Washington Huskies Weekly Update: Tucson, Tempe Split

The Washington Huskies salvaged a split on the first half of there 4 game Pac-10 road trip. On Thursday night the Dawgs were in Tucson taking on the Arizona Wildcats and were ahead 38-37 at halftime. The second half turned out to be a free throw bonanza for the Wildcats as they went 34 of 40 from the charity stripe and beat the Huskies 106-97. With the loss Washington falls to 6-2 in the Pac-10 and back into a tie with the UCLA Bruins. The Huskies will surely be looking for revenge when they host the Wildcats on February 28th.

On Saturday the Huskies went into the home of the Arizona State Sun Devils and left with an 84-71 victory. They held the Pac-10's leading scorer James Harden to 15 points which is about 7 points below his average (22.2) and scored 41 in the first half which is the most points the Sun Devils had given up in the first half all season. With UCLA winning also, the Huskies remain in a tie with the Bruins for first in the Pac-10.

The biggest story of this game (other than locking down Harden) was the continued great scoring output by Justin Dentmon. Love him or hate him it is hard to argue his offensive production over the last 7 games. Dentmon has averaged 21.4 points per games over his last 7 games, up from the 12.5 points a game he averaged over the teams first 14 games.

Couple Dentmon with the solid play of Jon Brockman (15.6 points and 10.9 rebounds per game) and Isaiah Thomas (16.7 points per game) and the Huskies are looking like a tough tournament team. A welcome ray of sunshine in this gloomy and dark Seattle sports (and weather) world.

No time for the Dawgs to bask in glow of the victory on Saturday as they head to Berkeley for a date with the California Golden Bears on Thursday (2/5) and then to Palo Alto to tangle with the Stanford Cardinal on Sunday (2/8).

Additionally on the docket this week for the Huskies football team is National Signing Day, which is right up there with the opening Thursday and Friday games of the NCAA Tournament in March as my favorite days of the year. Look for a breakdown of UW's incoming recruiting class on Wednesday the 4th once the recruits start sending in there letters of intent.