STANFORD, Calif. _ Before stepping on the court for Sunday's game at Stanford, the 25th-ranked Huskies had to flush and forget an embarrassing defeat three days earlier in the Bay Area.
It's customary for coach Mike Hopkins to review video of the previous game with the team to learn from its mistakes, but not this time.
"I made the decision that I wasn't going to show clips of that game," Hopkins said in reference to a 76-73 loss at California on Thursday. "The decision that I made was to re-calibrate their mindset.
"After you had that loss it was the sky is falling. You're out of the (NCAA) Tournament. You'll never play again. You just jumped off the Montlake Bridge. Whatever it may be. The reality of it is, it's not the end of the world. There's a lot of basketball to be played."
Hopkins told the Huskies they've become a bigger target after winning the Pac-12 outright regular-season title.
But most importantly, he said: "We have to get back to who we were and what our identity is. And that's on the defensive end."
In front of 5,741 at Maples Pavilion, the Huskies secured a hard-fought 62-61 victory thanks in large part to a dominant defensive performance and a couple of clutch baskets at the end from Jaylen Nowell.
Foul trouble limited him to just 23 minutes, but the sophomore guard finished with a team-high 13 points and scored the final four points for the Huskies.
"It was definitely nerve-wrecking," said Nowell who played the final 8:50 with four fouls. "It's definitely in the back of your mind when you're playing. You don't want to get a cheap one. There were a lot of cheap ones today, but they went how they went.
"I just want to win. Honestly, it's really nothing special. When I came back in the game, I was like I got to do whatever I had to do to make sure we get the win. And that's what I did."
Immediately after Nowell's return, the Huskies extended their one-point lead (47-46) to seven (54-47) with 6:47 left.
However, Stanford answered with a 7-0 run to tie it at 54.
In the final five minutes, the lead changed four times and neither team led by more than three points.
Down 59-58, Nowell wiggled free to hit a mid-range shot along the baseline at the 1:26 mark that put the Huskies ahead for good.
At the other end, Matisse Thybulle collected his third steal before Nowell extended UW's lead to 62-59 with another mid-range jumper.
Still, Stanford didn't go away quietly.
The Cardinal pulled within a point following Oscar da Silvia's layup with 15 seconds left.
Nowell had a chance for two foul shots to put the Huskies up three, but missed the first of a 1-and-1 free-throw situation that allowed Stanford one last chance with 10 seconds left.
KZ Okpala streaked down court and despite tight coverage from David Crisp and Thybulle, the Cardinal forward rushed an errant three-point attempt that bounced off the rim.
"I felt like we were tough," Hopkins said "We didn't play great. We made some turnovers when we didn't need them. We frustrated them on defense and that's who we are. That's what we got to hang our hats on.
"The most important thing I felt like we played tough tonight. We made tough plays that we had to make down the stretch. That's the key."
Without sophomore guard Daejon Davis, the former Garfield High star who sat out due to a sprained right ankle, Stanford (15-14, 8-9) relied heavily on Josh Sharma (16 points and 14 rebounds) and da Silvia (15 points).
Washington, which led 29-23 at halftime, had difficulty at times containing Davis' replacement Cormac Ryan, who scored 13 points and hit three 3-pointers in the second half. Stanford was 0 for 8 behind the arc in the first half and 6 of 9 after the break.
The Huskies were outrebounded 38-30, but they kept the Cardinal off balance and forced 19 turnovers that led to 28 points.
"It really had nothing to do with offense today," Nowell said. "Our defense was really our offense today."
Noah Dickerson, who had 12 points, Nahziah Carter and Nowell each played with four fouls for most of the second half in a chippy game that had both teams barking at each other and the officials.
Crisp and Sharma each picked up a flagrant fouls while Dickerson collected a technical foul.
Following a bittersweet road trip, Washington returns home for its final two regular-season games with the Pac-12 championship trophy.
"We still have motivation," Nowell said. "We're happy for the Pac-12 championship, but we have two more games left. We still got to prove that we're still good because you're only as good as your last game."
