PORTLAND — Washington beat Mississippi State comfortably Thursday, but for Husky fans looking for something to fret about between now and Saturday, consider the recent offensive struggles of starting guards Isaiah Thomas and Justin Dentmon.
Washington’s leading scorers all season long, both Dentmon and Thomas have been struggling to find an offensive rhythm late in the season, and at times, so too have the Huskies.
It may seem like nitpicking to look for flaws in a double-digit win in the NCAA tournament. In a lot of ways Washington’s 71-58 victory is all the more impressive given Thomas’ and Dentmon’s combined 4-for-20 shooting effort. But the Huskies know that somewhere down the road they’ll need more production out of their leading scorers if they hope to make a run deep in the tournament.
“There’s going to come a time, it may be Saturday, when we need to be clicking on all cylinders,” Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said. “Because of our ability to defend here in the last stretch, we’ve been able to overcome poor shooting nights by some of our players, and today was no different. But as I said, there’s going to come a day when you’re going to need production from everyone.”
When that day comes, be it Saturday or later in the tournament, Dentmon and Thomas both think they’ll rise to the occasion.
“It’ll come,” said Thomas, who finished with nine points on 3-for-14 shooting. “We pick our spots, pick our shots, and it’ll be there. They’re just not falling right now, but we’re winning, so it doesn’t really matter to us.”
And that’s the key, the Huskies say. Thomas and Dentmon are content to put up ugly numbers all the way from here to Detroit if that’s what works for the team.
“It’s just a matter of time,” said Dentmon, who was 1-for-6 for four points. “We’ll get a crack at a defense. They played us good. We knew they’d play us like that. And as long as we’re winning, I don’t care.”
But eventually, it figures that the Huskies won’t keep winning without more from their starting guards. In his last seven games, Dentmon is shooting 31.3 percent and averaging 10.3 points. Thomas is still scoring at a descent clip, but has seen his shooting drop late in the year, and is shooting 36.4 percent in the last nine games.
In recent weeks, and again on Thursday, Thomas dismissed any notion that he has hit any sort of freshman wall.
“I feel good,” he said.
And so too do the Huskies as long as they keep winning.
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on UW sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com/huskiesblog
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