Posted By Don Ruiz on November 20, 2009 at 11:45 pm Share this

Pondexter

In the days leading up to tonight's game, UW senior Quincy Pondexter didn't say much about his relationship with former teammate Adrian Oliver, other than that they had only spoken once since Oliver left UW in 2007.

After UW's win over Oliver and San Jose State tonight, Pondexter filled in the blanks.

“Adrian, he got what he wanted,” Pondexter said. “He got a school where he can score as many points as he wants. But we’re winning games. He scored 32, I got the win.”

If there seems to be some bitterness in that answer, there apparently was.

“I felt stranded,” he said. “(Oliver) left me as a teammate. He left me as a friend. He left me with the rent.”

That last part drew some laughter from those who heard it, and even a smile from Pondexter. But he went on to make it clear that rent wasn’t the only price he paid.

“That was the last person that I was close to,” Pondexter said. “It was really tough my sophomore year. People bond with people in their recruiting class: you come in together, you’re friends. And I was kind of alone sometimes. It was a heart-breaking year for me to see everyone go.”

In addition to Oliver, fellow-freshmen Spencer Hawes and Phil Nelson also left UW: Hawes for the NBA and Nelson for Portland State.

On Friday, Oliver stuck with the rosier side on his homecoming.

"It was fun," he said. "It was a fun game, fun environment. It was a good challenge for a team. The only thing is, we came out short. You know, against No. 14 in the country, we fought them hard, but we're still not satisfied. It was fun coming back here and seeing a lot of old faces, saying hello, and it was just a good game."

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Posted By Don Ruiz on November 20, 2009 at 7:14 pm Share this

It was a big night for the University of Washington freshman class of 2006.

The Huskies worked their way past San Jose State, 80-70, tonight at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, and members of that UW freshman class were the leading scorers for both teams.

Senior Quincy Pondexter led Washington with 30 points and 15 rebounds – both career highs. And Adrian Oliver, who arrived on campus with Pondexter before transferring to San Jose, led all scorers with 32 points.

Fourteenth-ranked Washington (4-0) couldn’t shake San Jose (1-1) for most of the first half, but finally took control when Pondexter did. Pondexter scored
Washington’s first 13 points of the second half, and it was during that run that the Huskies finally got some breathing room.

An Elston Turner 3-pointer about 12 minutes from the end finally pushed the lead into double digits. San Jose kept Washington from building on the lead from there, but the Spartans made no serious run.

Now the Huskies get a break in their schedule before returning to action Nov. 29, meeting Montana at Hec Ed.

(more...)

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Posted By Don Ruiz on November 20, 2009 at 5:46 pm Share this

Here's the brand-new, hot-off-the presses 2009-2010 Washington men's basketball guide.

No surprise that it's lone senior Quincy Pondexter on the cover.

And by the way, in case you didn't make it to the final paragraph of my story today, here's what coach Lorenzo Romar has to say about Q-Pon's play so far this season:

“I can’t imagine anyone that’s playing better than Quincy is right now. You’re talking about a guy that’s 6-6, averaging a double-double, shooting almost 70 percent from the field and shooting 95 percent from the foul line, and defending, and diving on the floor for loose balls. That’s pretty good. So, how does he compare on a national level? He’s playing as well as anyone.”

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Posted By Don Ruiz on November 19, 2009 at 4:53 pm Share this

There's more in the Friday paper, but here's a quick look:

SAN JOSE STATE (1-0)
AT NO. 14 WASHINGTON (3-0)
8 p.m. Friday, Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
TV: FSN.
Radio: 950-AM
Series: UW won the only previous meeting, 88-69, on Dec. 20, 1976, in Seattle.
Statistical leaders: For SJSU – G Justin Graham, 18 ppg and 6 apg; C Chris Oakes, 15 rpg. For UW – G Isaiah Thomas, 24.7 ppg; F Quincy Pondexter, 11 rpg; G Venoy Overton, 4 apg.
Scouting report: The Spartans have played only one game, defeating William Jessup, 89-63. San Jose held the NAIA school to 30.8 percent shooting and outrebounded them 62-26. … The Spartans play a mid-tempo game, and coach George Nessman said this week he doesn’t expect his team to match the Huskies’ speed. … SJSU junior guard Adrian Oliver began his college career at UW. In 18 games last season, he led SJSU with an average of 17.1 ppg. He had 11 points and a career-high 11 rebounds in this season’s opener. … UW forward Tyreese Breshers, who sat out the Portland State game with a finger injury, is expected to be available.
Next: 6 p.m. Nov. 29, vs. Montana, Hec Ed.

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Posted By Don Ruiz on November 17, 2009 at 2:53 pm Share this

UW guard Isaiah Thomas of Tacoma will be on the cover of the Sports Illustrated college basketball preview that will appear on the West Coast tomorrow.

SI ranks the Huskies No. 9 in their preseason poll, and names Thomas to its All-America third team..

Other regional covers feature Kansas, Michigan State, Villanova, UConn and Kentucky.

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Posted By Don Ruiz on November 17, 2009 at 9:52 am Share this

It could be an interesting and jumbled hoops season in the Pac-10.

An early indication: UCLA's double-overtime home loss last night to Cal State Fullerton.

Here's an LA Times report.

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Posted By Don Ruiz on November 16, 2009 at 4:51 pm Share this

Pondexter

UW senior Quincy Pondexter has been named the Pac-10 Men's Basketball Player of the Week for Nov. 9-15.

Pondexter averaged 22.0 ppg and 11.0 rpg and leading the Huskies to a sweep of their first three games in the Athletes in Action Classic. He also shot 63.9 (23-of-36) percent from the field and .952 from the free throw line.

This is the first time the Pac-10 has honored Pondexter as Player of the Week, but it is the 34th time that a Husky has been chosen.

Click here for details.

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Posted By Ryan Divish on November 16, 2009 at 3:51 pm Share this

Editor's note: Todd is out for a few days, I'll try and fill in as best I can.

It was a pretty quiet Monday press conference. With a bye week before the Apple Cup, it was mostly rehashing the OSU debacle. Head coach Steve Sarkisian was asked about Jake Locker and the NFL yet again, and I'll post some of those comments in a separate blog post.

One injury to discuss is Nate Felner, who suffered a partially torn biceps. He is having an MRI today.

Let's get to the rest of the presser.

Here's some highlights from his opening statement ...

It was probably our most disappointing ballgame of the year in all three phases. I’m going to touch on all three here.

Offensively, we came out timid, did not play fast, did not play physical, in turn ran into a defense that was not hesitant, to say the least, that was playing fast, physical football, and I think we all saw the discrepancy there, especially early in the game, where we were getting knocked back. In turn, I think it created more hesitation on our end, where we started to take penalties that we hadn’t been taking all year. We dug ourselves a huge hole.

Defensively, our kids played pretty hard, especially early on. They got put in some really difficult situations from a field-position standpoint, but played pretty hard and had opportunities there to create turnovers. There were four fumbles by Oregon State. We were unable to capitalize on them when the ball was on the ground, to maybe swing the momentum. It wasn’t able to happen.

And then on special teams, we didn’t kick the ball very well, whether it was on kickoffs or punt. For what reason, I don’t know. We’ve been pretty solid in that area all year. It’s been a situation where I love what Mahan’s done for us, what Erik Folk’s done for us. But we didn’t strike the ball well, and in turn, it caused us to not cover as good as we would’ve liked. And we’ve got to find a way to get the returns. It’s just not … You get that many kickoff returns, sooner or later you’re supposed to hit something by executing, and we’re not.

And then he summed it up with this ...

It’s disappointing, from the head coach standpoint, that we didn’t look like a team that was prepared to play – mentally or physically. We got knocked off the football. It looked and appeared that Oregon State was playing harder than us, which, in my opinion, they were. So we have to address that. That’s not acceptable and that’s not OK.

Sarkisian said he didn't see any thing in the week leading up to the OSU game that would lead him to think they would be so flat.

That’s the hard part is for us. I thought we practiced really well. I thought we were really locked in to the game plan and what we wanted to do. If you were in our locker room before the game, you wouldn’t have thought they would have come out and played that way. I thought they were into it, they were excited. But it goes to show you that it’s not always what’s on the exterior of what your team looks like. You’ve got to find a way to get inside of them to see what they’re really feeling.

Sarkisian wishes this weren't a bye week so the team could try and rid themselves of that effort as soon as possible.

Any time you get your butt kicked the way we did last week, you wish you could jump right back on the horse and play to be honest with you. I wish we were playing on Saturday. But we’ve got a bye and will take advantage of it and use it to our advantage the best we can.

Ah yes, the bye week. It will be very similar to the last bye week with several of the older players getting a rest physically. EJ Savannah will be limited as he comes back. A few of the offensive linemen will get a break and the hardest running tail back in the conference - Chris Polk - will be allowed to rest up a little this week.

We will emphasize the young guys again for three days, really try to continue to get them better, get them the work that they deserve and need. We'll have an emphasis on a few special situations within the game for us, most  notably the red zone on offense. We will spend some more time there, but then Thursday and Friday and into the weekend will be huge recruiting days for us again.''

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Posted By Don Ruiz on November 16, 2009 at 2:42 pm Share this

That 3-0 start didn't budge the Huskies from the No. 14 position in this week's AP poll.

Here's the list.

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Posted By Don Ruiz on November 15, 2009 at 5:33 pm Share this

It was Washington's most one-sided victory since they clobbered Morgan State, 118-51 in 2006.

And Quincy Pondexter -- who had a game for the ages -- said part of that might have been due to some big talk he had heard attributed to current Viking and former Husky Phil Nelson.

“When you hear chatter about guys saying they’re better than you or they have the game circled and they really want to come out and punch you in the mouth, then you’ve got to get ready,” Pondexter said. “I think we are the top dog, and for them to come in here and beat us, that would have been a big accomplishment for them. … I talked to (Nelson) a few times during the game. I told him – I can’t tell you what I told him.”

The Dawg Pack student section also targeted Nelson with boos and chants.

Coach Lorenzo Romar, meanwhile, was only complimentary to Nelson. And he had lots of compliments for his 3-0 team as well.

“I’m pleased with this performance tonight for a number of reasons,” coach Lorenzo Romar said. “Everyone who went into the game played with a high level of intensity. When the spread was so big, there was no let-up in our intensity. We were up 50 points and Scott Suggs dives on the floor for a loose ball. Those are the things that I’m pleased with tonight. Those are the things that suggest habits are forming.”

UW outrebounded the Vikings 47-16, shot 61 percent to PSU’s 40 percent, and had 25 assists to the visitors’ 10.

Huskies made up half the all-tournament team: Isaiah Thomas and Quincy Pondexter were named co-MVPs, and Matthew Bryan-Amaning also was honored along with Todd Brown and Troy Tabler of Wright State and Scott Sanders of Belmont.

Pondexter capped the tournament with what he conceded might have been the best statistical game of his career: a career-high 29 points and 13 rebounds while shooting 11-of-12 from the floor and seven-of-eight from the foul line.

“We’re not going to see a lot of teams like the Huskies in (the Big Sky Conference), so we can’t get too down,” PSU first-year coach Tyler Geving said. “… Coach Romar’s got a very good team, and they embarrassed us tonight.”

Through the tournament Washington went 3-0, Wright State 2-1, Belmont 1-2 and Portland State 0-3.

Romar said the opening games provided hopeful signs to regarding some of the questions he had about his team.

“I thought we had the potential to be a good defensive team, but we were encouraged this week,” he said. “The rebounding issue we weren’t sure of. I’m not saying we’re a great rebounding team, but I think we’re making progress that way. And I think right now we’re doing as good a job of taking care and sharing the ball as probably since we’ve been here.”

Washington is now off until Friday when San Jose State visits.

(more...)

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