Monday, November 13, 2006

Washington vs Nicholls State

The Huskies are off to a quick 30-8 start again tonight against Nicholls State as the warmup tournament progresses over at Hec Edmundson. Last night showed the incredible potential, and of course the seasoning this team will need to gain over the course of the year. Pepperdine isn't the best the WCC has to offer, but they keep coming at you with pressure which is good for a young team to face in it's opener. UW had chances to blow the Waves out of the gym leading by more than 20 at times, but they kept letting them close the gap.

Tonight's game is another tuneup against a less worthy opponent, Nicholls should offer little resistance as the Huskies gain their sea legs. It is halftime now and the Huskies are up 56-22. A 34 point lead at the half is a pretty dominating statement no matter who you are playing. The Dawgs are distributing the scoring pretty evenly led by By Dentmon's 14, and Pondexter's 10. Brockman who had a career high last night hasn't scored yet and has only taken one shot so far. UW has been bombing from long range hitting twelve 3 pointers in the first half. The Huskies are shooting 58% from the field.

Brockman is heating up in the second half as the Huskies really begin to stretch this one out. He has 10 since intermission. Oliver is getting a lot of time running the point this evening as Romar is trying to break him in and see what he can do. Oliver is pretty explosive and can obviously handle the 3 spot, but the point takes a different set of skills and takes time to develop. UW has stretched its lead to 40 points leading 78-38 with around ten minutes left.

The Huskies again start showing their youth by letting Nicholls go on a bit of a run reducing the lead 78-49 and getting a little sloppy in transition. You can tell Romar is visible hacked with his young team. Even with a large lead he is continuing to teach and try to get the point across that it is important to finish strong and keep the underdog down. Lessons like these will pay off come as the schedule tightens. Phil Nelson has been fun to watch tonight, he is pretty smooth inside, and out.

Spencer Hawes has been quiet tonight with 16 minutes, 4 points, and 2 rebounds. Brockman finished with 12 , and nine rebounds. Brandon Burmeister had a career high of 17 points. Phile Nelson chipped in 10. Justin Dentmon had a great game hitting for 16 with 6 assists. Pondexter added 14 in a second straight strong game. Artem Wallace pulled down 8 rebounds and had 9 points. The Dawg's finish with a 102-74 win

The Huskies finish the tournament tomorrow against a strong Northern Iowa team which should challenge Washington quite a bit. Northern has been in the Big dance the past two years and returns with a veteran squad.

2 comments:

hairofthedawg said...

Sounds good so far and it's great to be able to let the entire team get some minutes. I hope Northern Iowa puts up a better effort tomorrow because these guys need to be tested. As I type this, Nicholls St. is on a 13 pt. run...figures. This team has a lot of weapons and I feel it will be a matter of finding which one is accurate on a particular night.

It kind of sucks, in a good way, having the ever-lingering question hovering over our outstanding young players.

Not much to say about this weekends matchup with the Cougars...brinkhater put things pretty well. I've been to their site but it's just not in me after Saturday to talk smack.

John Berkowitz said...

Northern Iowa is a pretty good team that should challenge the kids pretty good. UW should win by around ten, but with ayoung team anything can happen if we keep turning the ball over. We have had over 30 turnovers the past two nights.