Washington State Cougars (9-9) vs. Washington Huskies (10-8)
Pac-10 Tournament 2nd round
Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
Thursday, 8:30 p.m. PST
TV: FSN
Radio: 950 KJR
The pieces are in place for what could be the gutsiest victory in Husky basketball history.
Or, perhaps more likely, Thursday’s Pac-10 second round rivalry game could turn into a third Cougar triumph over Washington this season, perhaps by a larger margin than the first two.
Thursday’s game comes two days after the Washington basketball camp took two more devastating personnel hits: the suspension of Venoy Overton and the concussion sustained by Justin Holiday.
Coach Lorenzo Romar told reporters Tuesday that he plans to suspend his senior point guard for the entirety of the conference tournament in light of the misdemeanor charge levied against Overton Tuesday of providing alcohol to minors.
Overton was just beginning to play his best basketball after being slowed by hamstring and knee injuries early in the season. The conference’s active leader in assists and steals also began to take a more vocal role in the locker room, calling out his teammates for not “playing hard” against USC.
The hypocrisy of those comments in light of Tuesday’s events is stark. The impression left by the accusation against Overton is discussed in detail here.
Overton’s legal trouble and suspension have overshadowed the potential loss of Holiday, the keyest of cogs for this Husky team. The forward was unable to practice Tuesday (update) and will be a game-time decision for Thursday’s game.
I try not to editorialize too much in these previews, but here’s what the losses of Overton and Holiday (we’ll assume the worst here) mean for Thursday’s game:
- Isaiah Thomas will play 40 minutes. Sorry, Antoine Hosley. IT has always been ready to put the team on his back in this kind of situation. He’s focused.
- Darnell Gant will need to play on a whole new level of intensity and physicality as he picks up what few minutes Holiday spends at the four late in games.
- If the Huskies’ defensive efforts are at the level they need to be, CJ Wilcox and/or Scott Suggs will foul out. The loss of Holiday means those two—along with Terrence Ross—will be relied upon to carry the shooting torch; when one fouls out, the other will need to double his efforts to find space off the ball.
- Romar needs to draw up a slower offense, one in which we actually run plays. Overton and Holiday are two of UW’s most explosive players and the Dawgs’ rotation is down to seven, two factors that necessitate a slower pace.
- DeAngelo Casto will have many dunks. Without Holiday’s quickness in lane denial, the Huskies will be forced to concede easy finishes to electrifying finishers like Casto in order to avoid—and just thinking about this word makes me cringe—fouls. If the dreaded f-words should pile up, we’ll likely have our first Brendan Sherrer Meaningful Minutes sighting.
- Romar has said that he will not burn Desmond Simmons’ redshirt; I don’t think many are clamoring for him to do so, however.
- Thomas and the coaching staff need to find an effective attitude balance between “nothing’s wrong” and “haters to the left, play for your teammates” for the Dawgs to have any chance at winning. Thomas began to flourish after dedicating his season to Abdul Gaddy; it will be interesting to see if he reacts differently to a teammate’s mistake than to an injury.
It’s likely that lack of either focus or personnel will be too much against a full-strength Washington State team and the Huskies may lose a third consecutive game to the Cougs.
But if UW scraps out a win, will a game ever have proved more about a Lorenzo Romar team?
Cougars notes after the jump.
Original Story:
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