Washington (6-3) can make it five victories in a row with a win against cross-state foe Eastern. The Huskies are expecting to get Jon Brockman back from an ankle injury that kept him out of last weekend’s win over Portland State, and he will only bolster a front court that has gotten strong play of late from junior Quincy Pondexter and sophomore Matthew Bryan-Amaning, who scored 18 and 23 points in his last two games.
In order to be successful in Pac-10 play, the Huskies are going to need to get better guard play, as the three guards playing the most—Justin Dentmon, Isaiah Thomas and Venoy Overton—have committed 66 turnover compared to 72 assists. Free throw shooting also continues to be a problem — Washington is shooting 61.5 percent — though opponents are currently shooting even worse from the line (58.2 percent).
The Eagles are off to a 6-4 start and did something this year the Huskies couldn’t by winning at Portland, but have lost two in a row. Benny Valentine, a 5-foot-7 guard who transferred from Texas Tech, was impressive early this season and still leads the team in scoring (16.8 points per game) but he scored just two points on one of nine shooting in Thursday’s loss.
John Boyle, Herald Writer
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