SEATTLE — Three games into the Pacific-12 Conference season, the freshman-laden University of Washington men’s basketball team is the league’s surprising leader.
Of course, given that two of those victories came in overtime against UCLA and Washington State, and the third required rallying from a 22-point deficit against USC, the 3-0 Huskies are not all that far from being 0-3. Which is something that UW coach Lorenzo Romar — tickled though he is to be unbeaten in conference play — is quick to point out.
“I feel like we’ve had to constantly remind (the players) about that,” Romar said. “As we told our team (earlier this week), the league is going to get better. And if we don’t get better, these three wins are just fool’s gold.”
As the Huskies prepare for tonight’s game at Arizona, followed by a Saturday afternoon visit to Arizona State, “there are definitely areas of improvement on our end that we have to get better at,” Romar said. “I think we understand that. I think before conference started we had a little bit of a feeling that, ‘We’re playing at home and we’re going to win all these games.’ But I don’t think we have (that feeling) now.”
Moreover, Romar remembers his 2012-13 team that started the Pac-12 schedule with four straight wins, but then lost seven of its next eight games on the way to a final 9-9 league record.
“I’ve just learned from experience that it’s too early to start talking about (expectations based on a strong start),” he said, adding, “We’ve played three (Pac-12) games and we have 15 to go. Today we wouldn’t trade it to be 0-3, but there’s just so much time (left in the season).”
If the Huskies are to continue their winning ways tonight, they will have to do so in one of the league’s most forbidding venues, Tucson’s McKale Center. Certainly it has been troublesome for Washington in recent years, with the Huskies losing seven of their last eight games at Arizona (the two teams did not play in Tucson a year ago).
“The last few years Arizona has been one of the top teams in America,” Romar said. “We’ve just been outclassed. We weren’t at their level the last few years.”
Even though Washington’s freshmen — there are seven, including four in the starting lineup — have never played at the McKale Center, they are expecting a hostile reception.
“It’s a tough place to play,” acknowledged freshman guard Dejounte Murray, the team leader in assists (4.6 per game) who is also the second leading scorer (15.2) and third leading rebounder (5.9).
The game is already a sellout, added freshman center Noah Dickerson, so “it’s going to be crazy.”
As for the Huskies, they are showing continuing growth. Perhaps no player has improved more since the start of the season than Murray, the product of Seattle’s Rainier Beach High School. Though still sometimes prone to ill-advised shots and turnovers, he has become one of the team’s most dependable scorers.
“Right now I think he’s playing as well as any freshman in the conference, and playing better than most in the country,” Romar said. “He’s a very good basketball player.”
But no UW players had made more impact this season than guard Andrew Andrews, the only senior on the team and the only non-freshman starter. Despite being just 6 feet 2 inches, he leads the team in both scoring (21.6) and rebounds (6.5).
“Andrew Andrews is the player of the year, in my opinion, if we had to stop today in conference play,” Romar said. “He’s played a huge part. … He’s having quite a season so far, and I couldn’t be more proud of him, I’ll tell you that.”
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