Seattle Sports Online

THURSDAY, 5:30 P.M. | FSN/KJR-950

GAMEDAY
No. 23 Washington (15-4, 6-1) at Arizona (12-8, 2-5) | Pac-10 basketball

UW schedule
Date	Opponent	Time/result
11/15	at Portland	L, 80-74
11/18	vs. Cleveland State	W, 78-63
11/20	Florida International	W, 74-51
11/24	vs. Kansas (CBE)	L, 73-54
11/25	vs. Florida (CBE)	L, 86-84
11/29	vs. Pacific	W, 72-54
12/4	vs. Oklahoma State	W, 83-65
12/6	vs. Texas Southern	W, 88-52
12/14	vs. Portland State	W, 84-83
12/20	vs. Eastern Washington	W, 83-50
12/23	vs. Lehigh	PPD.
12/28	vs. Montana	W, 75-53
12/30	vs. Morgan State	W, 81-67
1/3	at Washington State*	W, 68-48
1/8	vs. Stanford*	W, 83-82
1/10	vs. California*	L, 88-85, 3OT
1/15	at Oregon*	W, 84-67
1/17	at Oregon State*	W, 85-59
1/22	vs. USC*	W, 78-73
1/24	vs. UCLA*	W, 86-75
1/29	at Arizona*	5:30 p.m.
1/31	at Arizona State*	2:30 p.m.
2/5	at California*	7:30 p.m.
2/8	at Stanford*	2:30 p.m.
2/12	vs. Oregon State*	8 p.m.
2/14	vs. Oregon*	noon
2/19	at UCLA*	8 p.m.
2/21	at USC*	4 p.m.
2/26	vs. Arizona State*	8 p.m.
2/28	vs. Arizona*	TBA
3/3	vs. Seattle U.	8 p.m.
3/7	vs. Washington State*	TBA
*Pac-10 game

UW statistics
Player	Pts.	Reb.	Ast.	Min.
Isaiah Thomas, G	16.3	2.9	2.9	28.1
Jon Brockman, F	15.3	10.7	1.2	30.1
Justin Dentmon, G	14.3	2.9	2.3	27.8
Quincy Pondexter, F	10.1	5.7	2.2	27.8
M. Bryan-Amaning, F	8.4	5.4	0.6	19.9
Venoy Overton, G	4.9	2.1	1.8	19.5
Elston Turner, G	3.6	2.4	1.0	14.3
Darnell Gant, F	3.4	3.6	0.5	18.3
Joe Wolfinger, C	2.8	1.2	0.3	7.5
Justin Holiday, F	2.3	2.8	1.4	15.9
Artem Wallace, C	1.6	1.5	0.0	5.4
Scott Suggs, G	1.2	0.4	0.0	5.2

Washington Huskies Pac-10 basktball PHOTO BY DREW SELLERS / SEATTLESPORTSONLINE.COM

XFACTOR

MATTHEW BRYAN-AMANING
We said this last time out and will go with the Big Brit once again. Bryan-Amaning dinged his toe last Thursday against USC, but should be good to go tonight. When UCLA started doubling Jon Brockman late in Saturday's game, Bryan-Amaning was summoned off the bench to make the Bruins pay on the weakside. Another testament to the Huskies' depth.

STARTINGMATCHUPS

UW's Isaiah Thomas vs. Arizona's Nic Wise
Breakdown: The campaigning for Thomas to be Freshman of the Year in the conference is under way. Wise, similar in size but more erratic than Thomas, scored 23 points last time out, but only six the previous game. Wise is prone to foul trouble, which will be expected as he deals with Thomas.
Advantage: Thomas

UW's Justin Dentmon vs. Arizona's Kyle Fogg
Breakdown: Dentmon's resurgence continues, while Fogg remains hidden, averaging just 3.3 points per game in conference play. The freshman is representative of the enormous fall off from Arizona's lead trio to the rest of the team.
Advantage: Dentmon

UW's Quincy Pondexter vs. Arizona's Chase Budinger
Breakdown: Budinger would have likely been a lottery pick last season, but a shooting slump to start this season knocked some of the sheen off him. Still, Budinger is shooting 48 percent and an outstanding passer, to the point most people are surprised when watching him for the first time. Pondexter has been playing strong all season, using his summer-built strength well.
Advantage: Budinger

UW's Darnell Gant vs. Arizona's Jamelle Horne
Breakdown: Two outstanding athletes of similar build, tall and lanky. Horne relies on his leaping ability to lead to most of his buckets, and is more aggressive than Gant on the offensive end. Gant has seen other teams double-dog dare him to shoot of late.
Advantage: Horne

UW's Jon Brockman vs. Arizona's Jordan Hill
Breakdown: This is the marquee matchup. Hill leads the Pac-10 in rebounding, a title that has belonged to Brockman the past two seasons. While others have been up-and-down for Arizona, Hill has been a consistent menace. Brockman talked about Hill's length and his ability to score from 15-17 feet and in. Hill has added a consistent mid-range jumper to his game this season, something Brockman hoped to do as well.
Advantage: Even

HUSKIESNOTES

The last time Washington was ranked was January 13, 2007. The Huskies were on their way out of the top 25, a loss at Cal the last time they had a ranking.

3KEYS

Pass judgment on the bench
Washington is much deeper than Arizona, in the starting lineup and on the bench. Washington substitutes and does not lose a lot of skill, but when Arizona substitutes, it has a large dropoff. A brisk pace will help Washington amplify this.

Pound on Hill with different players
Arizona's Jordan Hill has played 39 or more minutes six times this season. He played 45 minutes in Arizona's last game, an overtime win against Houston. He played 40 minutes in the previous game. He has yet to deal with someone who bangs at the level of Brockman, and Washington has the luxury of actually taking Brockman out of the game, whereas Arizona does not have the opportunity to do that with Hill.

Continue road composure
Arizona is 11-2 in the state of Arizona this year, including a win over the Kansas team that throttled Washington earlier in the season. When asked about playing at McKale Center, Jon Brockman kind of shrugged Tuesday, appearing not to view it as a difficult place to play. Regardless, Washington needs to carry some of the good feelings from home into its lockerroom, generating its own energy.

THEPICK

According to USA Today, Washington is favored by 1 1/2 points. Though Arizona has been strong at home this season, these are two teams heading in different directions. Arizona tends to get down on itself as soon as things are going poorly, not being mentally strong.
Washington 81, Arizona 70.

((())) Listen to coach Lorenzo Romar

Romar talks about the difference in Arizona with Lute Olson gone, the Wildcats' defensive approach and Arizona's big three:

Washington rundown
Team stats