SEATTLE – If all the University of Washington men’s basketball team ever did was play in preseason tournaments, Jon Brockman might be the best player in the nation.
As a freshman a year ago, the former Snohomish High School star made a smashing debut to his Husky career, winning MVP honors at the Black Coaches Association Classic.
This year, he might well add the Basketball Travelers Classic MVP to his stash.
Getting some help from his former AAU teammate Spencer Hawes, Brockman scored a career-high 25 points and matched his career-high with 12 rebounds as No. 17 Washington won its season debut, 99-91 over Pepperdine on the first day of the Basketball Travelers Classic Sunday at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
Brockman, a 6-foot-7 sophomore power forward and team captain, was 11-for-16 from the field in 23 minutes for the young Huskies, who played five freshmen and three sophomores in their 11-man rotation.
“Coach told me I have to put it on my shoulders,” Brockman said. “Losing the seniors that we lost, it can be a big hit to a team. But we have the talent, we have the personnel, we have what a good team needs to be successful. We just have a little inexperience. Someone has to step up and be the leader.”
It certainly helped Brockman that he had his old running partner from the Friends of Hoop AAU team in Hawes. The 7-foot freshman center from Seattle Prep made his much-anticipated debut and filled up the stat sheet, scoring 12 points, grabbing five rebounds, dishing out seven assists and blocking four shots in 19 minutes.
“We built that chemistry playing with each other for so long,” Hawes said. “We had that year off, but now we’re back at it and the chemistry shows on the court.”
“It opens so much stuff up, it’s amazing,” Brockman said of playing with Hawes. “Two guys go when he has the ball trying to get it out of his hands, and all you have to do is step in and flash. He’s such a great passer, he’ll put it right in your hands. All I had to do was finish tonight.”
Finishing was something that Washington had a bit of trouble with, though.
The Huskies led by 21 points after five straight Brockman points with 9:05 to play. After the UW emptied its bench in the final five minutes, Pepperdine closed the gap, but never got closer than the final margin.
“I’m proud of our guys,” UW coach Lorenzo Romar said. “We made some mistakes. We don’t understand yet how to close a game, but those are things that you learn, those are things you develop. Our guys did a lot of good things tonight.”
Indeed, Washington shot 53 percent and out-rebounded Pepperdine 43-30. The Huskies also forced 23 turnovers, though they turned the ball over 24 times. Washington also had 23 assists on 36 baskets.
“They just have so much speed, and not only do they have speed, but they are very athletic with their speed and they shoot the ball well and they rebound the heck out of it,” Pepperdine coach Vance Walberg said.
The Huskies next play Nicholls State at 7:30 p.m. today at Hec Ed. Nicholls State lost to Northern Iowa 68-63 Sunday.
Note: Curtis High School senior Isaiah Thomas sat behind the Husky bench. Thomas, the top-rated player in the state, has verbally committed to the UW but academic issues have kept him from signing a letter of intent. He plans to enroll at South Kent School, a prep school in Connecticut, to help his academic situation and he said he hopes to sign with the UW in the spring. South Kent is where another Husky recruit – Matthew Bryan-Amaning – goes to school.
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