DOWN WITH PANTS!

It wasn't pretty, but they got the job done. The Washington Huskies didn't look particularly good last night beating Seattle Pacific 89-71 but they were missing four of their top players and were forced to play their deep bench for quite a bit of the game. Brandon Roy scored 23 points and Nate Robinson added 22. Freshman Joel Smith had 15 points in his first collegiate game.

I was most impressed with Smith. In his first two games he has looked very impressive on both sides of the ball. Offensively he has a decent outside game and shoots very well from just inside the three point line and he is explosive around the basket. Early in the second half he received a pass just outside the key and drove and exploded into the air for a dunk that surprised everybody in the building. He didn't look like he was anywhere near being able to dunk the ball but all of a sudden, there he was.

I was also impressed with Seattle Pacific. Not only am I a big husky fan but I've always really enjoyed going to small college games. Growing up in Olympia we had some outstanding NAIA teams at Saint Martin's and it was there that I started to love college basketball. So around here we have the Huskies obviously and then the crosstown rivalry between Division II Seattle Pacific and Seattle University. Anyway, Seattle Pacific looked pretty good despite losing by 18 points. They have an incredible guard in Jordan Lee who scored 22 points including six three pointers and a solid big man in Jason Chivers who added 17 points. They look like they'll be pretty tough in GNWAC play this year.

Washington travels to Anchorage next week for the Great Alaska Shootout. They play Utah on Thanksgiving Night at 7:00 PM. The game may or may not be on ESPN2 as I cannot find confirmation that it will be. They then face either High Point or Oklahoma in the second round on Friday and the final round is on Saturday.