Justly Hyped Husky Hoopsters Nearly Sell Out Exhibition Game

Isaiah Thomas

A Husky basketball exhibition game Saturday afternoon drew a near sellout crowd to Hec Edmundson Pavilion. I ambled up to the ticket line 30 minutes before the game, expecting a long friendly chat with a bored ticket seller. Instead, the line was seven people deep.

By gametime, they'd opened up the will call windows for ticket sales, trying to winnow down an unexpectedly massive turnout. Announced attendance was 8,909. Actual attendance was probably closer to 7,000, but still--consider that a sold-out Paramount show seats just 2,807.

The message was clear: People are excited about the Huskies, named preseason favorites to win the Pac-10 for the first time in school history.

The Huskies showed why, drowning Division II Saint Martin's in a cascade of three-pointers for a 97-76 win. The Dawgs hit 10 of 17 threes. If the Huskies can shoot like this all year, they'll go to the Final Four.

Star guard Isaiah Thomas showed a willingness to defer to his teammates--Thomas didn't take a shot in the first half, unheard of for a player normally thought of as a ballhog. Thomas instead used himself as a decoy, amassing 11 assists in just 26 minutes. Thomas also led the Dawgs with 5 defensive rebounds.

There's room for improvement in the front court. Big men Matthew Bryan-Amaning and Aziz N'Diaye failed to control the paint against the much-smaller Saint Martin's. The Saints actually outrebounded the Huskies. That should not happen. N'Diaye is as tall and quick as advertised, but I really jumped the gun on his potential production. He looked lost on the floor, has poor hands, and ended up with more fouls than points. Not the ratio you want.

A shoutout to Saint Martin's big man Blake Poole, who banged with the much-bigger Bryan-Amaning and N'Diaye for 33 minutes, scoring 21 points and grabbing 13 boards, both game highs. Impressive, gutsy performance by Poole, who was a DII honorable mention All-American last year.

The Dawgs' open the regular season for real next Saturday afternoon against McNeese St. (tix!) If you want a peek at the Dawgs in person without paying through the nose, do it now. I have a feeling that tickets are going to get very dear as this season progresses.