Come back later today for a preview of Thursday’s game against Stanford.
Had a chance to catch up with Arizona freshman forward Derrick Williams, and scout the Huskies a little bit following the Wildcats’ 87-70 win over the Dawgs last week.
Williams is a very good kid who seemed hesitant, in my opinion, to say anything negative about his opponents, which makes sense considering they’ll play again in a few weeks. Still, I thought his insights were interesting.
Montlake Madness: What was the overall plan for attacking the Huskies that allowed you guys to be so successful?
Derrick Williams: Yeah, well we wanted to keep them off the boards, especially Quincy since he is leading the pac 10 in offensive rebounds. And also keep Isaiah Thomas from scoring over his average.
MM: Did you feel like the Huskies weren’t as strong an opponent as you expected them to be?
DW: I wouldn’t say that, but it just felt like that because of the score. But other than that, I believe they were a good team. They fought the whole time.
MM: Even though the score tightened in the second half for a bit, it never looked to me like you guys weren’t in control of the game. Take me through that stretch of the game. Did you feel like it was slipping away? Or were you never really concerned?
DW: Yeah, I was concerned as soon as the second half started. They had an eight point stretch to cut it (the lead) to two. We called a time out and we regrouped and got it together. But certainly i was really concerned.
MM: What did you see as the Huskies’ strengths and weaknesses, from actually being on the court with them?
DW: I would say their streaky shooting. They shoot great for minutes at a time, then they fall off a little bit. But other then that they have no flaws. Their strengths, I would say rebounding. Even though we held them to below their average on rebounding, they are still a excellent rebounding team.
MM: You were able to induce a bunch of fouls out of Tyreese Breshers, huh?
DW: Yeah, especially in the beginning of the game.
MM: Why do you think you were so successful in that respect?
DW: I just use my quickness in every game on every true big man and that’s where i have had my success
MM: How’s the experience at Arizona been so far for you? You’ve exceeded expectations to say the least!
DW: It’s been pretty good so far. Yeah, I didn’t think I would be this big of a contributor to our team this year. But it’s been real exciting.
MM: What’s gonna happen if the NBA comes calling in a year or two?
DW: (Laughs) I don’t look at it like that. It’s every basketball player’s dream to make it to the league. But I don’t go looking for it. It will find me, and when/if it happens and I’m ready, that will be the time.
MM: Okay. Very diplomatic! Last question: what will Washington need to do better to beat the ‘Cats next time?
DW: I’m not really sure, if we play like that every time, it will be tough for many teams to beat us.
Thanks for coming!
Here’s the first installment of our new feature: Reconnaissance Mission. You can read the intro to the feature 