The Husky basketball team faces a tough Portland State squad Sunday that beat University or Portland earlier this season after UW was upset by the Pilots. Since that opening game the young Husky squad has matured quite a bit and the Huskies go into this one as obvious favorites.
Three things have helped Washington in the early going and that has been the emergence of Isiah Thomas in the backcourt, the improved play of Quincy Pondexter, and the addition of a healthy Matthew Bryan-Amaning up front to help take the double teams away from Jon Brockman.
Portland State is led by former UW assistant and SPU head coach Ken Bone. In only a couple of years on the Viking campus Bone has transformed this team into the favorites to win the Big Sky conference.
The Vikings have a 7-1 record and feature an old friend who is scoring 10.1 points a game in Phil Nelson who followed Bone to PSU from UW. Nelson transfered out of UW because he didn't feel he had enough freedom offensively which is interesting because he had plenty of chances to play as a freshman.
Game notes
Forner Husky guard Curtis Allen is an assistant coach at Portland State.
The Vikings have a balanced scoring attack led by Jamie Jones who is averaging 12.6 points and 8 rebounds per game. Look for Jon Brockman to shut down Jones in the middle.
The Huskies lead the series 7-0, with each victory coming at Edmundson Pavilion.
Portland State guard Jeremiah Dominquez, last season's Big Sky player of the year, has missed the past two games with a chipped bone in his shooting hand and is questionable against the Huskies.