Citizen Staff Writer
By STEVE RIVERA
srivera@tucsoncitizen.com
SEATTLE – The basketball will be a precious commodity here in the great Northwest.
No. 7-ranked Arizona will try to be the first team this season to outrebound No. 24 Washington. And the Huskies will try to cut down on the 42 total turnovers they had in losses to USC and No. 1 UCLA last weekend.
Washington’s big front line is led by 6-foot-7 sophomore Jon Brockman and 6-11 super freshman Spencer Hawes, who are averaging 10.2 and 5.8 rebounds a game, respectively.
“Hawes is a real problem inside,” UA coach Lute Olson said. “Brockman is a horse on the boards. We are going to be facing a situation similar to what we had with Stanford.”
UA beat Stanford 89-75 on Saturday, but the Cardinal outrebounded the Cats 36-27, led by freshman 7-foot twins Robin and Brook Lopez, who combined for 16 boards.
“We need to learn to be able to deal better with two inside guys,” Olson said. “Hawes is like the Lopez twins; if they get the ball in deep you have a problem. If you front him, then you have a problem of over-the-top passes. . . . We need to do a better job of the other perimeter guys getting the boards covered,” Olson said.
(See Wildcat Blog, Page 2C)
If Washington is to avoid going 0-3 in conference for the first time since 2004, turnovers will have to be kept to a minimum.
“It’s an issue,” UW coach Lorenzo Romar told the Seattle media this week. “We thought we resolved it when we had 11 (against Weber State) and nine (against LSU). Then we went back on the road and it reoccurred. It’s a team problem.”