WASHINGTON, D.C. – As he has all season, Washington senior star Brandon Roy carried himself with class, even in the face of a hugely disappointing end to his brilliant college career.
Facing questions on the podium following Washington’s 98-92 overtime loss, Roy took complete responsibility for picking up his fourth foul on a technical foul call that caused him to miss nearly seven minutes of the second half. In that time, Washington not only lost its eight-point lead, but also any momentum that it had.
“It was a mistake by me,” Roy said of the technical. “Me being a leader of this team, I’ve got to avoid situations like that. Unfortunately, I had to sit out for a little bit. I’ve got to take it on the chin. It’s tough. I’m disappointed I let the young guys down. But we still kept fighting and played a heck of a game against a great team.”
With Washington leading 53-45 with 13:48 to go, Roy was called for a holding foul. Roy, the Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year, said that UConn’s Rudy Gay then elbowed him in the stomach, and the players went chest-to-chest. Both players were given technical fouls, and it was the fourth for Roy, who had to go to the bench. He said he was out of rhythm when he finally got back in the game.
“Rudy came off a screen and I jumped to cut him off and the ref called a foul on me,” Roy said. “I was looking up to ask the ref where was the foul at? And Rudy kept playing and he elbowed me in my stomach. I walked up to him and said, ‘Hey man, watch those late elbows.’ He got upset and said get out of my face. I don’t think I said anything to get a technical.”
Roy finished with 20 points on 7-for-18 shooting, along with four rebounds, three assists and three steals in 36 minutes. He finished the tournament with 69 points, and averaged 17.4 in seven career NCAA Tournament games.
Appleby nearly the hero: Stanwood’s Ryan Appleby was nearly the hero of the game for Washington. The sophomore guard made a 3-pointer with 16 seconds in overtime to cut the UConn lead to 94-92, then stole the inbounds pass, giving Washington a chance to tie or take the lead. But his pass to Joel Smith was intercpted by UConn.
“They inbounded the ball and we wanted to try to get a quick steal and a foul,” Appleby said. “Me and Jamaal (Williams) ended up switching. I saw I had a lane for a second but I saw Hilton Armstrong down there. I saw the clock so I figured if I got it out, we could swing it really quick and get them in a scramble situation.”
Appleby finished with 10 points and two steals. For the tournament, Appleby was 5-for-13 on 3-pointers.
“It’s tough,” Appleby said. “When you’re up 10 on a team like this and you feel like you’re in control of the game the whole game, then they hit a tough shot, it’s hard to lose.’
Not the way to go out: Washington’s two other senior regulars – Bobby Jones and Mike Jensen – had rather forgettable final games as Huskies. Both forwards fouled out late in the second half.
Jones played well defensively and finished with nine points, five rebounds and two steals. Jensen had three points, five rebounds and four steals.
“It’s hard sitting there knowing I can’t help my team,” Jones said. “But we played hard the whole game and fouls are going to happen. But it’s definitely disappointing to watch my last game from the bench.”
Dentmon finally shows age: Justin Dentmon had played so well for the first 2 games of his NCAA Tournament career, it was hard to remember that he is in fact a freshman.
Well, the Washington point guard showed his age in the second half against Connecticut, at least, kind of.
Dentmon, who did not have a turnover in the first two games of the tournament and then had none in the first half against UConn, had three turnovers in the second half Friday. But he also had eight points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals and made two huge free throws late in regulation.
“We showed we’re not scared of nobody,” Dentmon said.
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