Huskies lead the Pac with Conroy’s assistance
SEATTLE – Pacific-10 men’s basketball assists leader Will Conroy has altered his game for the Washington Huskies this season and it’s working out just like coach Lorenzo Romar told him it would.
Rather than shooting the ball as his first or second option, he’s passing it to teammates like Nate Robinson or Brandon Roy.
The Huskies are ranked 13th in the nation, tied for first place in the conference with No. 14 Arizona with an 8-2 record and are off to their best start in 23 years with an 18-3 mark. Conroy had 13 points and 10 assists during Thursday’s 99-69 win over Southern California.
“I think it’s just been a process for (Conroy) to change his mind,” Romar said Tuesday. “Before, he wanted to have his cake and eat it, too. He wanted to be a playmaker for us, but at the same time he wanted to score a lot of points.”
The Huskies’ 6-foot-2 senior point guard from Seattle’s Garfield High School is 36 assists shy of tying the school career record of 466 set by Chester Dorsey from 1974-77. Conroy has 430 assists, including 134 in 20 games this season.
He’s averaging 6.7 assists, up from 4.6 as a junior, but his scoring is down to 9.7 points from 12.3 as a junior and 12.7 as a sophomore.
Romar and assistant coach Cameron Dollar, a former star UCLA point guard, asked Conroy to sacrifice for the team this season by passing more and shooting less. It hasn’t been easy.
“Everybody thinks when you’re not scoring, you’re not playing as well,” Conroy said. “They’d rather see me scoring 15 or 16 points a game than nine or 10 points. But I’m definitely a better player this season because my teammates know I’ll try to get them the ball so they can have an open shot.”
Conroy specializes in leading the Huskies’ fastbreaks. Four years ago, he led a surge of talent to Washington, where the program was struggling under coach Bob Bender.
Bender was fired after Washington went 11-18 in the 2001-2002 season, when Conroy was a freshman and started seven games.
“I heard around the city, ‘Don’t go to school there, go somewhere else, this program isn’t going anywhere,’ ” Conroy said. “But I just followed my heart. I just wanted to stay and play in front of my mom and my friends.”
Conroy was followed to Washington a year later by Robinson, the Huskies’ 5-9 junior guard with the 43-inch vertical leap, and Roy, a 6-6 junior swingman who was Conroy’s best friend at Garfield. Now they’re playing before sellout crowds at the campus arena.
Roy, who is considered Washington’s best all-around player, made Conroy a promise he would play with him with the Huskies.
Romar recruited 6-6 junior forward Bobby Jones from his hometown of Compton, Calif. Jones is UW’s leading rebounder.
Conroy befriended Jones during Jones’ recruiting trip to Seattle. Jones loved Conroy’s upbeat and congenial personality.
“I knew he was a cool dude,” he said. “He even makes the coaches laugh. He’s just a funny person to be around.”