Notebook | Appleby moves on from disappointing L.A. trip

Ryan Appleby's forgettable weekend in Los Angeles was forgotten by the time he took the court Thursday against the Oregon Ducks.

"If you're going to be a shooter, you have to have a short-term memory and forget about the shots you miss," Appleby said.

So out of his mind was the 0 for 7 in two games at USC and UCLA, and the goose egg in the score book in both games.

And in his memory now are 19 points he scored to help lift the Huskies to a 78-70 win over Oregon, including 5 for 10 on three-pointers.

Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said it helped that "it was a little more wide-open game," which allowed Appleby to get a couple of three-pointers in transition.

The Huskies also seemed to find him more often, and unlike the USC game, when he had a couple of open looks but simply missed, he hit more against the Ducks.

"I've never thought twice about the shots that I took on the L.A. trip," Appleby said. "I thought those shots were in, just like tonight — when I shot them, I thought they were in."

Meeting of minds

Other players apparently didn't find it quite so easy to forget about Los Angeles, however, so the Huskies called a players-only meeting before practice Tuesday.

"We just wanted to make sure we were still on the same page," said Huskies senior guard Tim Morris, one of the team's three captains. "Even though we lost the last three games, we've been doing some good things and been playing well in certain situations. So we wanted to make sure that even though we lost, we weren't having any dissension and were staying together."

Morris said a later talk with coaches also helped.

"They made us feel like we are all in this together," Morris said. "That it's not the coaches trying to get us in practice, or that the coaches don't lose and we lose — everybody is in this together. So that brought up the camaraderie a little bit, and we were more positive in practice this week even though we had lost."

Fab frosh

Washington's true freshmen, guard Venoy Overton and center Matthew Bryan-Amaning, were on the floor for most of the final minutes of the game, indicating the coaches' increasing confidence in the two.

Overton got his second consecutive start and had 11 points and five assists; Bryan-Amaning played 20 minutes off the bench with six points and three rebounds.

Appleby said that Overton "did the best job he's done all year of pushing the ball up the floor and taking it when he had it to the basket and finding guys for open shots."

Added Appleby: "I think he grew up a lot tonight."

Romar said that Bryan-Amaning "was more patient than he's been in the paint."

Percentages: FG .431, FT .577. Three-point goals: 7-20 (Overton 0-2, Morris 0-2, Appleby 5-10, Smith 0-1, Dentmon 1-3, Pondexter 1-2). Team rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 3 (Brockman, Bryan-Amaning, Pondexter). Turnovers: 11 (Brockman 2, Overton 4, Appleby, Smith, Dentmon 2, Pondexter). Steals: 8 (Brockman 3, Overton, Morris 3, Dentmon).

Attendance: 9,628. Officials: Bruce Hicks, Don McAllister, Tony Padilla. Technical fouls: Oregon-None. Washington-None.