Washington fireworks too much for Nevada

Two factors motivated Isaiah Thomas to take over Washington's game against Nevada.

For the first time in three years, the Huskies played without senior reserve guard Venoy Overton, who sat out to rest his left hyperextended knee, which snapped his streak of 114 games played.

Perhaps more important, Thomas knew Wednesday's game was the last nonconference game before Pac-10 play begins next week.

"Coming out I just wanted to be highly aggressive," he said after Washington's 90-60 victory at Edmundson Pavilion. "Not to just score but to make plays. I feel like this was the last tuneup to the Pac-10 and got to be more aggressive."

Thomas admitted he hadn't been offensively assertive early in the season because he wanted to help the newcomers adjust and find their roles. Through the first 10 games, UW had five different game-high scorers, while Thomas took a back seat at times offensively.

All of that changed against Nevada.

The Huskies put the ball in the hands of their 5-foot-9 junior guard and he did a little bit of everything in his best performance of the season.

He scored 24 points and collected eight rebounds, both season highs. He also dished out four assists and committed just one turnover in 30 minutes.

"Isaiah is Isaiah," senior forward Matthew Bryan-Amaning said. "Everybody will say he's having a bad year or say he's doing this or doing that, but then he'll shut you up pretty quick.

"Isaiah is going to be Isaiah regardless. He doesn't let anything bother him whether it's on the floor or what people are saying around him."

The Huskies took their cue from Thomas, who penetrated into the teeth of the Wolf Pack defense for several acrobatic layups and drained four three-pointers.

They pounced on Nevada early, built a 24-14 lead midway through the first half and extended it to 47-27 at halftime.

On the final play in the first half, Thomas dribbled in the lane, drew two defenders and whipped a pass to C.J. Wilcox in the corner. The redshirt freshman drained a three-pointer, which brought the announced sellout of 10,000 to their feet.

The second half was more of the same for the Huskies.

They extended their lead to 61-34 after sophomore center Aziz N'Diaye powered in a put-back dunk and freshman Terrence Ross flushed a two-hand alley-oop pass from Thomas with 14:36 remaining.

The rest of the game was a series of highlight dunks from Justin Holiday (12 points and nine rebounds) and Ross, tenacious defense that held Nevada to 28.3 percent shooting and excellent marksmanship behind the arc. Washington sank 11 of 29 three-pointers.

In addition to Thomas, the Huskies got good mileage from its new big lineup that features N'Diaye (11 points and 10 rebounds) and Bryan-Amaning (16 points and 11 rebounds).

Making their second start together, both had a double-double, controlled the glass and allowed UW to win the rebounding battle 56-42.

The game was a spectacular showcase, similar to Washington's six previous home blowout victories. The Huskies extended their nonconference home winning streak to 23 and they've put the 63-62 loss at Texas A&M two weeks ago in their rearview mirror.

"I think we've built ourselves back up to where we're at that level before we played Texas A&M and maybe even a little better," coach Lorezno Romar said. "Now we have to take it on the road."

The Huskies (8-3) begin Pac-10 play next week in Los Angeles against USC and UCLA.

"The real season starts now," Thomas said.

Overton is expected to return 100 percent for the Trojans game on Dec. 29. However, the Huskies are unsure if Holiday will be completely healthy. He turned his right ankle during a scrum beneath the basket when Washington led 83-49 with 5:57 left.

Holiday underwent an X-ray exam Wednesday night and Romar indicated the seven-day layoff will help him return.

"We need him," Thomas said.

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

Box score

NEVADA (3-9)
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Czyz	27	1-7	4-5	0-4	1	1	6
Panzer	23	0-1	0-1	1-7	0	1	0
Hunt	28	5-12	6-8	6-14	0	4	16
Burton	28	4-14	6-7	0-2	2	4	14
Story	33	5-12	0-0	1-4	0	0	11
Evans	24	0-2	5-7	1-2	1	2	5
Elliott	8	0-2	0-0	2-2	0	3	0
Cukic	9	0-1	0-0	1-2	0	0	0
Finn	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Burris	5	1-1	2-2	0-1	0	0	5
Conner	14	1-8	1-3	0-2	1	2	3
	200	17-60	24-33	13-42	5	17	60

Percentages: FG .283, FT .727. Three-point goals: 2-12, .167 (Burris 1-1, Story 1-2, Czyz 0-2, Conner 0-3, Burton 0-4). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 4 (Hunt 3, Evans). Turnovers: 11 (Burton 3, Story 3, Panzer, Conner, Cukic, Hunt, Evans). Steals: 2 (Burris, Czyz). Technical fouls: None.

WASHINGTON (8-3)
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
B-Amaning	28	6-16	4-9	3-11	2	2	16
Holiday	28	5-7	0-0	2-9	2	1	12
N'Diaye	20	5-9	1-1	5-10	0	2	11
Gaddy	23	1-6	0-0	2-3	5	4	2
Thomas	30	9-19	2-3	3-8	4	3	24
Hosley	2	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Suggs	19	3-6	0-0	0-2	1	2	8
Wilcox	15	1-7	0-0	2-3	2	2	3
Ross	19	3-7	2-2	0-4	1	3	9
Sherrer	2	0-0	0-0	0-1	0	0	0
Gant	14	2-5	0-0	4-4	1	4	5
	200	35-83	9-15	21-56	18	23	90

Percentages: FG .422, FT .600. Three-point goals: 11-29, .379 (Thomas 4-10, Holiday 2-3, Suggs 2-3, Gant 1-1, Wilcox 1-4, Ross 1-4, Hosley 0-1, Gaddy 0-3). Team rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 7 (Bryan-Amaning 4, Suggs, N'Diaye, Holiday). Turnovers: 5 (N'Diaye 2, Sherrer, Bryan-Amaning, Thomas). Steals: 7 (Holiday 3, Ross 2, Bryan-Amaning 2). Technical fouls: None.

Nevada	27	33	—	60
Washington	47	43	—	90

Attendance: 10,000. Officials: Dick Cartmell, Michael Eggers, Bill Kennedy.