UW vs. Arizona State—the view from the Post

Published 8:21 pm Friday, March 13, 2009

ASU holds on

Nice comeback for the Huskies, but in the end the Sun Devils were able to pull away for a 10-point win, 75-65.

The Huskies will now turn their attention toward the NCAA tournament, where they’re likely going to start in Portland as a four or three seed.

Lorenzo Romar will be able to build on this second half, but as the first half showed, there is plenty of work to be done if the Huskies want to make the sweet 16 or beyond.

Isaiah Thomas led the way tonight for Washington with 17 points. Brockman had 13, and Justin Dentmon had 11. Quincy Pondexter had eight points, marking his first game without double-digit scoring in 11 games.

James Harden finished with 24 points and nine rebounds.

Time running out for Washington

Nice drive and finish at the rim by Venoy Overton, but ASU was on an 11-0 run before that and still leads by seven with 2:03 left. You have to wonder if the Huskies might have just spent too much energy getting back into the game to have enough to finish it out.

Then again, I wrote the Huskies off at halftime, so maybe they’ll prove me wrong again.

Glasser killing the Huskies

Derek Glasser, he of the somewhat cheap stand-over-the-guy-and-talk-trash move from earlier, is on fire of late, and just hit a three with the shot-clock winding down to make it 67-60 ASU with three-and-a-hald left. If the Huskies can’t answer soon, they’ll be in danger of letting this one get away from them and letting one heck of a comeback go to waste.

And the Huskies have the lead

Washington has battled all the way back to take a one-point lead with eight minutes left. Washington has outscored ASU 34-16 this half.

Would have loved to hear what Lorenzo Romar said in the locker room at halftime, because it seems like the message certainly got through to the team.

And since I haven’t done it yet today, time to complain about the Pacific Life whales commercial. I had that song stuck in my head all evening yesterday, and now I probably will again today. Thanks so much for that, Pacific Life.

Huskies within six… make that four

Maybe that altercation was just what the Huskies needed, as it’s now a six-point game after an Isaiah Thomas three. And after a Quincy Pondexter jumper, it’s now 52-48 with 10 minutes and change left in the game.

Quite a comeback by Washington so far, but you have to wonder if they’ll end up using too much energy just getting back into the game. Either way, Romar has to be happy with the way his team has responded to its worst half of basketball since November.

Tempers are flaring

Well this just got interesting. Both coaches had to come on the floor to pull some players apart after James Harden bumped Venoy Overton after a play. Overton grabbed Harden on his way to the floor, which prompted Derek Glasser to stand over Overton and say a few words. Lorenzo Romar quickly pulled both Overton and Isaiah Thomas away from the play. Glasser also seemed frustrated with Overton’s defensive pressure a few possessions earlier, so it’ll be worth watching those two go at it the rest of the way. Double techs is the call, and that’s hard to argue with.

Both these teams are NCAA tournament bound, but clearly both care about this game.

It’s now 48-46 ASU.

Huskies waking up

Washington appears to have woken up in the second half, but now the question is whether or not the Huskies have can overcome that halftime deficit. It’s now 44-33 with 14:50 left in the half. Venoy Overton is applying some of his trademark pressure, and Isaiah Thomas looks to be heating up. Plenty of time left too, so maybe I wrote the Huskies off too early in that last blog post.

OK, I gotta get back to my halibut and chips. Delicious.

ASU 38, Washington 21

The Sun Devils were on a 33-6 run before Justin Dentmon’s four-point play to end the half. But even with those four points, the Huskies were still held to their lowest first-half point total of the season. The Huskies are just 7 of 30 from the field, while ASU is 15 for 31. Washington is also being out-rebounded 21-14, a rarity for the Huskies.

Brockman and Dentmon each have six points to lead the Huskies, while Jame Harden has 15 points and six rebounds.

Throughout season, Lorenzo Romar has talked about the consistent play of the team. The Huskies lost four conference games, but were never blown out like this. It’s hard to see the Huskies coming back from this one, and if they don’t the task will be getting the team back on track for the NCAA tournament. The good news is that the Huskies have responded well to losses all year.

Harden heating up, ASU by 11

Pac-10 player of the year James Harden has found his stroke, hitting threes on ASU’s last two possessions, and it’s now 26-15 Arizona State. This is about as unsettled on offense as I’ve seen the Huskies in quite a while.

Sun Devils on a run

The Huskies led by 11, but ASU is now on a 13-0 run to lead 18-11. And Justin Dentmon just hit a pull up J to end the run. Even with that shot, however, the Huskies are struggling to get into an offensive rhythm and are five for 18 from the field.

Jon Brockman mentioned a couple of weeks ago that he and Jeff Pedergraph enjoy playing against each other, and the two are battling hard under the basket again, and so far, the refs are letting them play, which I’m sure they both like.

Ugly start

As the person sitting to my left just said, “This is horrendous.” And it’s hard to argue with that point right now. It’s 6-2 Washington six minutes into the game, and both teams are shooting poorly and turning the ball over.

Oh wait, Ty Abbott just hit a three to give ASU its second field goal.

pregame

Like yesterday, I’m blogging about the Husky games at the Pac-10 tournament even though I’m still here in Seattle. After watching at friend’s house yesterday, we’re taking tonight’s game in from a friend’s restaurant/bar called Post (hence the blog title) in Seattle. For those who haven’t been, here’s a shameless plug for it. It’s new, located in Post Alley right by the market. Nice ambiance, and great food too (they buy most of the ingredients fresh at the market each day). So stop by, tell Hannes or Ruadhri that I sent you. OK, shamless plug over.

Anyway, this figures to be an exciting game, as the last two meeting between the two. The last meeting in Seattle was one of the best of the year in the Pac-10.

And ASU is without guard Jamelle McMillan, a Seattle native, who is out with a groin injury suffered last week.