Maybe a dominant win against Houston Baptist today at Alaska Airlines Arena will show people that they are better than the team that looked lost defensively and impatient offensively against the Billikens.
Really, just getting back on the court in a game situation after the loss will be a good thing.
“Obviously that wasn’t what we wanted,” freshman Tony Wroten said of Tuesday’s loss. “We wanted to win, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to come up with that. We can’t dwell on that. We’re just anxious to get on the court on Friday.”
While some fans were disappointed with such a lopsided loss against St. Louis, coach Lorenzo Romar tried to remain rational about it.
“That’s why you play nonconference games, to get better,” Romar said. “I had said from the outset: we may have some ups and downs with this team at the beginning, because we’re trying to put something together. We definitely had a downer last game.”
It’s never an enjoyable week after a downer game. But in some ways, the loss was instructive. It showed a lot of things that needed to be worked on.
“I just don’t know if you can simulate a better situation to expose all of your warts and weaknesses than that game,” Romar said. “That’s good. We know where the bubbles came up in the tire so (we) know we put the patch where we need to put the patch in places.”
Washington spent the week putting patches on those bubbles. The Huskies are far from difficult fixes.
“It’s just paying attention to details, knowing the game plan, and not getting off to slow starts,” said senior forward Darnell Gant. “The pressure we applied in the second half is the pressure we need to apply the whole game.”
FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
It would be easy for the Huskies to overlook Houston Baptist – also nicknamed the Huskies.
The school played NAIA basketball until making the conversion to NCAA Division I three years ago. The school has been playing in the Great West Conference with the likes of North Dakota and Utah Valley State, but will move to the Southland Conference in 2013.
While Washington should win, Romar wouldn’t overlook Houston Baptist, noting that the school is coming off an 88-83 win over Cal State Fullerton, which starts two former Cal players in D.J. Seeley and Omondi Amoke. In that win, Houston Baptist buried 10 of 19 3-point attempts. Houston Baptist has attempted 103 3-pointers this season and made 36.
“They will shoot some 3s, that’s for sure,” Romar said.
But the game isn’t about Houston Baptist. It’s about Washington correcting some things that went so glaringly wrong against St. Louis. While it might not come against the same caliber opponent, it’s a start.
“We’ll learn from our mistakes and learn from what we didn’t do in that game and apply it to this game,” Gant said. “We just want to get back to what we know, playing defense. Defense really generates our offense and we need to utilize that in our next game.”
Ryan Divish: 253-597-8483 ryan.divish@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com uwsports
HUSKIES GAMEDAY
HOUSTON BAPTIST (2-3) AT WASHINGTON (3-1)
Tipoff: 3 p.m. Alaska Airlines Arena
TV: None. Radio: 950-AM/102.9-FM
Series: The two teams have never met.
Statistical leaders: For UW – Guard Abdul Gaddy, 12.3 points per game, 4.3 rebound per game, 4.9 assists per game; G Terrence Ross 16.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg. For HBU – C Joe Latas, 12.6 ppg, 7.6 rpg; G Ronald March 12.2 ppg, 4.2 rpg
Scouting report: It will be a battle of the Huskies as the Washington Huskies will look to rebound from their first loss of the season by returning home and facing the Houston Baptist Huskies. UW struggled both offensively and defensively in a loss to St. Louis on Sunday, but shouldn’t have trouble with Houston Baptist. The former NAIA team stepped up to NCAA Division I three years ago. This year Houston Baptist has at 2-3 mark, but one of its wins came against Cal State Fullerton, 88-83, last weekend. Big center Joe Latas (6-11), a transfer from Cleveland State, is a presence in the middle who can score and rebound. Houston Baptist plays a pair of freshmen guards in Ronald March and Tyler Russell —both averaging 12 points a game.
Next: 8 p.m. Dec. 2, at University of Nevada, Lawlor Events Center, Reno, Nev.
Ryan Divish, staff writer
