SEATTLE — This Saturday afternoon, the University of Washington men’s basketball team could take a huge step toward achieving its dream of winning a Pacific-10 Conference regular-season title.
That is, if the dream is still alive by then.
The Huskies (17-7 overall, 9-4 in the Pac
-10) have one more obstacle before the much-anticipated matchup with conference leader Arizona. And if they stumble at last-place Arizona State tonight, the Saturday game might be less about Pac-10 titles and more about trying to stay in the conversation for an NCAA tournament bid.
Looking pa
st the Sun Devils (9-15, 1-11) is simply not an option.
“We don’t have time to look at the big picture right now,” head coach Lorenzo Romar said Tuesday. “Weekend series, four-game series — we can’t look past our next practice.
“… We’re not in a position to be looking at, ‘Oh, yeah, I can’t wait for that one. We’re not in a position to do that right now.”
While Saturday’s meeting with Arizona may well be the do-or-die game in terms of UW’s championship hopes, the Huskies are vowing not to look past an ASU team that gave them fits during a Jan. 22 meeting in Seattle. The Sun Devils were within three points of UW late in that game and have been competitive in almost every Pac-10 game this season despite only one conference win.
“We just have it in our head not to look past Arizona State because we didn’t play too well (against them) here,” redshirt freshman C.J. Wilcox said. “So we have to go in pretty focused.”
Four of Arizona State’s conference losses have come by four points or fewer, including three of the past five. The Sun Devils have used a 2-3 zone to frustrate opponents, allowing just 66.5 points per game and becoming one of only four teams to hold the Huskies under 90 points at UW this season.
In an 88-75 loss to the Huskies almost a month ago, ASU’s zone flustered UW early on, and the Sun Devils led early in the second half. Arizona State was within three points with less than four minutes remaining before the Huskies pulled away.
“I just think they’re a dangerous team — period — always, when we play against them,” Romar said. “I said the same thing before we played Oregon State (two weeks ago), and we got beat.”
The loss to Oregon State, which came between road defeats at Washington State and Oregon, helped the front-running Huskies drop from the head of the Pac-10 to third place. UW is a game-and-a-half behind first-place Arizona heading into this week’s play, so the Huskies could conceivably move back into first with a pair of wins.
But a loss tonight, and an Arizona win over Washington State, could put the Pac-10 title out of UW’s reach.
“What we want to do is focus on Arizona State first,” junior Darnell Gant said. “That’s who we have first, and they’re a problem — just like Arizona is. We want to do the best we can against them and then think about Arizona. We’ve got to stay focused, keep that defensive mindset and don’t fall back. And just keep moving forward.”
Junior guard Isaiah Thomas said earlier this week that overlooking the Sun Devils won’t be a problem.
“You can’t do that, especially if you want to win a Pac-10 championship,” he said. “You can’t look past anybody because anybody’s capable of beating any team any day in this league. Arizona State’s a good team, and that’s who we’ve got up next, so that’s who we’re looking forward to.”
Thomas added that the Sun Devils have the Huskies’ attention after the last meeting.
“I mean, every team does,” UW’s leading scorer said. “We’ve lost to Oregon, Oregon State. Teams you wouldn’t think we’d lose to, we did.
“They’re at home, they’re going to be ready for us, and we’ve just got to be ready to play Husky basketball.”
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