Washington looking for payback against Oregon

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The noise of Oregon's celebration is what sticks out to Washington's Quincy Pondexter.

It was early January and Pondexter's Huskies were ranked No. 17, riding an 18-game home winning streak and still expected to be an NCAA tournament lock.

Then Oregon showed up on a Saturday and exposed all of Washington's flaws in a 90-79 win that was the first of five losses in seven games for the Huskies.

Now as the final week of Pac-10 play arrives, Washington is trying to keep its slim NCAA hopes alive. The Huskies have won seven of their last nine and get a chance for some payback against the Ducks on Thursday night.

"I just really remember the echoes of them celebrating after the game. That's something I think we all remember as a team and it really hurt," Pondexter said of the Jan. 2 loss to Oregon. "They played a terrific game against us and capitalized on a lot of our mistakes, and they played good basketball down the stretch. They beat us. They beat us fair and square on our home court, and it's something that has stuck with us for a little bit."

The loss to Oregon might not have held the same impact if not for what took place thereafter. Washington followed up with a pair of lackluster 17-point losses at Arizona State and Arizona, and after winning two games at home, the Huskies were again swept on the road by the Los Angeles schools.

Washington (19-9, 9-7 Pac-10) went tumbling not only from the polls, but from NCAA consideration. And despite going 7-2 over their last nine, including road wins at Stanford and Washington State, the Huskies understand their postseason hopes rely largely on not faltering this weekend at the Oregon schools.

"I think we've done a good job in that aspect of everyone brings it every night," Pondexter said. "There aren't a lot of drop-offs in personnel on our team, and we all know what we have to do and we all want to make the NCAA tournament. That's our no. 1 goal, and it's in the back of our minds nonstop going through all these games."

One major change for the Huskies since their first meeting with the Ducks is consistent production coming from the post, namely the sudden emergence of junior center Matthew Bryan-Amaning. After scoring one point and grabbing three rebounds against Oregon in January, Bryan-Amaning was sent to the bench. During his time as a reserve, something has clicked, and he has started to have an impact after 2 1/2 underperforming seasons.

Beginning with Washington's 79-56 win over Arizona State on Feb. 6, Bryan-Amaning has scored in double figures in six straight games and has grabbed at least five rebounds in each. When Pondexter struggled with his scoring Saturday at Washington State, Bryan-Amaning filled the void. He scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half and grabbed a season-best 12 rebounds in the 59-52 victory.

"I thought about six weeks ago Matthew put it upon himself to come out to practice - for the most part, he had lapses - but for the most part come out to practice and really be focused," Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said. "And really try to be dialed in to try to be the best that he can be."

Bryan-Amaning's consistency on the inside is crucial for the Huskies not only for the rest of this season but next year as well.

"I'm just being more aggressive, been working really, really hard in practice and trying to keep things simple and play as hard as I can," Bryan-Amaning said.

 

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Huskies' final trip to Mac Court has plenty on the line



This could be it at McArthur Court for the Huskies in more ways than one.

Thursday night's game at the 84-year-old cauldron will be the last for the University of Washington. Oregon will produce a shiny new structure for next season's conference play.

But if the Huskies lose? That will be an end to their at-large hopes for the NCAA tournament.

Washington (19-9, 9-7) will try to keep that from happening against an Oregon (14-14, 6-10) club that dissected the Huskies on their home floor two months ago.

The stomping heard overhead in the lockerroom, the recognition of Dick Harter who used to direct the Kamikaze Kids, even the presence of Brandon Roy who will be an honorary Washington captain at the game, is all irrelevant if the Huskies cannot do one simple thing: keep Oregon's guards in front of them.Venoy Overton, scowling defensive maestro, was reduced to a trailing, bewildered defender by Oregon's Malcolm Armstead in the first game. It was the first look for Washington's guards at the player widely considered the nation's top junior college guard.

The left-hander busted up Washington, leading to a night of convenience in the post for Oregon center Michael Dunigan. The big man finished with 20 points and 14 rebounds on 7-of-10 shooting. Save one field goal, Dunigan's conversions came after being abandoned by a rotating Washington post player and casually being handed the ball by Armstead or Tajuan Porter. It would not have been surprising to see Dunigan robed and smoking a pipe in the lane that night.

"We weren't able to keep them in front of us," Overton said. "We didn't really know Armstead ... his tendencies."

The Huskies have learned Armstead will shoot when going left, pass when going right. He has an adept handle with both hands and shoots a respectable 36 percent from behind the three-point line, though he does not venture there often. His 21 points led the Ducks the first time around.

"We definitely, definitely always talk about Tajuan Porter when we play Oregon," Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said. "But as I said before, last summer -- the summer before this season started -- talking to the Oregon coaches and they were talking about how good Armstead was and I'd heard that he was really good.

"And when we played against them, we talked about him. He wasn't a guy that we said this guy can single-handedly beat us. We didn't talk about him like that, but we addressed who he was. I didn't know he was that good as he played that night. That night, I really was thinking if there are any NBA scouts here they're going to be real impressed with him."

That January evening Oregon had 13 assists (a combined 10 from Porter and Armstead) and eight turnovers. Washington shot 45 percent but missed 13 free throws. Matthew Bryan-Amaning scored one point and was jettisoned out of his starting role afterward. The Ducks won by 11.

"When we played them that night, I thought they'd have a chance to contend for the league championship," Romar said. "They were really good that night."

Not since. The Ducks went on separate five-game losing streaks fanning the flames underneath coach Ernie Kent's chair.

As the coach continues to reference his team's resolve and claim it "has a run in it" the assurances sound hollow while columns are being written about his possible replacements. His team has won its last two, a rare Pac-10 road sweep, but still resides in the conference cellar.

Add it all together, and it's a dangerous game for Washington. A second loss to Oregon would clobber the Huskies' RPI and tack on another name in the "bad loss" category. If the Huskies have not been crunching their at-large possibilities, which the players claim they have not, there is one thing ringing in their head.

"I just really remember the echos of them celebrating after the game," Quincy Pondexter said. "That's something I think we all remember as a team and it really hurt.

"They played a terrific game against us and capitalized on a lot of our mistakes. They played good basketball down the stretch. They beat us fair and square on our home court and it's something that has stuck with us. We have to come out and play our best basketball on Thursday."

 

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