UW vs. ASU game thread

Published 9:29 pm Thursday, February 26, 2009

Huskies up 48-42, 11:56 left

Lorenzo Romar is stomping mad right now after a rather stupid turnover by his team, but his Huskies have built a tiny bit of a cushion here midway through the half.

Justin Dentmon finally got on the scoreboard this half with a free throw, and he just hit a runner at the 12:48 mark to give him his first field goal of the game.

Brockman now has 15 and 10 to lead the Huskies, while Harden is scoreless so far this half (though I doubt that’ll last). Harden is playing with three fouls right now.

Washington 35, ASU 34, halftime

Well, the Huskies may have a one-point lead, but the Sun Devils have to be feeling pretty good about themselves heading into the second half. Washington led by as many as 13, but ASU cut that all the way down to a one-point game.

James Harden has 15 points, matching his total from last month’s meeting, and it doesn’t appear the Huskies can stop him.

Jon Brockman has 11 points and six rebound for Washington, while Quincy Pondexter has eight points and four rebounds.

Isaiah Thomas and Justin Dentmon are a combined two for 15 from the field, with Thomas having seven points and Dentmon zero.

As mentioned earlier, there won’t be a lot of updates here in the second half. Sorry in advance for that.

UW 32, ASU 27, 3:01 left in the first half

Washington had a big run early, but ASU is clearly not going away anytime soon. James Harden, who is playing with two fouls, has been asserting himself on the last few possessions, and now has 10 points for the Sun Devils.

Jon Brockman has 11 points and six rebounds to lead the Huskies, and Quincy Pondexter has eight, the last two coming on a breakaway dunk after a Elston Turner steal and assist.

Washington 24, ASU 16 7:49 left in the first half

Washington led by 13 at one point thanks to a 14-1 run, but ASU has since cut that lead down to a more managable eight points.

It’s worth noting that when Washington beat ASU last month, Justin Dentmon scored 30 points, including 18 in the first half, and he and Thomas combined to score 55. Today, he’s 0 for 6 from the field so far (all threes), and Thomas is one for four to have three points. The Huskies are instead getting it done insided. Jon Brockman has seven points to lead the Huskies, while Quincy Pondexter has six.

Huskies on an 8-0 run

Washington has cranked up the defensive intensity, getting steals on three straight possess. The Huskies have converted on each of those, and now lead 15-7. With 13:39 left in the half.

And as I was typing that, Jamelle McMillan ended the run by making one of two free throws, but the Huskies scored again on a Quincy Pondexter jumper in the lane to make it 17-8. Pondexter has now scored six of Washington’s last eight points.

UW up one at first timeout

Much has been made this week of James Harden’s last performance against the Huskies in which the Pac-10’s leading scorer was held to five first half points and 15 in the game.

It appears the 6-5 guard plans on getting more involved early. He made a strong move to the basket on the game’s first possession, getting a layup and a foul (he missed the free throw), and has already attempted four shots (though he only made the first).

Darnell Gant started the game guarding Harden and Justin Holiday is on him now.

Washington’s first five field goal attemps were all three pointers—Isaiah Thomas made one of two while Justin Dentmon is 0 for 3.

PREGAME

We’re about 30 minutes from the start of one of the biggest Husky games in years. Obviously the place isn’t full yet, but there’s still a buzz to the crowd that is here. The Dawg Pack came in about half an hour ago, and the students have been having their usual fun during shoot around, taunting ASU players.

And that reminds me, a quick message to any young readers out there: if you’re going to post pictures of yourself on places like facebook or myspace that you may end up regretting, for the love of God, don’t make your profile public. Just ask ASU junior guard Derek Glasser, who is featured in a rather embarrassing picture that a number of students are holding up.

New football coach Steve Sarkisian and a few members of the UW athletic department brought 15 or so pizzas out to the Dawg Pack at about 6 p.m. getting big cheers from the students who have been out in the cold for quite a while (I’m told about 10 students spent the night to get a good spot in line. Hope they had snow-proof tents).

And Dave Libbey, one of the more controversial officials in the Pac-10, is working tonight’s game. A few Dawg Pack members started a “We love Libbey!” chant when he walked onto the floor, and Libbey was a good sport, stopping to blow them a kiss. Libbey also worked a big game here earlier in the year when the Huskies knocked off UCLA, and wasn’t involved in any controversy that day.

Finally, as has been the case for other 8 p.m. games, there won’t be much on this blog in the second half, as I’ll be working on my story for tomorrow’s paper.