First time out for UW pups
University of Washington men’s basketball coach Lorenzo Romar confessed earlier this week to having no idea what to expect from his young, but still unbeaten, Huskies tonight when they leave behind the comforts of home for the first time this season to face Gonzaga in the Bulldogs’ McCarthey Athletic Center.
Tipoff is set for 8, and while much of the pregame hype has centered on UW’s recent decision to drop the Zags off their 2007-08 schedule, Romar has been dealing with some more immediate issues – like trying to prepare his team for its initial encounter with a hostile crowd in an unfamiliar arena.
The 13th-ranked Huskies (7-0) have played nothing but home games so far and, following tonight’s showdown against 18th-ranked GU (8-2), won’t return to the road again until Dec. 28, when they open Pacific-10 Conference play at USC.
The soft non-conference schedule and abundance of early-season home cooking seems to have served Romar’s youthful team – which starts three freshmen and two sophomores – quite well.
“You’d like to build some confidence with a young team like this,” Romar said. “If we had gone on the road and played teams that are more talented than us early on, we may have dropped a few games by now, because we still haven’t played great or played with an extreme amount of confidence.
“But we still haven’t lost, so I think it’s worked out for us.”
Tonight, however, everything changes as the Huskies attempt to deal with another sellout crowd of 6,000 and a talented and versatile GU team that is bent on bouncing back from Tuesday night’s unexpected loss at Washington State and protecting its nation’s longest home-court winning streak of 44 games that includes a 33-0 mark in the McCarthey Center.
“It’s certainly not a situation where we’re gradually crawling before we walk on the road,” Romar said. “We’re going right into the fire. Not only is Gonzaga an exceptional team, but they have an exceptional following and a very festive place to play in.
“I didn’t know what to expect our first exhibition game, I didn’t know what to expect our first regular game and I’m not sure what to expect here, as we go on the road.”
Of the 12 players on Romar’s roster, only two were around in December 2004, when UW last ventured into the Zags’ home arena, and only one – junior Brandon Burmeister – played during a 99-87 defeat.
Burmeister, who is averaging five points a game as a backup guard on this year’s team, recalled that loss earlier this week and said he has counseled some of his younger teammates about what to expect once the lights go up in the McCarthey Center this evening.
“What I remember is that it’s one of the best places I’ve ever played in, or even watched a game in,” he said. “Their new arena is a lot bigger than the old one, and the fans are so noisy.
“It’s going to be a tough one for our young guys, coming over there to play their first road game. I’ve talked to them a little bit about what to expect and just how intense it’s going to be, but it’s still going to be a huge challenge for them.”
The Huskies have been paced this year by their front line of freshmen Quincy Pondexter (16.4 ppg) and Spencer Hawes (12.6 ppg), and sophomore Jon Brockman (11.7 ppg, 9.5 rpg).
But the guy who has impressed Gonzaga coach Mark Few the most is sophomore point guard Justin Dentmon, who is averaging 13 points and a team-high 3.9 assists.
“I think he’s terrific,” Few said of the 5-foot-11, 185-pounder from Carbondale, Ill. “He’s a great floor leader, he’s really tough to handle in the open court, and he’s a defender that gets his hands on a lot of balls and makes a lot of things happen on the defensive end.”
Gonzaga will counter with the inside-outside combination of sophomore forward Josh Heytvelt and senior guard Derek Raivio, who have combined to average just more than 37 points a game.
“But then you’d better know where (Jeremy) Pargo is, too,” Romar said of the Zags’ sophomore point guard, who is averaging 10.8 points. “They’re certainly more well-rounded that last year’s team, and I think they’re better defensively.
“It’s going to be interesting, that’s for sure.”