Brockman, defense pace UW

SEATTLE – Even though Washington doesn’t have as many non-conference wins as it did a year ago, coach Lorenzo Romar thinks the Huskies are much better prepared for the start of Pac-10 play this season.

“We had the second-toughest schedule in the conference,” Romar said Monday after Washington (9-4) ended non-conference play with an easy one, rolling past Idaho State, 82-50.

“Wins and losses aren’t the issue. Are we playing up to our capabilities? We’re closer than we were before. From the Oklahoma State game (a 96-71 loss on Dec. 1) to now, weve made a lot of progress in a lot of areas.”

The Huskies, who went 10-1 outside the Pac-10 last season, finished non-conference play on a five-game winning streak, which included a come-from-behind 73-65 win at Louisiana State last Saturday.

Jon Brockman scored 21 points and collected 11 rebounds to lead the Huskies in both of those departments Monday.

Brockman, chosen Monday the Pac-10 Player of the Week for the second time this season, got seven of those points during a 13-3 run to start the second half, helping UW expand a 14-point halftime lead to 24 with 16:31 to play.

His double-double was his eighth in 13 games this season, but Brockman was more interested in talking about defense.

“Our attitude and our approach to defense has changed a lot,” Brockman said. “We go out and focus on this all the time. As long as we have that approach that we’ve had every day for the past month, I think we’ll be OK.”

Tim Morris had a solid all-around performance for Washington with 10 points, five rebounds and five assists. Venoy Overton and Justin Dentmon added 10 points each.

Amorrow Morgan was the only player for Idaho State (3-10) in double figures, finishing with 13 points. Matt Stucki, who leads Idaho State with a 12.2 scoring average, was limited to three points on 1-of-6 shooting.

“They are big and athletic, and they played like it,” Idaho State coach Joe O’Brien said of the Huskies. “Brockman is an awfully physical basketball player. He is probably the most physical player we’ve seen this year. These guys were just more talented and physical, and we were outmanned.”

It was Idaho State’s fifth loss in its last six games.

Washington never trailed and the game was tied just once, at 2-2 in the early going. The Huskies snapped that deadlock with an 8-0 run, and Idaho State never got closer than four points the rest of the way.