Henry accepts his role

PULLMAN – Ask WSU basketball player Chris Henry why he goes through the daily practice grind with little hope of seeing the court during games, and he doesn’t hesitate with his answer.

“This is my family,” he said.

Nothing comes between him and his family.

Henry, a 6-foot-9, 256-pound senior, is one of a handful of Cougars that wears the crimson shirts of reserves – or the A-Team as the coaches call them – at practice each day.

Some are younger, such as Thomas Abercrombie, Abe Lodwick and Charlie Enquist, trying to get better, waiting their turn until they’ll wear the white shirt of the starters.

Others, like Henry and Jeremy Cross, are seniors, who know their college basketball journey is almost finished and the best they can do is help the others improve.

So every day around 1 p.m., they head to the practice court, ready to serve.

“It’s because of them,” Henry said, referring to the upperclassmen that entered Washington State with him when the Cougars were the dregs of the Pac-10. “I want to see them succeed.”

Henry was part of the 2004 recruiting class that included Derrick Low, Kyle Weaver, Robbie Cowgill, Daven Harmeling and the since-transferred Josh Akognon.

It was the class that was destined to turn WSU’s fortunes. The diamonds were Low and Henry, both three-star recruits.

Henry may have been the brightest star, just because he got the most high school exposure. At national power Mater Dei High, in Santa Ana, Calif., Henry competed against the likes of LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler, all NBA stars. He also earned trips to Nike’s showcase summer camps, where then WSU-coach Dick Bennett firstbecame aware of his Pac-10-ready frame.

Henry visited Pullman with Cowgill, Low and Harmeling and said they were the reason he picked the Cougars. The bond that started then is still growing.

“Over the years,” Henry said, “we’ve just gotten really close, like brothers.”

But like brothers, their paths have diverged.

Injuries – to his right ankle before his freshman year, to his back as a sophomore and to his ankle again, necessitating surgery, last season – have robbed Henry of much of his basketball identity.

“Not to toot my own horn, but I used to have bounce,” Henry said. “I used to. But the ankle injuries, they’ve held me back.

“One main thing you have to be able to do in this game is be able to jump. I’ve learned to play around that, but it is one of the main factors why I’m not the same player.”

Following last year’s medical hardship year, the WSU coaching staff awarded Henry’s scholarship to another player. But as close as he was to graduating, Henry decided to stay in Pullman as a walk-on. His main role this season: give 6-10, 270-pound center Aron Baynes someone to work against in practice.

Baynes appreciates the time Henry puts in.

“He’s got a physical presence down there,” Baynes said of Henry’s play during practice. “He definitely makes you work on the defensive end, makes you try to keep your head about you. You have to play smart against him, because he uses shot fakes and his size really well.

“Having a little bit of the competitive spirit between us is good. It can only make us both better.”

“As far as my role,” said Henry, who laughed when asked how physical practice can be, “I do think I help him, as far as being someone who is strong enough to handle him in the post. I can’t give myself credit for his improvement. But if he needs someone to bang with every day, I’ll bang with him.”

Cougars coach Tony Bennett agrees.

“He’s accepted his role, and I do appreciate that, he just wants to help the team,” said Bennett of Henry, who has appeared in six games this season and grabbed five rebounds. “We talked at the beginning of the year and he said, ‘Coach, whatever I can do.’

“As of right now, the way he helps us the most is banging against Aron and being a little thorn in Aron’s side.”

Basketball aside, Henry said he’ll graduate this spring with a degree in business entrepreneurship.

“My priorities have changed from basketball to finishing school,” he said. “I need to finish for myself. I do love basketball, but I’ve never had aspirations of playing in the NBA.

“Well, it may have been different if I hadn’t gotten injured and had been able to progress as some of my teammates have.”

Notes

Harmeling played without his thumb brace Thursday and hit 2 of 3 3-pointers. However, his right thumb, broken at a late-December practice, is still taped. … The USC Trojans come into Beasley Coliseum with a 15-7 overall mark and in third place in the Pac-10 with a 6-4 record. They have won six of their last seven, including 73-59 over UW on Thursday. … Freshman Davon Jefferson didn’t play for USC in WSU’s 73-58 win in Los Angeles. Bennett said Jefferson, who had 17 points and nearly as many highlight-reel plays against the Huskies, is “one of the most athletic players in the league. He’s getting more comfortable shooting that midrange shot. And on the glass it’s just unbelievable. When a shot goes up, he’s got his head by the rim at least half the time.”.”