The Huskies came out slow and ugly tonight against Florida International but put the Panthers away with a strong second half led by Justin Dentmon and Isaiah Thomas.
Justin Dentmon scored 21 points and freshman Isaiah Thomas added 19 as Washington survived an off night from star Jon Brockman and a halftime deficit to beat Florida International 74-51 on Thursday.
The Panthers surrounded Brockman early in an effort to take him out fo the game. Teams will continue doing that until the Huskies heat up outside or give other teams a reason to defend someone else up front.
Dentmon's took over the game by scoring seven points in the first four minutes after halftime to turn Washington's one-point deficit into a 38-32 lead. That edge grew to 55-43 with 8 1/2 minutes left, then to 66-47 while FIU went almost five minutes without scoring.
Russel Hicks scored 15 points for Florida International (2-1), which was missing four injured players. The Panthers leading scorer Michael Dominguez was 0-for-8 from the field and had just four points.
Washington will have to be far more consistent in its next game, against defending national champion and No. 24 Kansas on Monday in Kansas City if they hope to be competitve.