It was Tuesday and Lorenzo Romar hadn’t talked to his team about Seattle Pacific – its opponent in tonight’s exhibition game – upsetting No. 16 Arizona last week.
“Really, I haven’t talked to one player about it,” he said.
He didn’t need to. His players were aware.
“I was like, ‘Wow,’ ” said sophomore guard Terrence Ross. “It was shocking because (Arizona is) supposed to be one of the top teams in the (Pacific-12 Conference).”
It’s a good bet that the Wildcats were saying something different than, “wow,” following the 69-68 loss to the Falcons at the McKale Center on Oct. 27.
“You can’t underestimate anybody,” Ross said. “You have to come out ready to play every game.”
Call it a lesson learned for the Huskies without even playing a game. They know what happened to Arizona. They don’t want to be next on SPU’s upset tour.
“It just means that we can’t take any team lightly,” said senior forward Darnell Gant. “Anybody can beat anybody. We have to be prepared. We have to really know the scouting report because that’s a large part of what we do.”
Still, playing a team as disciplined in their offensive sets as the Falcons is not exactly ideal for the first game of the season, and certainly not ideal with two likely starters, Scott Suggs (foot) and Aziz N’Diaye (concussion), out with injuries.
“This is usually the type of team that you play maybe after your third or fourth game,” Romar said. “We played this type of game and this type of team in 2009 on the road against Portland. I remember how that one turned out.”
The Pilots stunned the Huskies, 80-74.
But that game counted in the standings. If the Huskies were to slip up in this game, it wouldn’t count against their overall record.
Of course, the Huskies want to win. But Romar is more concerned about things other than the final score
“In an exhibition game, it’s not about the score,” he said. “It’s about what we can learn through this exhibition game.”
With all the freshmen, Romar wants to see how his team will handle the preparation mentally and physically, playing in front of a crowd, and gauge his team’s overall defense.
Romar will start junior Abdul Gaddy at point guard, sophomores Ross and C.J. Wilcox at the other guards, with Gant at forward and redshirt freshman Desmond Simmons in place of N’Diaye.
Freshman standout Tony Wroten has been cleared to play after knee surgery and will suit up.
The Falcons are led by Jobi Wall, a transfer from Colorado Christian who scored 24 points, including four 3-pointers, against Arizona; point guard David Downs, a Bellevue Christian grad who added 14; and 6-11 center Andy Poling in the middle.
Ryan Divish: 253-597-8483 ryan.divish@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/uwsports
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