No one took Washington's first defeat harder than senior captain Quincy Pondexter.

As the Huskies filed out of the visiting locker room at United Spirit Arena and walked quietly to the bus, Pondexter stood barefoot in the hallway and took the blame for the 99-92 overtime defeat to Texas Tech. It was Washington's first road game and first loss, which dropped it to 5-1.

Of course, Pondexter didn't lose the game. In fact, he scored a career-high 31 points, including eight in overtime and was nearly the star of the night.

Despite the personal best scoring performance, Pondexter lamented his five rebounds and felt he could have played better defense in the first half when the Red Raiders built a 10-point lead.

HERE'S A PORTION OF PONDEXTER'S POST-GAME INTERVIEW:

(You really stepped up in overtime. Where did that come from?) "That's part of being a senior and this being my team. That's what it comes down to. I got to take the big shots. I got to take the other responsibilities for this team. And I believe this loss is my fault."

(Why do you say that?) "I could have been a better leader. We could have gotten a lot more stops on the defensive end. My team played great, but I just think it's all my fault."

(Do you take any satisfaction in scoring a career-high 31 points?) "I don't care. I don't care at all. My goal for this team is to win. I know I have to score points, that's part of it but I got to do a lot more other things than score points. I would rather score zero points and play the game like I played against Montana if my team won. It's just hard for me to deal with right now."

(What happened on Matthew Bryan-Amaning's turnover in overtime?) "The play was to get me the ball over the top, but the guy filled in that position and we were going to toss it to Venoy (Overton) and I was going to post up again. But the pass was deep and their guy made a good play on it. Not many people make that play at the end of the game. It was crazy."

(What were you thinking when the game reached overtime?) "I'm thinking we're gong to win. There's no doubt in my mind. It was our time. It was like those games that you see on ESPN where the team thinks they won and the crowd comes on the floor and they don't win."

MORE ON PONDEXTER:

--- Pondexter will join the cast of the Pacific Northwest Ballet's Nutcracker. His one-time guest appearance will be during the 7:30 showing on Wednesday, Dec. 23 at McCaw Hall in the Seattle Center.

ELSTON TURNER ON WITH KJR:

--- Turner spoke with KJR's Dave Mahler this afternoon.

A RECRUITING NOTE:

--- Garfield junior Tony Wroten Jr. listed Washington fourth among his top four teams on his Twitter page. The other schools (in order) include: Syracuse, Villanova and Oregon. In another tweet, Wroten wrote he's also considering Seattle University, Connecticut, Miami, Kentucky, St. Johns, and Seton Hall.