2015 Pac-12 Men's Basketball Media Day: Andrews tells the story behind his game-winning wink

SAN FRANCISCO — Washington desperately needed a win. An NCAA berth save for winning the Pac-12 tournament was out of the question by now, but I tell ya, it would feel good just to get a win again. After a promising start to the season, the Huskies had lost seven in a row to fall to 3-10 in conference play.

But the Huskies had a chance against rival Washington State in Pullman. More than a chance at that – tied at 84 with just a second difference between the shot clock and game clock in the last minute of regulation, Washington could more or less hold for the last shot.

Washington guard Andrew Andrews was feelin’ it. Already with 32 points on five threes, he was thirsty for more. So he let Washington State’s DaVonté Lacy know – if Washington State plays zone, he’s going to make them pay.

[Related: 2015-16 Washington men's basketball schedule]

Indeed, Washington State came out in a zone defense. Andrews walked by his compadre from the Pac-12 All-Star team that toured China and winked.

Thirty seconds later, Andrews drilled a deep three from the right wing to lift Washington to a much-needed victory in the Palouse.

Andrews finished the game with 35 points and four assists on 11-18 shooting and 6-12 from distance. What he didn’t realize is that the whole world saw the wink.

“I looked after at my phone [and] it was blowing up,” Andrews said of his wink at 2015 Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Media Day. “I had like 300 messages on my phone and it was like ‘you winked at him.’ I was thinking, ‘how do they know that?’ And then I went back and saw that [the camera] was up close on my face.”

Luckily for Andrews, the wink worked out better this time around than it did in the state high school championship game when was at Benson Tech in Portland. With the game on the line, Andrews was gesturing to the crowd and telling everyone his team was going to win while the game was going on and he was on the floor playing. Unfortunately, Andrews missed two shots that would have won the state championship and Benson Tech lost.