UW Men's Hoops: Huskies seek third scorer to complement Quincy Pondexter, Isaiah Thomas

Forget the record books.

If it takes shooting less and scoring fewer points, then that's what Quincy Pondexter will do.

He's not a naturally gifted passer, but somehow, some way Washington's senior captain is going to get his teammates not including Isaiah Thomas more involved in the offense.

"I know teams might try different things on the defensive end to adjust to myself and Isaiah," Pondexter said. "But we have to do a better job of getting our teammates involved so it's more of a collective effort than just us scoring."

Washington's offense isn't broken.

In fact, the 24th-ranked Huskies average a Pac-10-best 83.8 points.

Still, last week's 74-66 defeat to No. 11 Georgetown highlighted a potential fatal flaw as Washington (6-2) prepares for Saturday's game against Portland (6-3) at Edmundson Pavilion.

Outside of Pondexter and Thomas, who account for more than half of UW's points, the Huskies have yet to establish another consistent scorer.

"The ideal is to have four, five guys in double figures," coach Lorenzo Romar said. "When I talk four, five guys we're talking the leading scorer might be 15, 16 a game.

"[But] when you've got two guys averaging 20, it would not be a problem if there were three averaging eight or nine points a game."

No Huskies besides Pondexter (22.1 points) and Thomas (20.4) average more than nine.

After Pondexter and Thomas, only two players (Matthew Bryan-Amaning and Elston Turner) have scored at least 15 points in a game.

And Pondexter or Thomas has led UW in scoring in every game.

"When Quincy and Isaiah — in the past few games — have the ball, everybody sits and watches them," backup junior forward Justin Holiday said. "We can't do that. We can't relax that way. We need to keep moving like we're going to get the ball ourselves. And that will keep ourselves more in the offense and open up things more for them."

Last season, the Huskies assumed senior Jon Brockman would gobble up every missed shot and admittedly they didn't try as hard as they could to rebound.

This season, the same is true offensively.

The Huskies stand, watch and wait for Pondexter and Thomas to score the majority of the points.

"Sometimes it feels like I'm on an island and teams do really gear their defense to pack on me and focus on me," Pondexter said. "And the guys, they think I can make those shots a lot of times and they stand around and watch sometimes.

"I have to do a better job of moving it and not waiting so long to score and getting my teammates more involved so they won't have that feeling and we'll play more cohesive as a group."

Washington's greatest strength, its depth, is also one of its biggest weakness. There's a big drop-off in talent after Pondexter and Thomas but not much difference between Nos. 3-11 in the rotation.

Romar said the third scorer could emerge from a handful of role players. The candidates include:

• Bryan-Amaning flashed a glimpse of his potential when he scored 23 points in the second game of the season against Wright State. Still, the junior center has reached double-digit scoring in just one other game and he averages 8.4 points.

• Venoy Overton, a defensive stalwart, is third among the Huskies in minutes and fourth in scoring at 6.1. Generally his points are the result of opponents' turnovers or fast-break opportunities.

• Turner is fifth in scoring at 5.5 points. The sophomore guard notched a personal-best 15 points at Texas Tech, but he's connected on just 2 of 8 shots with six points the past two games.

• Sophomore guard Scott Suggs, redshirt freshman forward Tyreese Breshers and freshman guard Abdul Gaddy have each finished games as UW's third-leading scorer.

• Among the deep reserves: freshman forward Clarence Trent has a team-high .615 shooting percentage, Holiday has an improved jump shot and sophomore forward Darnell Gant, last season's starting forward, has a dependable midrange jumper.

Addressing the offensive concerns has been Romar's top priority this week.

When asked how he feels about his team two weeks before the start of the Pac-10 season, Romar said: "Cautiously optimistic."

"One concern [is] having enough guys that can knock shots down on the perimeter or guys that can, to start doing it," he said. "The other things are fixable. We'll get those taken care of. The defensive errors, the turnovers, the forced shots, we'll get that taken care of, but we've got to put the ball in the hole."

Romar said he doesn't want Pondexter and Thomas taking fewer shots, he wants better ball movement to create better shots for everyone else.

Still Pondexter is OK if his scoring declines.

His points-per-game average is 13th in the nation and he's on pace to finish near the top of Washington's all-time scoring list.

"I can sacrifice my points," he said. "It doesn't matter to me. As long as we're getting wins, then I'm happy."

Percy Allen: 206-464-2278 or pallen@seattletimes.com

Quincy Pondexter and Isaiah Thomas have been Washington's top two scorers in seven of the Huskies' eight games. The Huskies are searching for a consistent third option. Six Huskies have been the third-highest scorer in games.

Opponent/Pondexter/Thomas/Next highest

Wright State/12/30/Scott Suggs, 9

Belmont/25/23/Matthew Bryan-Amaning, 23

Portland State/29/21/Venoy Overton, 11

San Jose State/30/16/Tyreese Breshers, 12

Montana*/7/13/Elston Turner, 11

Texas Tech/31/18/Turner, 15

Cal State Northridge/20/21/Abdul Gaddy, 11

Georgetown/23/21/Bryan-Amaning, Suggs, 5 each

*Pondexter was the fifth-highest UW scorer.