Pitt-Washington knuckle up

Pitt men’s basketball suffered the worst loss in Petersen Events Center history with a 66-53… Pitt men’s basketball suffered the worst loss in Petersen Events Center history with a 66-53 disappointment against Louisville Monday in front of a national television audience.

Tomorrow, the Panthers will have a chance to redeem themselves on the same floor in front of the same national audience when they host to Washington at 2 p.m. on ESPN.

This rare non-conference contest in the heart of the Panthers’ Big East schedule seemed as if it would be a great way for head coach Jamie Dixon to strengthen Pitt’s schedule and test his team with a game they could potentially play deep in the tournament.

Just one year ago, the Huskies were a fifth seed in the Washington D.C. regional and advanced to the Sweet 16 for the second year in a row in the NCAA Tournament. The year before, Washington was a No. 1 seed, featuring two current NBA players.

Although the expectations might not have been that high for the Huskies this season, they reached preseason rankings of 16th in the ESPN/USA Today Poll and 17th in the AP Poll.

Washington (16-9, 6-8 Pac-10) seemed to be living up to the hype, starting its season 9-0 with a non-conference schedule more familiar to Pitt’s campus in recent years. The unblemished start had them ranked as high as eighth in the national polls.

Washington’s hot start to the season plummeted with a putrid 1-6 start to Pac-10 conference play.

However, since their 1-6 start, the Huskies have won five of seven, including a win over seventh-ranked Oregon. Their only two losses in that stretch were against No. 22 Arizona and No. 11 Washington State.

Washington improved its conference record to 6-8, and tomorrow’s matchup with Pitt (No. 7 in the AP and No. 5 in ESPN/USA Today) will be its ninth game against a ranked opponent. Washington will then play three more games against currently ranked teams.

That tough of a schedule means that every game is a chance for the Huskies to keep their tournament bubble from popping.

If they are going to get back to the field of 65 in March, they will need continued solid play from their young group of players. Seven of the 10 active players on the roster are underclassmen, and of the three upperclassmen on this season’s roster, there are only two starts on record from previous seasons.

Sophomore Jon Brockman leads Washington’s young corps of players. The 6-foot-7 forward, who leads the Pac-10 in rebounding with 9.7 rebounds a game, was named Pac-10 Player of the Week Feb. 12 after posting a pair of double-doubles to lead Washington to a home sweep of California and Stanford.

Brockman powered Washington to a 79-71 win over California Feb. 8, with 22 points and a career-high-tying 14 rebounds. He then led the Huskies to a 64-52 upset over 25th-ranked Stanford Feb. 11 with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Brockman and the Huskies’ frontcourt got a lift when 7-foot freshman center Spencer Hawes returned to the starting lineup against Stanford. The high school All-American missed the entire month of January battling a stomach virus.

Hawes has already eclipsed the school record for blocks in a season with 40. He has 19 double-figure scoring games, including seven 20-point performances. He leads the Huskies in scoring at 15.1 points per game.

The Huskies frontcourt also gets help from another freshman starter, Quincy Pondexter. The 6-foot-6 forward is third on the team in scoring with 11.0 points per contest.

That young threesome has helped Washington lead the Pac-10 in rebounding margin (+8.5) and offensive rebounding (14.5 per game).

Those large frontcourt players will be the first team that can truly match up with Pitt’s dominating frontcourt of senior 7-footer Aaron Gray, 6-foot-10 senior Levon Kendall and 6-foot-6 swingman Sam Young.

Washington has a 15-2 record at home and 1-7 on the road. It averages 16 more points at home, scoring at an 83.9-point clip, compared to 67.9 points away from Seattle. Washington out-rebounds opponents by nearly 13 rebounds per game at home while having a slight rebound deficit in road contests.

The Panthers will look to expose the Huskies road rebounding woes and get back on track to make a push into late March. If they don’t, this non-conference game could be way more meaningful than the schedule makers ever thought it could be – for both teams.