Huskies still have some work to do

LOS ANGELES — Near the conclusion of a sloppy-turned-swell performance, Matthew Bryan-Amaning stole the basketball from Stanford forward Landry Fields, dribbled downcourt with his gazelle-like strides and rammed a one-handed dunk.

Then he stopped and posed for a cameraman sitting on the baseline. Washington coach Lorenzo Romar greeted the showboating with disgust, threw his hands up and turned his back.

It was an apt kicker to this game.

The Huskies began their postseason run by playing well enough — not terrific, not terrible, a mix of magnificent bursts and mindless mistakes. Nevertheless, they were able to advance to the semifinals of the Pac-10 men's basketball tournament with an 85-73 victory Thursday over Stanford.

It shows how good they are, so good they can drift in and out and still win by double digits in a single-elimination affair. It also tells you how much tightening their game requires before the big one starts next week.

Washington shot only 35.1 percent in the first half and committed a ridiculous 21 turnovers over the entire game. The defense was solid, as Stanford shot only 35.6 percent, but Cardinal guard Anthony Goods burned the Huskies for 26 points. So there's much to correct as better competition awaits.

Asked for his harshest criticism of this effort, forward Quincy Pondexter said: "I would say that some people may think we reverted back to how we played the last couple of years. But I think this game showed a lot of maturity on our part in getting better as the game went on and adjusting."

As these Huskies have improved enough to join the nation's elite, their reputation has risen to a point in which merely playing solid basketball is almost disappointing. You look at their 25-7 record and their Pac-10 championship, and you hold them to a greater standard.

It's appropriate, but it's also true that the Huskies remain a developing team with some warts, especially when it comes to perimeter shooting and ballhandling. Most encouraging, though, is that they understand how to play through their flaws now.

"The last couple of years, I think guys would've gotten their heads down and not taken the mature route," Pondexter said. "And this year, we have a lot of good leaders on this team, and we responded well when we weren't playing that well."

If you exclude the game against an overmatched Seattle University, the Huskies haven't put together two good halves of offensive basketball since scoring 103 points against Oregon on Feb. 14.

The flip side is that with their defense carrying them, they've only lost one game the past month (a 85-76 defeat at UCLA). So this stretch has provided an enduring lesson on what really wins games.

"We know that, if all else fails, we just have to do it on the defensive end," said Bryan-Amaning, who had three emphatic blocks against Stanford.

Now Washington must reintroduce offensive efficiency to the equation. Depending on their NCAA tournament matchups, it could be the difference between a short and long run.

In the second half against the Cardinal, the Huskies played brilliant offensive basketball. They scored 47 points and shot 60.7 percent as Isaiah Thomas, Jon Brockman and Pondexter combined to make 13 of 19 field-goal attempts in the final 20 minutes. The next step is to get Justin Dentmon back in the fold. He missed 6 of 9 shots Thursday, and over his past six games, he's shooting only 33.9 percent.

"We need to focus on our starts," Brockman said when asked about the team's early offensive struggles. "And we need to get to the point where nothing is an experiment. I think, a lot of times, we find ourselves open, and we think, 'Well, I might as well shoot it,' instead of working it around and waiting until we get a great shot to start the game off.

"But we can win when it's ugly. So I don't think it's anything to worry about. It's something to realize and learn from, but I don't think we have to be terrified about it."

Not when you're scoring 85 points, warts and all. Most teams would give their right armbands to have that kind of production.

The wonderful thing about the Huskies: The final score is usually the prettiest part of their game.