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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   ADDITIONAL ITEMS • University of Washington athletics (External Link)   CONTACT THE HERALD Report scores and results to 425-339-3470 or 1-866-6-SCORES (Call after 4:30 p.m.) E-mail information including items for Tuesday's Communities Sports Roundup and Thursday's Outdoor Calendar, to sports@heraldnet.com Kevin Brown, Sports Editor kbrown@heraldnet.com   Published: Monday, February 11, 2008 Dawgs get aggressive, beat Bruins 71-61 By John Sleeper, Herald Writer SEATTLE -- They had every reason to crawl into a corner, assume a fetal position and let UCLA roll over them like a Buick rolls over a beetle. The Washington Huskies had lost their last four games. The last three came at home, formerly a hall of horrors where foes used to come in expecting to both get beaten and beaten up. All four defeats had their own elements of disastrous moments and moments that extended into stupefying lapses. Arizona. Stanford. Cal. USC. All became examples of a team unraveling. Boosters were down on them. The media made jokes of their passivity. So, few of the sellout crowd at Hec Edmundson Pavilion expected what happened Sunday. It was a throwback to better days, when Will Conroy guarded his man as though he'd stolen from his mother. When defense was a synonym for assault and battery. A time when everyone remembers what it was to play physical basketball. That's what these Huskies did against the fifth-ranked Bruins Sunday in a shocking 71-61 victory. "The theme this week in practice is that if you don't stand your ground, you'll get punched in the mouth for 40 minutes," UW coach Lorenzo Romar said. This wasn't the meek, submissive Huskies that failed to show up against Arizona and Stanford and collapsed against Cal and USC. Having absorbed enough punishment for four seasons in those four games, the Huskies found it in themselves to turn aggressive, for gawdsakes, and hand out some licks of their own. "A lot of people were ready to shut the door on this team," said junior forward Jon Brockman, whose line of 12 points and 17 rebounds is becoming the expected. "We're not going to let the door close." Romar set the tone of expectations early, benching point guard Venoy Overton a minute into the game because he didn't hustle back on defense. The move was noted by the rest of the players, who gave the grittiest effort of the season. "That was the only way we were going to beat this team, believe me," Romar said of the Huskies' tough-guy approach. The throng was treated to Quincy Pondexter diving on the floor for a loose ball. They saw Brockman throw people around for nine offensive rebounds. They saw an inbounds play in front of the Bruins bench, in which Tim Morris, severely harassed by Alfred Aboya and running out of time to get the ball in play, fired the ball at Aboya -- or, more correctly and callously -- off Aboya's face. They saw Artem Wallace bump and wrestle with Bruins freshman stud Kevin Love to a virtual standoff. With 10 minutes left, Love had just five points on 2-for-7 shooting. Three nights before, Love tossed around WSU's Robbie Cowgill like a rag doll. He couldn't do that against the more muscular Wallace. "What we focused on was to be physical with him, front him and get backside help," Wallace said. "He's a big guy, 6-10 and 270 and it's a workout when you try to front him and get around him. But in the end, it's worth it." Justin Dentmon, who led Washington with 20 points, did a similar mugging of Darren Collison, one of the nation's top three point guards. After earning a technical foul for yapping at Overton in the first half, the stymied Collison was useless, with eight turnovers and three points on 1-for-8 shooting. "Darren just had a bad game today," Bruins coach Ben Howland said. "Obviously, Dentmon had a great game. I thought that (Collison's) third foul, the technical, was a key juncture because he had to put his hands in his pockets. We lost our composure and there's no reason for that." So Washington, 24 games into the season, finally showed its capabilities. It was nails on defense. Its will was overbearing and heavy-handed, just as it was in better days. During a four-game homestand, in which the Huskies could have made a move in the Pac-10 standings by winning three, they waited until the last to show what Romar has insisted they've had in them all along. After three home games' worth of mundane showings, they kicked it into gear in this one, against the best team in the conference and a threat to win the NCAA Tournament. "If we hadn't, they could say that we had no pride," Lorenzo said. "I think this showed we have pride." The nagging question: Where have they been hiding it all year? Sports columnist John Sleeper: sleeper@heraldnet.com. To reach Sleeper's blog, "Dangling Participles," go to www.heraldnet.com?danglingparticiples.

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