SEATTLE — After back-to-back wins at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, the Huskies go back on the road where they will attempt to shed the label of a team that can’t win away from home.
Going back to last season, the Huskies are 2-13 in road games, and 1-3 on neutral courts. That’s just three wins away from Hec Edmundson Pavilion for Washington, which is 27-4 at home during that same stretch.
On Thursday the Huskies will try to improve their road record in Tempe when they face Arizona State.
“It would be really big considering that we’ve won two straight and the fact that we haven’t done well on the road so far this year and last year,” senior guard Ryan Appleby said. “It would be really big to get a win on the road.”
The good news for Washington is that two of those three wins away from Hec Ed were against Arizona State last season, the first coming in Tempe and the second in the Pac-10 Tournament in Los Angeles. The bad news, however, is that Arizona State is one of the most improved teams in the nation with a 14-3 record and a 4-1 conference mark after finishing last in the conference last season.
Arizona State’s turnaround is just one of the reasons the Pac-10 is so tough this year. So just being strong at home won’t likely cut it for the Huskies if they hope to return to postseason play.
“It’s important that we win period,” senior guard Tim Morris said. “It’s big. To stay in the Pac-10 the way it’s developing, we’ve got to get wins on the road.”
Lorenzo Romar hopes a bit more experience on this year’s team will lead to more wins away from home.
“When you’re on the road, your seniors need to step up,” he said. “Your upper classmen need to step up. On a consistent basis, night in and night out, that’s how you win on the road. When you have a young team, I think it’s difficult to consistently win on the road. When you’re experienced, I think it gives you your best chance to, so the seniors need to show the way and the young players can follow suit.”
Those young players might not have the road experience of Appleby or Morris, but they too recognize the importance of picking up a few Pac-10 wins on the road.
“We need to establish that we can be a team that can play on the road,” freshman forward Matthew Bryan-Amaning said. “Not just for the selection committee at the end, but for ourselves to know that we’re a good team and can play against anybody.”
Dentmon ready: Huskies guard Justin Dentmon left Washington’s win over Oregon State early after taking an elbow to the mouth in the second half. Dentmon chipped a tooth and required two stitches in his lip, but should be ready to go Thursday, Romar said.
Harden day-to-day: Arizona State freshman James Harden, who is fifth in the Pac-10 in scoring with 18.6 points per game, could play Thursday against Washington after suffering a groin injury last week.
“Right now he’s just day-to-day,” Arizona State coach Herb Sendek said. “It’s really a function of how he feels, so we’re just going to have to wait and see.”
The Huskies will prepare as if they’ll see Harden.
“He’s a gamer,” Romar said. “I bet he’ll be in there.”
Changes in Corvallis: Big stories are coming more frequently than wins for Oregon State, which on Sunday fired head coach Jay John in the midst of an eight-game losing streak, and a day later kicked starting center C.J. Giles off the team.
Giles, a graduate of Seattle’s Rainier Beach High School, transferred to Oregon State from Kansas after being dismissed from the team there as well. Interim coach Kevin Mouton was vague when asked why Giles was asked to leave the team. Giles reportedly has not had any discipline problems at Oregon State aside from a missing one practice and being late for another.
“The decision was not made because of the difficulties him and I had,” Mouton said during Tuesday’s Pac-10 coaches’ teleconference. “It was made because we just felt it was a better situation here if he were able to move on and pursue other options.
“His past behaviors in my view made it a situation where there would have been issues going forward with the way we need to run this program.”
UW women’s update
Freshman center Jess McCormack, who missed Washington’s last two games after suffering a concussion, is expected to be back in action against Arizona State Thursday.
“She’s looking to be ready to go full force vs. Arizona State,” said Washington coach Tia Jackson. “She has not practiced yet, she’s only done conditioning. We’re hoping to get her in about half of practice [Tuesday] just to see where she stands, but the projection is for her to play Thursday night.”
Jackson added that depending on how much she is able to practice, McCormack may not start against the Sun Devils.
Contact Herald Writer John Boyle at jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on University of Washington sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com/huskiesblog
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