Thursday, December 21, 2006

Hawes led Huskies Rout LSU

Spencer Hawes had a coming out party tonight at Hec Ed. He was just unstoppable on both ends of the court and outplayed the gassed "Big Baby" in a national meeting of touted big men. To be fair it was John Brockman who drew the job of pounding on Davis. Brockman had one of his all time great games. Washington came out hot, and stayed hot, the Tigers were never in this game. It was quite a turnaround from the Gonzaga game of last week where the Huskies were on the losing end of the hammer.

The Huskies led by as many as 19 points during a frenetic first half, which ended with Washington up 50-36. Hawes scored 14 points, almost all over Davis on his array of beyond-his-years post moves.

Washington scored on seven of its first nine possessions of the second half to maintain its lead. When Hawes swished a fadeaway from 18 feet over Davis, Davis smiled at Hawes and Hawes returned the grin. Hawes then made consecutive jumpers with Magnum Rolle's hand in his face at the top of the key. They put Washington ahead 57-43.

Spencer Hawes, Washington's heralded freshman center dominated preseason All-American Glen Davis with 23 points and 12 rebounds, both season highs, and led the 17th-ranked Huskies to an 88-72 runaway victory over #12 LSU. Hawes was 10-for-16 from the field, shooting fadeaways, hook shots, jumpers and spinners, most against the bewildered Davis. Jon Brockman added 19 points and 14 rebounds for Washington (9-1), which won its 26th consecutive nonconference home game while hosting an SEC team for the first time since 1985.

"Big Baby" Davis scored eight points on 3-for-11 shooting, ending a streak of 48 consecutive games of scoring in double figures. He and Brockman traded elbows and jersey grabs for much of Davis' lowest-scoring game since he had eight points at Mississippi as a freshman two seasons ago. Last season's SEC player of the year went 21:24 between his first field goal, and a putback with 7:56 left that cut Washington's lead to 77-56. Tasmin Mitchell scored 20 points for LSU which dropped to 1-2 against ranked teams this season.

Washington showed tonight that they learn, and mature quickly under the guidance of Coach Romar. It seemed like it was a completely different team out on the floor from only a week ago. UW has one more non conference game against Weber State before they jump from the frying pan into the fire against USC, and #1 UCLA on the road in Los Angeles. Looks like Coach Romar has them ready.

8 comments:

hairofthedawg said...

It's nice to finally see that they can win with the inside game as well. I've been looking forward to this type of game. I got to work at halftime and checked the score and really did a double take at Davis' line. I thought he'd been injured or something.

Probably the thing I was most impressed with was only 9 turnovers. It also sounded like a pretty well coached game too. Romar must love having such an adaptable team.

John Berkowitz said...

It was one of those special games where everything came together and a young team stopped walking, and began running. This was exactly the type of competition these kids have been yearning for since the season started.

You have to like the way Coach Romar brings a team together. Like you said, the nine turnovers, a season low show how the team has come together.

Playing on the road is tough. LSU looked gassed most of the night, and I guess you can thank the Beaver's in Corvallis for that. LSU seemed a step slow all night. That being said I don't think we saw the best of LSU who had no answer to Hawes and Brockman despite having "Big Baby".

Anonymous said...

Twas the first time we had seen them play this year. Other BBall games weren't broadcast down here, so all we had to go on were the post game stats and reports from Dawgman posters. Boy, were we shocked by how well they played as a team. Few turnovers, hustling for rebounds, team defense, and I hate to say it, but Spencer is ready to play in the NBA. Am really looking forward to seeing them play USC in Galen next week live. Still haven't figured out new Dman boards yet, plus trying to learn my new computer etc. HOD and HIE, Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year to you both.

John Berkowitz said...

A note on the Dawgman boards. Upgrade to Internet Explorer 7.0, and it will make them work a lot easier. IE7 is a free upgrade at the MS Windows upgrade site.

I have seen plenty of Dawg games this early seasaon with the help of Direct TV. When away from Seattle I think it is almost required equiptment for Husky fans.

Let us all know how Galen Center looks and compares with other arena's in the Pac Ten.

Anonymous said...

Hie, we have IE 7.0 already. On what package do you get the bball games on direct TV,we have been with them two weeks and so far yesterday was the first game we have seen televised. Did you buy a special package; if so which one, thanks prrbrr

John Berkowitz said...

Make sure you get the Fox Regional Sports Package, that way you get FoxNW which will carry the majority of the games.

Anonymous said...

What did you guys think of Magnum Rolle, that 6'11" sorry excuse for a big man?

As an LSU fan, I say banish him from basketball, because he's embarassing to the game.

John Berkowitz said...

Rolle played like a stiff when compared to Hawes and Brockman, but those guys are pretty good and obviously showed up with their A games.

LSU is better than they showed, they simply ran out of gas. Playing on the road 2000 miles from home can really take it's toll.

Keep your head up, LSU will be very good by tournament time.