Darnell Gant willing to play role for Huskies

Washington forward Darnell Gant is considering majoring in drama.

As far as his coaches and teammates are concerned, however, he's already mastered the art of acting in a supporting role.

The 6-foot-8, 215-pounder averages just 3.2 points and hasn't scored more than eight in any contest all season.

But coach Lorenzo Romar says Gant's contributions are as meaningful as any of his other starters.

"He's a great example of the numbers meaning absolutely nothing," Romar says. "He's a big-time unsung hero for us."

Fitting, maybe, for a guy who also dabbles in music — he has some rhythm and blues and gospel songs he's looking to record once the season ends and has been known to play the piano in the lobbies of the team hotel on the road.

For now, however, Gant's worried mostly about doing what he can to keep Washington's game in tune.

"What can I do to help the team win?" Romar says of Gant's approach to this season. "That's all he's tried to do."

And for this year, that has meant playing defense — guarding a 6-5 guard one game, a 6-11 center the next — grabbing a few rebounds, hitting some timely buckets, and being just fine with staying out of the limelight.

"He did whatever was needed with no complaints," Romar said. "A lot of players don't understand that when you do that, you get the coach's attention, and it's a testament to him that he's been rewarded for that attitude."

In fact, he's started every game for the Huskies (17-6, 8-3 in Pac-10), who are in second place behind UCLA heading into an 8 p.m. contest tonight against Oregon State.

"I'm the type of person that you tell me what to do and I try to my best to go do it," Gant said. "So it wasn't a struggle for me to take over that role."

Instead, Gant said he knew it was a way for him to get on the floor after sitting out last season as a redshirt. Gant made the decision to redshirt on his own, thinking it would give him a year to mature mentally and physically, and that it would pay off with a better season as a fifth-year senior than he'd likely have had as a freshman. Gant said he sometimes fell asleep in film sessions last year, or would sleep in until the last minute before early morning workouts.

"I really think I'm a different person now," said Gant, who said he weighed about 197 when he arrived at UW in the fall of 2007 from Crenshaw High in Los Angeles.

Romar said the decision to redshirt illustrates Gant's selflessness, which became further evident as practice started this season and the coaches began to put the pieces together of a remade team. Gant's athleticism and long arms, they noticed, gave UW a defensive versatility in the middle it hadn't had the past few seasons. And his unselfishness fits in well with a starting unit made up of proven scorers.

"It helps with the chemistry of our team because the other four that are starting are all offensive-minded and he's the one that kind of helps those guys get theirs a little bit," Romar said. "That's for now. As time goes on, he'll be more of an opportunity scorer and go from there."

For now, he's content to concentrate on defensive assignments, such as guarding Stanford forward Lawrence Hill, who scored just four points, 10 below his average, on Sunday. It was similar to the job Gant did on Arizona State's James Harden the week before, when he began each half guarding Harden as UW held him to 15 points, seven below his average.

And tonight comes a rematch with OSU center Roeland Schaftenaar, whom Gant guarded in the first meeting last month in Corvallis as the Huskies won 85-59. The 6-11 Schaftenaar is the key player in OSU's Princeton offense, passing to teammates or getting his own shot out of the high post.

That he can defend a player like Harden one game, a player like Schaftenaar the next, is all that's really needed to explain Gant's value, Romar said.

"I like being a defensive stopper," Gant said. "Scoring is going to come later down the road, so I don't worry about that."

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