Perry leaves UW men's basketball team

Freshman guard Harvey Perry has left the Washington men's basketball team in search of more playing time elsewhere.

"I just want to find a better fit for me as far as playing time,'' Perry said Saturday.

Perry, a 6-foot-4, 210-pounder from Las Vegas, played only 35 minutes in four games this season, mostly at the end of lopsided games. He had been expected to be a major factor as a perimeter defender, but had trouble finding a role with the team. He averaged 2.8 points and 1.8 rebounds.

Perry played only six minutes in Washington's 87-66 win over Idaho on Wednesday, which he said was when he began to think about leaving.

He didn't participate in Friday's practice but showed up as it was ending to talk with players and coaches and tell them of his intentions. He made it official Saturday.

His departure leaves UW with only 10 healthy players available. Guard Joel Smith sidelined until January with a foot injury and redshirt freshman center Joe Wolfinger may be out for the season with a stress fracture.

Perry said coaches had told him he needed to improve his ballhandling to earn more time. He said he thought in recent practices he had done enough to show the coaches he should be on the court more.

"I definitely thought I was doing enough to get a lot more minutes than what I was getting, and it didn't go that way," he said. "So I just decided to try somewhere else and hopefully become more of an asset for the team.

"There were some things going on earlier in the season at practice that they told me [had to improve] and I felt personally I improved on all of those things they wanted me to do. But the playing time didn't increase, so I just questioned myself 'when will it increase?'."

Perry said the last straw was the Idaho game, when he played only the final six minutes.

"The last game I definitely felt like I should have been in the rotation a lot earlier,'' he said. "There aren't too many players that ever want to sit on the bench, so it was a thing I wasn't used to and it got the best of me, I guess you could say."

Perry will finish out the academic quarter at Washington and then decide where to transfer. He said he has not yet thought about other schools.

"I'm going to head home the week after [finals] and make a decision,'' he said.

Despite his insistence that he had done enough to earn more playing time, Perry said he leaves with no hard feelings.

"I don't have any grudges against them or anything,'' he said. "I'm definitely not leaving on bad terms. I still love all these guys.''

Perry was rated the No. 21 recruit in the nation by Rivals.com out of Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H., in 2005.

He was part of Washington's seven-man 2005 recruiting class that was considered among the best in the nation. Only four players remain after Martell Webster declared early for the NBA and guard Roburt Sallie didn't qualify.

Washington coach Lorenzo Romar couldn't be reached for comment Saturday, but said in a statement: "Obviously we wish him the best because there is definitely no ill will on our end toward Harvey. We wish it could have worked out, but sometimes these things happen."

Perry sat out last season with a back injury and ended up redshirting.

But he said his back hasn't an issue this season and he doesn't think sitting out last year derailed his career at Washington.

Perry's departure will open up a scholarship for what figured to be a crowded roster in 2007. Washington projected to be two players over the 13-person limit for 2007 if everyone returned who had signed and was on the current roster with eligibility remaining.