Bobby Jones honored by the Pac-10

Washington senior Bobby Jones finally had a trip home to remember, and was rewarded for it Monday by being named the Pac-10 Conference's Player of the Week.

Jones, a native of Compton, Calif., who had traditionally struggled on the Los Angeles road swing, scored 33 points and had 21 rebounds as the Huskies won at USC and UCLA — Washington's first road sweep of the L.A. schools since 1987. He also hit 5 of 14 three-pointers and 10 of 12 free throws.

The award is the first in Jones' career and the first for Washington this season.

The weekend also marked a return to form for Jones, who had struggled since injuring his ankle Dec. 10 against New Mexico.

"It's getting better," he said. "I guess you could say I'm about 95 percent now. I made my first two or three shots against USC and I was able to get my confidence going. I knew the last two or three weeks if I could get a good game, I would be able to put a couple of good games together and everything would be all right."

It also helped that Jones played some minutes at his old power forward position in each game after playing primarily on the perimeter previously. The move was made primarily for matchup reasons, and Jones will continue to spend most of his time on the perimeter. But he said the move was "kind of going back to our old tricks a little bit.

"It gives me more of a chance to defend and rebound and once I was getting rebounds, I was able to get my rhythm and that's when my shots started falling."

Washington (14-2, 3-2 Pac-10) plays host to Oregon State on Thursday and Oregon on Saturday.

Notes

• Washington rose from No. 13 to No. 10 in both The Associated Press and coaches' polls this week.

• Oregon State could be without starting point guard Lamar Hurd on Thursday. Hurd, a senior, strained a lower abdominal muscle in Saturday's loss to Arizona State. Senior Jason Fontenet would likely move back into the starting lineup in place of Hurd.

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com