Huskies Exorcise Demons, Stomp Redhawks 123-76

(Game Story Courtesy of Husky Digest Contributor Jason McCleary)

Former University of Washington assistant Coach Cameron Dollar returned back to Hec-Ed, this time as a visiting first year Head Coach at Seattle U. The Dawgs, including Head Coach Lorenzo Romar and star player Quincy Pondexter said all kinds of nice things about Dollar, then proceeded to stomp all over his Redhawk team, 123-76.

With Isaiah Thomas being out due to a stomach virus, the Dawgs didn’t miss a beat. Every Husky who was eligible to play scored in the lopsided win. The Dawgs had six players in double digits, led by senior Quincy Pondexter with 27 points, 22 in a 1st half that ended with UW up 61-20 and the game thoroughly decided. Quincy now sits in a 9th place tie with Deon Luton on the all-time UW scorers list.

The Dawgs came out hot in the first half, dominating with an 18-0 run to start off the game. Seattle U didn’t look they had a chance. Out played, out matched and out coached. It was a tough night for any Red Hawk fan. The Red Hawks finally scored their first basket at the 15:40 mark into the game.

The Dawgs shot the ball real well in the 1st half shooting 53% from the field and 64% from three point land. Elston Turner had a great shooting night hitting from behind the arc as well as mid range jumpers. Hopefully this will be Turner’s break out game for the year to get him going to finish the second half of the season. He finished with a career high 20 points.

Abdul Gaddy played real well, getting to the rim, hitting jumpers and finding teammates to convert from his crafty passing. Abdul finished the game with 10 points, 5 assists and 5 steals. Venoy Overton, who started in place for Thomas, scored 20 points by getting straight to the rim. It seemed like the Seattle U guards were trying to frustrate Overton with hard fouls. He coolly went to the line and hit 16-19 free throws, on top of dishing out 8 assists.

Justin Holiday had his way, disturbing Seattle U’s offensive plan, by blanketing their number one threat in former UW signee Charles Garcia. Holiday is looking better and better in finding ways to put the ball in the basket too. Justin finished with a career high 16 points. Scott Suggs also got into the act with 12 points as the Dawgs had 6 players in double figures, three of them over the 20 point mark.

The second half wasn’t any prettier for Seattle U, though Washington was only able to extend its lead by 6 points. Coach Dollar tried to use an aggressive full court press and either steal the ball or put the Huskies on the free throw line. It really didn’t work as the Dawgs were able to hit their free throws as a consistent 75% clip through out the game and Coach Romar didn’t let up a bit, coaching the game to the final buzzer. You could still see the fire and intensity towards the end of the game in Romar’s eyes. Seattle U had no chance any point in the game.

Red Hawk Charles Garcia was the big talk coming into the game. Garcia, who was supposed to attend the University of Washington at one point, finished the game with 20 points shooting 4-14 from the field. The wild Garcia came out and played, forcing shots up and trying to bully his way into the lane. As usual he drew fouls, as he leads the nation in doing, hitting 12-18 free throw attempts.

Late in the game Coach Dollar had a decision to make for the Red Hawks. 6 players fouled out and Dollar, whose roster was already smallish from a few defections and injuries decided to play with four players. The decision was made to play with only four players to save red-shirt freshman Adam Eakles eligibility.

It was a very ugly game to watch, if you were rooting for Seattle U. Dollar told the Seattle Times that it was just a bad night for his guys and they should take the result, as well as the OSU blow-out both with the same grain of salt.

“We’re probably not as good as we were against Oregon State obviously and not as bad as we were tonight. They (the Huskies) played a style we had a hard time against.”

The play from the Dawgs during this massacre was great but it needs to be said that this needs to be duplicated somehow and used for the Pac-10, especially on the road. For Husky fans, I wouldn’t take this win as anything much other than a sign that they can get the bad taste of LA out of their mouths and move on to a huge challenge against the Cougars. Washington State will be in town Saturday at 12:30 (PST). The Dawgs will have a bigger challenge and will be actually tested down low and on the perimeter.

Pondexter seemed to understand what needs to happen, when he spoke to the Seattle Times last night, as the Dawgs move into the last half of the Pac-10 regular season slate after their upcoming match-up with their cross state rivals.

“We made a lot of progress tonight and we still have to get things right. We still want to contend for a Pac-10 championship. We know that the league is capable of coming back to us with some teams losing. Our focus is on winning games, taking it one day at a time, one practice at a time, one game. Hopefully the league comes back to us.”

Seattle U was not up to the task against the Huskies, but with the addition of a solid recruiting class, next year the Redhawks should be even closer to becoming a legitimate D1 program. Performances like those at Utah and OSU, as well as Fresno State, Weber State and Cal-State Northridge at home in the Key Arena have shown that the potential is there for the Redhawks and that Coach Dollar is building something special across town from his old haunts at Hec-Ed.

It seemed as if his old home gym was a haunted house actually for Cam, Chuck and the Redhawks who run open gym there a lot during the off-season, but something had to give as the Dawgs needed to revive their spirits after the tough LA trip and in the midst of a difficult and challenging Pac-10 schedule. Come Saturday we will see if the Huskies can extend the win streak against the Cougars and the return of a healthy Isaiah Thomas.

The Redhawks also will be playing a home game against a very solid and talented Idaho Vandal team this Saturday at 7PM (PST) in the Key Arena.

Washington/Seattle U game Thoughts and Notes

Chuck Garcia would have been a very good player for this Washington team. Say what you want about him playing around on the perimeter, the guy draws fouls, scores with the ball and most importantly would definitely help out on the boards and defensively. Yes, the Dawgs would have still missed Jon Brockman this season, but Garcia would have likely been a very big factor in a front court that is struggling to produce.

It was a long game in which eight players fouled out, six from the visiting team. My thought is that the idea of trying to foul Washington was not a good one for an already undermanned Redhawk club. Matt Norlander, in his blog at Yahoo made light of it, stating that Seattle U was taking it easy on the poor Pac-10, by only playing 4 players.

Husky Recruiting Corner

UW 2010 prospect Terrence Jones had some interesting things to say to the Oregonian on a few subjects. When asked why he hadn’t yet committed, he stated that it was because he wanted his team mates at Jefferson High to get the greatest possible attention from coaches out there to see and court him.

“I want coaches to be around the school and in the gym not just for me, but the whole team. I want everyone to have the same opportunity.”

When asked if he thought that Ernie Kent, whose Ducks are in the midst of a very tough Pac-10 season after their big win in Seattle, was on the hot seat and could possibly not be there for him next year, he responded mysteriously, “I think he’s going to be there”.

He also added that if Oregon fired Kent, “That would matter” because, “It would be a different style of play”.

It was thought that Oregon having a great year could help them to land Jones, but since that is not happening, at least this week in this years topsy turvy Pac-10 it would seem that his other favorites’ chances have improved, but Jones is very vague as to what he is up to stating also that, “It’s pretty much not over until I sign the letter”.

Speaking of Kent, ESPN’s Pat Forde had Ernie in his short list of coaches on the hot seat in his column on Tuesday. Forde mentioned the successes of the Kent era at Oregon, but spoke about his poor record in between his two Elite-8 appearances and since the last one and his inability to win with great talent that may have come through not the most above board channels.

“Since making the final eight in ’07, the Ducks are 13-30 in the Pac-10 — and that’s despite recruiting assistance from the world’s greatest ‘person of influence,’ William Wesley”.

For those who do not know who Wesley is, his nickname is “Worldwide Wes” and his name has been mentioned in connection with a number of recruiting scandals including those involving John Calipari at Memphis and Kentucky.

2011 UW guard prospect Jabari Brown has finally been reinstated after transferring out of elite basketball powerhouse Findlay Prep in Las Vegas NV and into Oakland High School in his home town of Oakland CA. His former team mate at Salesian High in the East Bay is Desmond Simmons, a Husky 2010 signee. Simmons’ team is the top rated team in the bay area this season with a record of 17-1, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.