So Husky fans, how does Pac-10 champs sound? The Huskies clinched at least share of that title today, and can win it outright with a win Saturday or with a loss next week by whoever wins tonight’s UCLA vs. Cal game.
There was a little bit of celebration after this game, but for the most part the attitude seems to be that it’s too early to uncork the bottles of, um, sparking cider.
“We’re not done yet,” said Jon Brockman. “We’re going to be a little greedier than that, so we can celebrate like it’s two-thirds of what we’ve got to get done, but we’ve still got a big one-third finishing this thing off.”
Brockman finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds, sharing team-high scoring honors with Isaiah Thomas, who had one of his best games in a few weeks.
Thomas had scored just 27 points total in his last three games but dismissed the idea that he was in a slump or hitting a freshman wall. He said after the game that he was motivated by an article he read that said he was in a slump.
One are of concern for Thomas has got to be his free-throw shooting, however, as he was just three of 10 from the line today and was two for six last week against UCLA. The Huskies struggled at the line as a team as well, making just nine of their first 23 attempts, but they finished 10 for 12 to hold on.
Here are some of Romar’s thoughts on the game:
“Another team effort by our guys. The crowd, you talk about a sixth man, our crowd was unbelievable today and just helped will us to a victory.
“I thought we came out a little sluggish in the first half. In the second half we got down but yet, as this team has done many times, we continued to persevere, continued to work together, and we were able to pull it out.
“Jon Brockman was big, and nothing was bigger than his free throws down the stretch in this game. A lot of heroes in this game.”
Romar’s thoughts on Washington’s defensive improvements since the Huskies lost to Arizona last month:
“Well it wouldn’t take much to have an improvement from the last time when they scored 69 in the second half, but we did a better job. I thought we were able to contain Nic Wise. Chase Budinger is an NBA basketball player, Jordan Hill is an NBA basketball player, I think Nic Wise can be an NBA player as well, but there’s not doubt we think he’s the key to their team, I thought we did a good job on him. He’s had his way with us in the past.”
On what they did differently with Wise:
“Off the ball everyone was aware of where he was, and I think the combination of Isaiah Thomas and Venoy Overton, those guys just made a commitment to contain him and keep him in front. And our players off the ball made a commitment to know where he was at all times.”
On his halftime conversation with the captains:
“Those are the captains. I know when I was younger I’d go through things in life and wouldn’t think it was a big deal and I’d come back 10 years later and say, ‘Wow, I should have paid more attention to that, that was a special time.’ Sometime we really don’t understand how special a championship can be. Justin and Jon have not won a championship, nor has Quincy, nor have any of these guys, for Justin and Brockman, this is their last chance. I just told them basically, we’re counting on you, do whatever you need to do to get this done.”
On whether the team celebrate clinching a share of the title:
“We just did in the locker room, that’s it. We just acknowledged that we did it, everybody is pretty excited that this happened. I think we understood the importance of this game, the magnitude. I think our response was a little bit like the USC game. There were times when it looked like it was going to be grim for the Huskies, and yet, we found a way. When I was a player in a loss, I’d feel worse in a loss when I’d really contributed heavily to the loss. When you win a game and you know you did it the right way, I think that’s even more exhilarating, and I think that’s what our guys were excited about. Our guys should enjoy it, we won another game here today and put ourselves in a position to play one more, and if we do well we can win it outright. So close but yet still so far. “
On how the Huskies found a way to pull the game out:
“Focus and effort is where it begins. If you’ve got focus and effort, which I think we’ve had for most of the minutes that we’ve played this year once we got going. Once that happens and you work hard, you find a way to win. We’ve won games because we’ve shot the lights out from three, we’ve won games because we’ve just dominated a team on the boards, we’ve won games in half-court situations where we’ve scored a ton of points in the paint. This team is versatile enough and team enough to find a way to win. Sometimes if one particular player isn’t having a good game, he can check out mentally. We haven’t had that very often with this team. Everybody stays in it for the benefit of the team.”
OK, that’ll do it for today. As always, see tomorrow’s Herald for more on the game.
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