SEATTLE – Never let it be said that Tre Simmons lacks confidence.
Moments after he helped the University of Washington men’s basketball team got revenge on Eastern Washington Saturday, beating the Eagles 104-91 before 6,602 at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, someone asked Simmons about The Pass.
Everyone knew of Simmons The Scorer. Thirty points a game at Green River Community College pretty much let anyone know who didn’t know before. But when Simmons hung in the air at the free-throw line and hesitated before feeding Hakeem Rollins for a slam dunk late in the contest, he let others know about the rest of his game.
“Oh, I can see the court pretty well,” Simmons said. “Just like Magic Johnson.”
Johnson was not available for comment.
Still, this was nothing less than a breakout game for Simmons in a Husky uniform.
He and Brandon Roy led the Huskies (3-0) with 19 points apiece, but the brunt of Simmons’ output came at a crucial time, late in the game.
Washington went on a decisive, 21-6 run with nine minutes left that wiped out the Eagles’ hopes of an upset, not to mention a 76-73 advantage. In that streak, Simmons scored 11, including a layup that gave the Huskies a commanding 94-82 advantage with 2:20 left.
Game, set, match.
“It was a fun game because it was a team win,” UW coach Lorenzo Romar said. “When you have a team win, everybody feels really good about it. Eastern Washington is a very good basketball team.”
It was Simmons’ first game of the season in which he wasn’t bothered by a nagging flu bug that took him out of most practices two weeks ago. UW coach Lorenzo Romar chose to bring Simmons back slowly, but always pointed to Saturday’s game against Eastern as the contest in which he wanted Simmons fit and sharp.
He was both, in a number of ways. He had four rebounds, three assists ands a blocked shot. Simmons also helped on Eagles star Alvin Snow, who scored 19 points, but was just 6-for-18 shooting from the floor, 1-for-7 from 3-point range.
“Tre can put up 40 or 50 (points) every night,” said UW guard Nate Robinson, who, along with forward Bobby Jones, finished with 14 points. “But a guy like him doesn’t worry about points. He has a great feel for the game. He’s a wonderful player, really.”
It was a wonderful game, too. The teams turned the contest into a track meet, only with 71 free throws tossed in.
But the number of free throws is an indication of just how hard-fought the game was. Neither team backed down. Eastern (1-3) wanted to repeat its 62-58 victory over the Huskies last season.
Washington, which heard about it all last season, didn’t want to hear about it again.
The result was a physical, hell-bent contest that left bodies on the floor and blood streaming.
”I thought our guys did a great job of maintaining their composure, while playing physical without losing it,” Romar said.
One burr in Washington’s saddle was guard Josh Barnard, a UW transfer who finished with 18 points, hitting four of seven shots from 3-point range.
But the defensive focus was on Snow, who lit up the Huskies last season for 24 points and seven steals.
Romar alternated the 6-foot-5 Simmons and the 6-6 Jones on the 6-2 Snow and it worked more often than not.
“This is a different team than Alvin Snow faced last year,” Romar said. “We also put a bigger player on him the majority of the game. We knew that he’s a gamer and that we had to defend him if we had a chance to beat Eastern Washington.”
Roy scored 10 points in a spirited first half that saw 12 ties and 11 lead changes. Neither team could take control. Washington led 19-12 early, but never led by more than five until late in the game.
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