Notebook | Romar puts Dentmon in lineup, with no luck

LOS ANGELES — Washington men's basketball coach Lorenzo Romar said Tuesday that he expected to go with the same lineup for Thursday night's game at UCLA, but warned that with two practices remaining before tipoff, things could change.

What did change was Romar deciding the Huskies needed an extra ballhandler on the floor, so the Huskies made a move, putting Justin Dentmon back in the lineup in place of Joel Smith.

The other starters remained the same — Jon Brockman and Artem Wallace up front and Ryan Appleby and Tim Morris in the backcourt.

"The thing we were concerned about coming in here was being able to take care of the ball," Romar said. "We don't have a lot of ballhandlers in that starting lineup and thought we needed one more."

Romar thought the move worked early as the teams were locked in a 10-10 tie after eight minutes.

But UCLA took advantage of a few careless Huskies turnovers to go on a 31-13 run the rest of the half to take a 41-23 lead.

"We just lost a little focus in the first half, and that's when they got away," said Dentmon, who played just 16 minutes as freshman Venoy Overton handled point-guard duties for much of the second half and played 22 minutes. "We've got to stop turning the ball over. When we stop turning it over, we are going to be a good team."

Neuheisel

in the house

Former UW football coach Rick Neuheisel, who recently was named to the same position at UCLA, attended his first game since taking over.

"It's a little bit surreal, isn't it?" he said of seeing the Huskies across the way.

He's expected to be introduced to the crowd during Saturday's game against Washington State, but he was met with a steady stream of well-wishers while walking into Pauley Pavilion.

"It's exciting, but now we have to deliver," Neuheisel said.

Neuheisel described his first 12 days on the job — he was hired Dec. 29 — as "a whirlwind. There's so many things you have to do — interview coaches, talk to recruits, get a new driver's license. It's endless. But it's exciting."

Not the best

UCLA team?

Though Romar said he thinks UCLA is the best team in the country, Dentmon said he wasn't sure this was the best UCLA team he has played against in his three years at UW.

"They're good, but they are not as good as they've been in the past," he said. "They let us back in the game. They could have put us away a long time ago."

Notes

• Jon Brockman has 1,005 career points, becoming the 32nd player in school history to top 1,000.

• Washington again lost the battle at the free-throw line as UCLA was 19 of 21 while the Huskies were 7 of 14.

WASHINGTON
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Brockman	35	7-14	2-4	5-8	2	2	16
Wallace	17	4-5	1-4	0-1	0	2	9
Morris	26	2-6	0-0	0-1	0	2	4
Dentmon	16	2-4	0-0	0-1	2	1	4
Appleby	18	0-2	0-0	0-1	0	1	0
Smith	17	2-3	0-0	3-6	2	1	5
Overton	22	0-6	1-2	1-2	1	3	1
B.-Amaning	18	2-3	0-0	0-2	0	0	4
Holiday	4	0-0	0-0	0-0	1	1	0
Pondexter	25	3-10	3-4	0-0	1	3	10
Wolfinger	2	1-2	0-0	0-0	0	1	2
	200	23-55	7-14	9-26	9	17	55

Percentages: FG .418, FT .500. Three-point goals: 2-10, .200 (Smith 1-2, Pondexter 1-3, Overton 0-1, Wolfinger 0-1, Appleby 0-1, Morris 0-1, Dentmon 0-1). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 0. Turnovers: 15 (Appleby 3, Brockman 2, Dentmon 2, Wolfinger, Pondexter, Bryan-Amaning, Holiday, Overton, Smith, Morris, Wallace). Steals: 6 (Pondexter 2, Dentmon, Overton, Bryan-Amaning, Brockman). Technical fouls: None.

UCLA
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Aboya	9	0-1	0-0	0-2	0	5	0
Mbah a Moute	36	6-11	5-5	2-3	0	0	17
Love	32	3-6	4-4	1-7	4	2	11
Collison	18	2-6	4-4	0-2	2	0	8
Shipp	30	4-9	0-0	0-5	1	4	9
Westbrook	35	6-7	6-8	0-3	4	0	18
Keefe	17	0-1	0-0	1-2	0	1	0
Mata-Real	18	3-4	0-0	1-3	1	2	6
Stanback	4	0-1	0-0	0-0	1	0	0
Dragovic	1	0-0	0-0	0-1	0	0	0
	200	24-46	19-21	6-32	13	14	69

Percentages: FG .522, FT .905. Three-point goals: 2-10, .200 (Love 1-2, Shipp 1-4, Stanback 0-1, Keefe 0-1, Mbah a Moute 0-2). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 3 (Mata-Real 2, Keefe). Turnovers: 17 (Westbrook 5, Love 4, Collison 2, Shipp 2, Aboya 2, Mata-Real, Mbah a Moute). Steals: 5 (Collison 2, Westbrook 2, Mbah a Moute). Technical fouls: None.

Washington	23	32	—	55
UCLA	41	28	—	69

Attendance: 11,421. Officials: Dick Cartmell, Michael Reed, Mike Littlewood.