suffer a setback after such a positive beginning to the season but I don't think this loss is that big of a deal. It does show that they have some weaknesses without Brandon Roy in the lineup but these are the kind of losses, just like Gonzaga had to Illinois, that helps a team grow.

One major problem that the Huskies are going to have all season long is fouls. This is a team that fouls quite a bit. They even put Seattle Pacific in the bonus early in both halves of that blowout. Bobby Jones has already fouled out in two of the four games he has played in after fouling out 15 times last season. Tonight, Jones stayed out of foul trouble but just about everybody else was saddled with two or three by the end of the first half. Tre Simmons picked up his fourth early in the second half and had to sit for a long time taking a way the Huskies best three point shooter. The style that this team plays means they are going to foul a lot and with the depth that the Huskies have when Roy is healthy it won't be that big of a deal. Without him they are spread thin and their intense defense suffered tonight because guys had to back off so often. It also doesn't help that Gonzaga hit 27 of their 33 free throw attempts while the Huskies only hit 9 of 17.

The Bulldogs face UMass on Saturday here in Seattle at the Key Arena in the Battle of Seattle. UMass has been awful this season and Gonzaga should be able to pick up a second straight win. On Sunday the Huskies look to get right when they take on Eastern Washington at the sold-out Hec Edmundson Pavilion.