UW gets to work during six-day break

SEATTLE – The Washington Huskies are practically in a second training camp.

After opening the men’s basketball season with a flurry of six games in 13 days, the Huskies have shifted into a relatively leisurely period of four games over 28 days. The early cluster of games showed where work is needed, and now the lull is providing time for that work.

“You have a flat tire, you put the inner tube in the water and find out where the bubbles are. That’s how you patch it up,” coach Lorenzo Romar said. “(Our early season) allowed us to find out where the bubbles were. For now – there will be more leaks as we go on.”

Washington stands at 8-0 and is ranked 11th in the Associated Press poll – so, where were the bubbles?

“We can still get better in our defensive rotations,” Romar said. “Offensively, our spacing can still be better. Our screening can still be better, offensively. Rebounding – boxing out – is something last week we addressed quite a bit. We saw that being something that was glaring that we had to get better at.”

For all the positives in the victory over Gonzaga, the Zags won the battle of the boards, 39-33. So, the Huskies worked on that for almost a full week leading into their game against New Mexico on Saturday in Anaheim, Calif.

In that one, Washington won on the scoreboard – 81-71 – and on the glass – 35-29.

“I thought we improved,” Romar said. “We need to improve a lot more, but I thought we made a little progress.”

Now, Washington is in the middle of a six-day lull before tipping off at 7 p.m. Friday against Eastern Washington at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

Fast breaks

Starting forward Bobby Jones suffered what is believed to be a mild ankle sprain against New Mexico. His practice schedule this week may be limited, but he isn’t expected to miss time against EWU. … Jones is 12 points away from becoming the 30th UW player to score 1,000 career points. Senior Brandon Roy is 60 points away. … Senior forward Mike Jenson (shoulder) continues to mend on schedule and is expected to see his first action of the season next week against Lehigh.