WASHINGTON, D.C. – There was plenty of grousing from Illinois fans over the officiating following Washington’s victory over the Illini in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last week. Illinois was whistled for 28 fouls and Washington had 17. The result was the Huskies taking 28 more free throws than Illinois, and outscoring the Illini 28-9 from the line.
Those numbers are clearly one-sided, but the reality is, the Huskies were simply the more aggressive team. After Washington took center James Augustine out of the game, Illinois was content to take jump shots for most of the final 15 minutes of the game. Conversely, Washington continually attacked the basket, drawing fouls and keeping the pressure on the Illini defense.
The strategy of going to the basket rather than rely on outside shooting, despite the fact that Illinois had good size inside, was not really a surprise. The Huskies do have some good shooters – Ryan Appleby, Brandon Roy and Mike Jensen are each shooting over 40 percent on 3-pointers – but that’s not really their strength. Washington prefers to use its athleticism to get out on the break, and when that fails, Plan B is to find seams and get to the rim. And recently, it doesn’t matter who the opponent is, Washington is sticking to that plan.
In the first meeting against UCLA – which Washington regards as the most physical team it has played – the Huskies shot just 13 free throws and took 18 3-pointers, but won the game. The second time they met the Bruins, the Huskies shot 34 free throws and just 12 3-pointers.
But while UCLA and Illinois both have good size, neither have quite the height that Connecticut (29-3) has. And the Huskies (26-6) admit that because of that, the strategy may change a little when they meet UConn at 7 p.m. today at the Verizon Center in the Sweet 16.
“They’re the nation’s leading shot-blocking team, so we’ve got to kick it out to some shooters or get them in the air and draw some fouls,” freshman point guard Justin Dentmon said. “But it’s the same mindset. We’ve still got to be aggressive.”
As Dentmon said, Connecticut does lead the nation in blocked shots, averaging 8.9 a game. Six-foot-11 Hilton Armstrong leads the nation with 3.2 blocks a game, 6-foot-10 Josh Boone averages 2.1 and 6-9 Rudy Gay averages 1.6. In fact, Gay has 29 more blocks than Brandon Roy, who leads Washington with 26, or 0.8 a game.
“Those guys are not only tall and long, but very active,” Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said. “They’re great shot-blockers. They camp out in the paint and they throw a lot of things out of there that come in there. And the things they don’t throw out, they tend to cause some wild shots.”
To counter Connecticut’s size, Washington will first try to get into transition, which UConn coach Jim Calhoun says is his biggest concern entering the game. Getting into a running game has been Washington’s strength all season and it’s never been more important than it will be against Connecticut.
“They are a really big defensive team and really good in the half-court,” Roy said. “Pushing the ball is going to be key for us. If they can get set up in their defense all night, it’s going to be tough to score. We’re going to have to force turnovers, force them into quick shots, so we can get some long rebounds and get it down there and get some easy baskets.”
If Connecticut is able to keep Washington out of its transition, the UW then must figure out a way to score in the halfcourt against UConn’s size, which also includes 6-6 guard Denham Brown. No doubt Roy and Bobby Jones will both try to attack the rim to try to get Connecticut into foul trouble. The game could be a tough matchup for post players Jamaal Williams and Jon Brockman, who both will be giving up size to Connecticut’s posts.
That could put much of Washington’s offensive hopes in the hands of Jensen and Appleby. Both have the potential to open up the lane with their shooting. The 6-8 Jensen in particular is key, as he could draw one of the UConn post players out of the lane to defend him, opening things up.
However neither has had much of an offensive impact recently. Jensen is 3-for-13 on 3-pointers in the past four games and Appleby is 3-for-11 in his past three games.
“I don’t look at it as pressure, I look at it as a great opportunity,” Appleby said. “Playing against a great team like UConn, you always want to play your best.”
“It will be important for me to make early shots in the game so I can draw those bigs out and make them follow me out,” Jensen said. “Penetration is so key in what we want to do so we need to create for other guys. If I can draw those guys away from the basket, that will go a long ways toward helping us accomplish what we want.”
And what Washington wants is to pull off what would be the biggest win in the history of the program. But Calhoun says, considering his team has lost just three games, it’s hard to tell what a weakness of his team would be, and Washington players tend to agree.
“If they do (have a weakness), it’s hard to say what it is,” Roy said. “Watching them play Villanova, smaller lineups and dribble penetration would probably be their biggest weakness. I’m not going to say we’ve got the guards Villanova has, but we can penetrate them a little bit and hopefully have their big guys collapse and kick it to shooters. But it’s hard to find a weakness, but they are beatable.”
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