Huskies’ Thomas heats up after hard screen
SEATTLE – The last thing the University of Washington men’s basketball team needed Saturday was added motivation.
The Huskies were already fired up after getting outrebounded in an exhibition win over Saint Martin’s one week earlier, and they were trying to live up to their billing as the nation’s 17th-ranked team.
But after building a 32-6 lead against overmatched McNeese State on Saturday, UW got another burr in the proverbial saddle when the Cowboys’ 6-foot-7, 215-pound P.J. Alawoya brought out the bark in 5-7 UW star Isaiah Thomas with a hard screen. Thomas jawed for a few seconds, and then let his game do the talking.
An inspired Thomas, who had taken only two shots over the first 10 1/2 minutes, hit three consecutive 3-pointers before dishing out an assist to cap off a 12-2 run over the next 1 1/2 minutes.
With that, UW built a 44-7 lead on its way to a somewhat hard-to-watch 118-64 victory in the season opener.
Afterward, the Huskies offered no apologies.
“It was the season opener, so we wanted to come out as hard as possible,” said Thomas, who finished with 17 points after hitting 6 of 8 shots and all four of his 3-point attempts. “We want to play as hard as you can for 40 minutes. I feel like we did a good job of that, and it showed.”
An inspired defense, an assault on the boards and an inferior opponent paved the way for UW’s second-biggest margin of victory since the beginning of the 2007-08 season.
The Huskies forced 27 turnovers, outrebounded McNeese 69-32 and got a career-high 28 points and 13 rebounds from big man Matthew Bryan-Amaning en route to the win.
McNeese St. (0-1)—P. Richard 5-11 7-10 18, Alawoya 0-1 2-4 2, D. Richard 0-2 0-3 0, Kapelan 5-14 2-2 15, Collins 0-2 0-0 0, Mitchell 2-6 2-2 7, Regis 2-5 2-4 6, Fields 0-1 2-5 2, Martin 3-8 2-3 10, Konate 0-1 0-0 0, David 1-3 0-1 2, Queen 0-1 2-4 2. Totals 18-55 21-38 64.
Washington (1-0)—Bryan-Amaning 11-18 6-12 28, Holiday 4-12 2-2 11, Gant 2-6 3-3 7, Gaddy 4-8 1-1 10, Thomas 6-8 1-3 17, Overton 1-8 0-0 2, N’Diaye 5-7 3-15 13, Hosley 0-1 0-0 0, Suggs 4-11 1-2 11, Wilcox 4-6 2-2 13, Ross 2-7 1-2 6, Sherrer 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 43-92 20-42 118. Halftime—Washington 61-19. 3-Point Goals—McNeese St. 7-20 (Kapelan 3-8, Martin 2-4, P. Richard 1-2, Mitchell 1-4, Regis 0-1, Konate 0-1), Washington 12-30 (Thomas 4-4, Wilcox 3-4, Suggs 2-7, Gaddy 1-2, Holiday 1-4, Ross 1-4, Hosley 0-1, Gant 0-2, Overton 0-2). Fouled Out—Alawoya, D. Richard, Ross. Rebounds—McNeese St. 32 (P. Richard 8), Washington 69 (N’Diaye 15). Assists—McNeese St. 5 (Collins 2), Washington 24 (Overton 6). Total Fouls—McNeese St. 25, Washington 27. Technical—Mitchell. A—8,914.