Huskies twin towers lead 80-52 win over San Francisco Dons

By Kshell

The Washington Huskies(7-3) debut a new starting lineup in their 80-52 victory over the University of San Francisco Dons(4-6). The Huskies coming off a one point loss to Texas A & M were dominated on the boards. This game Lorenzo Romar made an adjustment in his starting lineup. Just like last time when the Huskies were coming off a loss Romar had a new starting lineup when he replaced Darnell Gant for Matthew Bryan-Amaning. Gant has improved his three point shot and scoring this season but he isn't doing the little things that brought him into the starting lineup in the first place. Gant is no longer rebounding and playing inside like a power forward should so Romar made the switch to Bryan-Amaning. That switch paid off as Aziz N'Diaye had his best game as a starter.

The Huskies despite shooting just 2-14 from three point range in the first half and 17 of 40(42.5%) from the field found themselves ahead 39-23 at the half. The Huskies led at halftime because of the rebounding with 11 offensive rebounds. The Huskies also were taking care of the ball with just three turnovers. N'Diaye led all scorers at halftime with nine points including two dunks. Scott Suggs came off the bench and was three for three shooting with eight points. Abdul Gaddy also added six points.



In the second half the Huskies put the game away early. The Huskies extended their lead to 51-24 as they put the Dons away. Isaiah Thomas who had just two points in the first half scored ten in the second half including eight in a row to give him 12 for the game. The Huskies would cruise to a 80-52 win over the Dons led by their new big man lineup. N'Diaye would finish with nine points, five rebounds and four blocks while Bryan-Amaning would finish with 10 points and nine rebounds including seven offensive rebounds. The Huskies would outrebound the Dons 37-30 and would grab 15 offensive rebounds. The Huskies would also have 21 assists to just four turnovers. Other than the poor three point shooting 6-26(23.1%) the Huskies had a great bounce back game.

The Huskies had good all around games from several players today. The Huskies saw 11 guys score and ten guys play over ten minutes. The guards played well with Thomas scoring 12 points and dishing out five assists. Gaddy finished with 10 points and seven assists while Venoy Overton only had two points but contributed with six rebounds and seven assists. The Huskies three guards combined had 19 assists to just one turnover. Justin Holiday had another slow game with eight points but did add three steals. Scott Suggs shot six for seven on the game including three for three on three point shots. Suggs led the team with 15 points and added five rebounds.

The Huskies took care of business at home in a game that really didn't say much. The Huskies so far have blown out all the opponents they should beat and have dropped all three games that were up for grabs. The Huskies have proven they can run bad teams out of the gym but we won't find out if they can beat a quality opponent until December 29th down at USC. The Huskies with this new starting lineup can control the rebounds which has hurt them in all three losses this year. As long as Aziz N'Diaye can stay healthy and Gaddy continues to grow as a basketball player this team should still win the Pac-10.

Observations:


- It was nice to see Aziz N'Diaye step up with the big game like he did. He has always been terrific this year with rebounding but today he actually scored some. He may have blown a few easy buckets but he was battling in the middle. I think having another big man like Matthew Bryan-Amaning by his side really helped things out. Now you have to bangers down in the paint so no double teams plus another guy to help with rebounding. N'Diaye also played 22 minutes while Bryan-Amaning played 26 minutes. Those two combined shot 9-15(60.0%) with 19 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks. Darnell Gant appears to be odd man out he only played just 10 minutes scoring three points and grabbing just two rebounds.

- The wing battle between Scotts Suggs, C.J. Wilcox and Terrence Ross has taken another turn. For the second straight game after being mr.automatic Wilcox struggled. In 11 minutes Wilcox played just 11 minutes shot one for five and had just two points. Ross played just 13 minutes scoring five points. Suggs on the other hand in 15 minutes shot six for seven and led the team with 15 points. Suggs had shown he can knock down three pointers and plays better defense than Wilcox. On the other hand in the past Suggs has shown he tends to disappear in close games which he needs to break that habit or Wilcox will take back those minutes.



- The progress of Abdul Gaddy has been great to watch this season. Gaddy shot five for nine scoring 10 points while dishing out seven assists. He also committed zero turnovers. Gaddy is living up to the hype he received when he arrived at Washington. Gaddy remember should be a freshman this season. He plays so smooth and reminds me of Brandon Roy as a Sophomore and Junior. Like Roy early Gaddy has no particular strengths but he has no weaknesses. He is a good shooter who is smooth with the ball and rarely makes mistakes. He is a tall guard who is taking a back seat to an undersized guard(Thomas) like Roy did with Nate Robinson.

- Congrats to Isaiah Thomas who passed Nate Robinson on the Huskies scoring list. Robinson while at Washington was a three year starter who also started in football as a freshman. Robinson was first team all pac-10 as a sophomore and junior which is what Thomas will probably be. Thomas hasn't been scoring big yet and hoepfully come Pac-10 play he will find that scoring touch. The Huskies were hoping Thomas would take that next step in his game mainly improving his outside shot but as we witnessed today he shot two for seven from three point range he hasn't really improved on his three point shot.

All in all the Huskies have one more non conference game left against the Nevada Wolfpack on December 22nd. Then the Huskies will travel down to Los Angeles to open up Pac-10 play. The Huskies in the last four years are 1-7 down in Los Angeles and must find a way to beat a good opponent this year. The Huskies can't rely on the three point shooting but go back to Romar ball. People talk about how Romar's teams score a ton of points but they also rebound the ball and create turnovers. This year the Huskies have struggled rebounding the ball but with Bryan-Amaning and N'Diaye starting together that shouldn't be a problem. Romar made another adjustment to the starting lineup and so far the results look pretty good. Hopefully this lineup can last for a while.