This was a win that had to happen.

With all the buildup of a could-be legendary Pac-10 tournament run, this was supposed to be the first and easiest round of them all.

For the first 12 minutes it certainly didn’t feel that way. A lethargic and lackluster Husky team failed in every aspect of the game, falling behind by double-digits to the Pac-10’s worst.

It was seemingly all the negatives of the entire season relived at once.

Good thing Jon Brockman was not ready for the season to be over. The uncontrollable sophomore was going to do it all by himself if he had to, at times appearing to rip the ball away from even unsuspecting teammates.

Then, like it has all season, the team followed suit, ending the first half with a run that would make Prefontaine jealous.

But I’ll stop there; one can only give so much praise for a win over a Sun Devil squad that went 2-16 in conference play. This was just one-third of the effort needed to earn any kind of consideration for NCAA Tournament play.

Arizona State was the only team in the Pac-10 the Huskies swept in the regular season, and the Sun Devils remain the only poor saps that have lost to Washington outside of Seattle.

But that doesn’t mean there was nothing to take from last night’s effort.

We saw the Husky frontcourt dominate like we always have.

A sports reporter I was watching with compared Spencer Hawes’ moves to that of the finest silk, while Brockman’s play was like a tough leather. Just one of the many hyperboles available to describe the play of the impeccable Husky frontcourt.

It was encouraging to see some fire from the players — Quincy Pondexter in particular — but slightly dispiriting to see the guard play struggle again.

And unfortunately, the harder this win was, the worse it fares down the road.

Hopefully the players take some long ice baths tonight, because playing back-to-back games is a challenge the Dawgs haven’t faced since the Basketball Travelers Classic, and that was back in November.

In a perfect world, the Huskies would’ve been up by 30 in the second half and had the chance to rest the starters.

I for one didn’t think the Dawgs would let ASU back in it with an 8-point halftime lead, but that’s what you get from this Washington team when you expect things.

Now it’s the Cougars. The last time the UW beat them I was a young sophomore and thought course evaluations were worth doing.

WSU will certainly be motivated to reconfirm its recent dominance in the in-state rivalry, but this time, unlike any other, the Dawgs are backed into a corner with nothing to do but fight their way out.

Brockman and fellow sophomore Justin Dentmon get another shot at the only Pac-10 team they have yet beat in their careers. And a win now, with so much on the line, would almost erase the previous four match-ups from recent memory.

In the end, this win puts the Huskies officially out of the should-win portion of the tournament and into the could-win. While we certainly expect success from this assortment of blue-chip talent, this team still has all the odds against it.

Reach columnist Joshua Mayers at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.