UW’s guard tandem bedevils Arizona State
by Jeff Metcalfe on Feb. 02, 2009, under SportsTEMPE – Arizona State center Jeff Pendergraph said he was disgusted that Washington’s starting guards, one a freshman, dropped 55 points Saturday on the Sun Devils.
Especially because it came two days after Washington State true freshman guard Klay Thompson had 28 points, including eight 3-pointers, against the Sun Devils.
“We’ve got to step up and not let stuff like that happen,” Pendergraph said after an 84-71 loss to the Huskies at Wells Fargo Arena. “Especially at home. And freshman, too. That’s so frustrating. You can’t let some dude that’s barely finished his 100-level classes come in here and kick your butt. That’s embarrassing.”
To be fair to ASU’s perimeter defenders, the greatest damage was inflicted by a senior. Justin Dentmon had a career-high 30 points, including four 3-pointers in the first half, when the No. 23 Huskies (16-5, 7-2 Pac-10) built a 41-29 lead.
Dentmon hit all his 3-pointers in a 15-2 run that put Washington up 27-14. True freshman guard Isaiah Thomas finished with 25, including 15 in the second half.
ASU’s James Harden, Pac-10 scoring leader, and Rihards Kuksiks, who began the week as the national 3-point percentage leader, played just 16 and 13 minutes in the first half, when they shot a combined 1-of-4 and had 5 points.
The 6-foot-5 Harden finished with 15 points, seven below his average, after going scoreless until 3:22 remained in the first half. Kuksiks was scoreless until 9:49 was left in the second half and finished with 10.
“You miss a shot, so what?” said Pendergraph, who did his part with 21 points and 15 rebounds. “Everybody misses a shot; nobody is 100 percent. People, seems like, are weak-minded. They get down on themselves for no reason. If you go into the game (thinking), ‘I’ve got to shoot well today,’ you’re going to suck.”
Oregon State 57, Oregon 54: At Corvallis, Ore., Calvin Haynes had 15 points to lead Oregon State in the 330th “civil war” meeting between the schools.
No. 17 UCLA 97, Stanford 63: At Los Angeles, Darren Collison, Alfred Aboya and Jrue Holiday all scored 15 points and UCLA put away Stanford with a 40-14 run over both halves.
USC 73, California 62: At Los Angeles, freshman Demar DeRozan scored a game-high 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting Saturday night to lead Southern California.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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AROUND THE PAC-10
Weekend scores: Arizona 66, Washington State 56; Washington 84, Arizona State 71; Oregon State 57, Oregon 54; UCLA 97, Stanford 63; USC 73, California 62
Wednesday’s game: USC at UCLA, 8:30 p.m.
Thursday’s games: Arizona at Oregon State, 6:30 p.m.; Arizona State at Oregon, 8:30 p.m.; Washington at California, 8:30 p.m.; Washington State at Stanford, 8:30 p.m.
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PAC-10 STANDINGS
School Conf. Overall
UCLA 7-2 17-4
Washington 7-2 16-5
USC 6-3 15-6
Arizona State 5-4 16-5
California 5-4 16-6
Arizona 4-5 14-8
Washington State 4-5 12-9
Oregon State 4-5 10-10
Stanford 3-6 13-6
Oregon 0-9 6-15