The Huskies retired Brandon Roy's jersey last night and pulled out a hard fought 78-73 victory in front of a packed house last night at Hec Ed.
This was a terrific wire to wire game featuring the Trojans who went at the Huskies with a taller line up and a physical defense. Offensively the Trojans played in a half court offense most of the night trying to set up good shots. Washington on the other hand tried to create more off the run.
Jon Brockman was shut off offensively most of the night by USC's Taj Gibson but was dominating on the boards and on defense. Brockman went all night without scoring a field goal. Brockman hasn't been held without a FG since he was a freshman.
Justin Dentmon led the Huskies with 22. Justin was 3 for 4 from three point range last night and even had a sensational 4 point play. Isiaiah Thomas started slowly but warmed up in the second half scoring 16 of his 17 points. Quincy Pondexter kept in his recent groove scoring 11 points and supplying tough defense.Matthew Bryan-Amaning came off the bench and provided some quality minutes and 12 points. Venoy Overton made USC pay with a couple of key three point shots which electrified the crowd.
One player that really impressed me tonight was Justin Holiday. This kid does a lot of good things when he is in the game providing plenty of quality minutes. holiday and Gant are the unsung heroes of this team and have bright futures.
The Huskies forced 20 USC turnovers and hit a season-high 32 free throws in 40 attempts. It was the second straight game that UW hit over 80% from the charity stripe.
Next up for the Huskies is UCLA this Saturday.