Choices abound for Huskies

Darnell Gant lost his spot in the Washington Huskies' starting lineup to Tyreese Breshers in UW's win over Montana on Sunday.

But he pointed his finger only at himself Tuesday as the 12th-ranked Huskies prepared for their Thursday date at Texas Tech.

“There are people that are doing better than me right now,” Gant said.

That rare answer doesn’t indicate Gant has accepted his demotion. What he says he has accepted is the challenge to improve.

“I love all my teammates. We’re all close; we’re all cool,” said Gant, a 6-foot-8 sophomore. “For Tyreese and people like Clarence (Trent) and other bigs that are playing more minutes right now over me, it’s not like I’m mad. Like, ‘Aw, Coach is putting me on the bench.’ I’m thinking more, ‘These guys are doing good, and I need to catch up. I need to get with everybody else. Everybody else is being productive, I need to step up and do the same thing.’”

Meanwhile, coach Lorenzo Romar doesn’t even acknowledge that Gant has been demoted.

He said he hasn’t decided if Breshers or Gant – or someone else – will start against the Red Raiders. And he stressed that this roster is deep enough and versatile enough where starting lineups could remain fluid well into the Pacific-10 Conference season.

“This year, get used to me saying I don’t know,” Romar said, when asked about his starting lineup. “We have a lot of different combinations we’re trying to hone in. With this team, we could literally go to the second half of conference and change starting lineups.”

Romar’s lineup held firm for the first four games: Quincy Pondexter, Isaiah Thomas, Venoy Overton, Matthew Bryan-Amaning and Gant.

Game 5 brought two changes: Breshers for Gant, and freshman Abdul Gaddy in place of Overton.

Romar explained after the game that Overton had been benched because he had been late for a morning workout. And he said Tuesday that Overton will be back among the starters at Texas Tech.

However, Romar said the other switch was performance related: Breshers was averaging one rebound every three-and-a-half minutes, while Gant was managing one every four-and-a-half minutes.

“Coach and I talked about it,” Gant said. “When Jon (Brockman) was here last year, me not rebounding as much didn’t look as sad. But now that he’s gone there’s like a big hole, and if I’m not rebounding it really shows. That’s just another thing I have to improve on, and I’m still learning.”

Breshers said that earning his first career start was good for his confidence. But the redshirt freshman also said he understands that this roster presents options.

And he seems as willing as Gant to accept whatever Romar decides is the right starting combination for any given game.

“I think the game plan is going to determine the starters, whoever matches up,” Breshers said. “We all have different talents. I don’t mind starting, and I don’t mind not starting. I just want to help the team.”

Don Ruiz, 253-597-8808

don.ruiz@thenewstribune.com

blog.thenewstribune.com/uwsports