GAME: Seton Hall (2-0 overall, 0-0 Big East) vs. Washington (1-1 overall, 0-0, Pac-12). WHEN: Saturday, 4:30 p.m., Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, CT. TYPE: Tournament/Tip-Off Hall of Fame Classic. MEETING: 1st. RANKINGS: Neither ranked. COACHES: Kevin Willard, Seton Hall; Lorenzo Romar, Washington. TV: ESPN3. RADIO: KKNW 1150 AM.
The Huskies continue play in the Tip-Off Hall of Fame Classic Saturday with their first meeting with Seton Hall. Washington is coming off a stunning, 63-62 loss to the Albany Great Danes in the second round of the tournament while the Pirates defeated Norfolk State in the second round 78-65.
Washington concludes play in the Tip-Off Classic Sunday afternoon against either No. 4 Ohio State or unranked Rhode Island.
Unless the Huskies play far better defense than they did against Albany, which Lorenzo Romar described as “disappointing . . . very disappointing,” they stand an excellent chance of starting the season 1-3. That would be the worst start to a campaign since 2002-03 when Romar’s first UW club opened 0-3 en route to a 10-17 finish.
Washington has had two other seasons of 1-3 starts in the past 25 years, 1995 and 1994 under Bob Bender. Bender’s 1995 team also went 10-17 and his 1994 ragtags finished 5-22.
Seton Hall went 20-12 in 2011-12 but is not highly regarded within the Big East. In the conference’s preseason coaches poll, the Pirates were picked to finish 14th in the 15-team race.
The Seton Hall player who will most concern the Huskies is 6-foot-6 junior forward Fuquan Edwin, who is not only the Pirates’ leading scorer at 19.5 points per game, but holds the distinction of being the first Big East player to lead the nation in steals (102). Seton Hall is a big team, with four players standing 6-foot-9 or taller.
The main question for Washington is whether guard Scott Suggs will play and, if he does, for how long. Suggs suffered a concussion in the early minutes against Albany when he took an elbow and a knee to the head and has spent the majority of the week in a fog. If he can’t play, freshman Andrew Andrews is expected to get the start.
Andrews played 36 minutes against Albany and scored nine points, but he ran out of gas as his man, Mike Black, scored a game-high 22 points.
“By the end of the game, Andrews didn’t have a whole lot left,” said Romar. “So losing Suggs affects (us) in a lot of ways.”
UW STATS / NOTES
- SEASON SUMMARY: Record: 1-1. Home: 1-1. Road: 0-0. Neutral: 0-0. Vs. Pac-12: 0-0. Vs. Pac-12 North: 0-0. Vs. Pac-12 South: 0-0. Vs. Non-Conference: 1-1. Points: 147 (73.5). Field Goal Pct.: 47.6. 3-Pt. FG Pct.: 41.4. Free Throw Pct.: 66.1. Rebounds: 77 (38.5). Assists: 22 (11.0). Steals: 8 (4.0). Blocks: 12 (6.0). Points Against: 126 (63.0). Opp. FG Pct.: 40.4. Opp. 3-Pt. FG Pct.: 31.4. Opp FT Pct.: 57.5. Opp. Rebounds: 58 (29.0) : Opp. Assists: 20 (10.0). Opp. Steals: 9 (4.5). Opp. Blocks: 10 (5.0). Ratings Percentage Index (RPI): 0.45 (Rank 83rd).
- PAC-12 RANKINGS: Scoring Offense — 12th (73.5). Scoring Defense — 5th (63.0). Scoring Margin –T10 (+10.5). FG Pct. — 6th (47.6). FT Pct. — 11th (66.1). 3-Pt FG Pct. — 4th (41.4). Rebound Margin — 3rd (+9.5). Blocked Shots — T5 (6.0). Assists — 11th (11.0). Steals — 10th (4.0). Turnover Margin — 10th (-1.00).
- Azia N’Diaye’s double-double against Albany was his second of the season and the eighth of his career.
- Darin Johnson, a 6-5 guard from Sacramento, has signed his letter of intent for next year with the Huskies. Johnson declined offers from Oregon, San Diego State and Texas A&M.
- Washington has two new faces on its bench. Joining the staff are Brad Jackson and Lamont Smith. Jackson joins the Huskies after leading Western Washington to the 2012 NCAA Division II championship. He spent 27 years as head coach for the Vikings before making the move to Seattle after Raphael Chillious left the Huskies’ bench to become an assistant at Villanova. Smith joined Romar’s staff soon after Jackson, reuniting with his former boss. Smith spent the last five years as an assistant at Arizona State, but got his coaching start under Romar at Saint Louis from 1999-2000. Smith replaces Paul Fortier, who moves to the new position of Director of Player Personnel and Recruiting.
- Since 2004-2005 — Romar’s third season — the Huskies have won 191 games, the most in any eight-year span of UW basketball. Romar has averaged 21.9 wins per season during his UW career and has amassed four of the seven best single-season win totals in UW history. Romar earned his sixth 20-win season in 2012, including a school record four-consecutive seasons, and only trails Hec Edmundson’s 11 seasons with 20+ wins.
UW HEAD COACH: Lorenzo Romar (313-202 overall, 220-114 UW) is coming off a year in which the Huskies won the Pac-12 regular-season title. Romar has taken the Huskies to the NCAA Tournament six times and won three Pac-10 Tournament titles (2005, 2010, 2011). Romar, who signed a 10-year contract extension in April 2011, won his his 200th game at Washington Dec. 16, 2011. He had his 300th career victory and his 100th as a conference coach on Jan. 21, 2012. Romar was selected the Pac-12 Coach of the Year for the third time in his career.
Romar played for the Huskies under head coach Marv Harshman during the 1979-80 seasons (served as team captain his senior year), and had a five-year NBA career with Golden State (1981-84), Milwaukee (1984) and Detroit (1984-85). He became a college head coach at Pepperdine in 1997, where he coached for three seasons, then spent three years (1999-02) at St. Louis University before taking the Washington job in 2002-03.
2012-13 Washington Statistics
| Player | G | FG% | 3FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C.J. Wilcox | 2 | 51.9 | 50.0 | 0.00 | 5.0 | 1.5 | 16.5 |
| Abdul Gaddy | 2 | 54.2 | 42.9 | 80.0 | 3.0 | 2.5 | 16.5 |
| Aziz N’Diaye | 2 | 57.1 | 0.00 | 43.8 | 13.5 | 0.5 | 11.5 |
| Andrew Andrews | 2 | 22.2 | 0.00 | 73.7 | 1.5 | 3.0 | 9.0 |
| Desmond Simmons | 2 | 37.5 | 100.0 | 75.0 | 4.5 | 1.0 | 6.5 |
| Jernard Jarreau | 2 | 37.5 | 0.00 | 75.0 | 3.5 | 0.5 | 4.5 |
| Scott Suggs | 2 | 60.0 | 60.0 | 0.00 | 2.0 | 1.5 | 7.5 |
| Hikeem Stewart | 2 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.0 |
| Martin Breunig | 1 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 50.0 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| D. Overstreet | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
SETON HALL NOTES: Seton Hall opened the season with a 75-36 rout of Missouri-Kansas City and followed with a 78-65 victory over Norfolk State . . . Brandon Mobley is Seton Hall’s leading rebounder at 10.0 per contest and Teague averages 9.0 . . . In its first two games, Seton Hall outshot its opponents 47.7 percent to 31.7 percent and enjoyed a 44.0-29.5 advantage in rebounding . . . Seton Hall is averaging 76.5 points per game and allowing 50.5 . . . The Pirates make 40.9 percent of their three point shots and average 9.0 steals per game.
SETON HALL HEAD COACH: Kevin Willard is in his third season as head coach of the Pirates. He is coming off a 20-12 2011-12 season in which Seton Hall made the second round of the NIT. Willard launched his head coaching career at Iona in 2007-08 and had one 20-win team there, 21-10 in 2009-10. Willard has also served as an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics (1997-01).
COMING UP: The Huskies have a short turnaround. They will play the winner of Ohio State-Rhode Island Sunday. Washington returns to Alaska Airlines Arena Nov. 24 for a game against Colorado State.
University of Washington 2012-13 Schedule
(Rankings From Associated Press)
| Date | Opponent | UW Rnk | Opp Rnk | W/L | Score | Rec. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11/11/12 | @vs. W. Washington | — | — | W | 88-78 | 0-0 |
| 11/11/12 | *vs. Loyola-MD. | — | — | W | 85-63 | 1-0 |
| 11/13/12 | *vs. Albany | — | — | L | 63-62 | 1-1 |
| 11/17/12 | *vs. Seton Hall | — | — | — | — | — |
| 11/18/12 | *vs. Ohio St./R. Island | — | — | — | — | — |
| 11/24/12 | vs. Colorado St. | — | — | — | — | — |
| 11/28/12 | vs. Saint Louis | — | — | — | — | — |
| 12/2/12 | Cal St.-Fuller. | — | — | — | — | — |
| 12/8/12 | vs. Nevada | — | — | — | — | — |
| 12/13/12 | at Seattle U. | — | — | — | — | — |
| 12/15/12 | vs. Jackson St. | — | — | — | — | — |
| 12/20/12 | vs. Cal Poly | — | — | — | — | — |
| 12/22/12 | vs. N. Illinois | — | — | — | — | — |
| 12/29/12 | at Connecticut | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1/5/13 | at WSU | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1/9/13 | at California | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1/16/13 | vs. Colorado | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1/19/13 | vs. Utah | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1/23/13 | at Oregon St. | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1/26/13 | at Oregon | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1/31/13 | vs. Arizona | — | 12 | — | — | — |
| 2/2/13 | vs. ASU | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/7/13 | at UCLA | — | 13 | — | — | — |
| 2/10/13 | at USC | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/13/13 | vs. Oregon | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/16/13 | vs. Oregon St. | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/20/13 | at Arizona | — | 12 | — | — | — |
| 2/23/13 | at ASU | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/3/13 | vs. WSU | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/6/13 | vs. USC | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/9/13 | vs. UCLA | — | 13 | — | — | — |
| 3/13/13 | ^First Round | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/14/13 | ^Quarterfinal | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/15/13 | ^Semifinal | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/16/13 | ^Championship | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/19/13 | #1st Four | — | — | — | — | |
| 3/21/13 | #2nd-3rd Rnds. | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/28/13 | #Regionals | — | — | — | — | — |
| 4/6/13 | #Final 4 Semi | — | — | — | — | — |
| 4/8/13 | #Final 4 Champ. | — | — | — | — | — |
@=Exhibition; *=Hall of Fame Classic; ^=Pac-12 Tournament; #=NCAA Tournament