Game of the Week- Thursday

The Pac-10 basketball season heads into its final week of the regular season tonight with several spots in the league standings still up for grabs. But one game above all captures the nation’s interest tonight: UCLA at Washington. The game between the co-Pac-10 leading Bruins and third place Huskies at 6pm and will be aired on ESPN2.

The Bruins head into the weekend hoping to lock up sole possession of first place in the league. Of course that will take some help from the Oregon schools who face Arizona this weekend. However, the Bruins know they can lock up at least a share of the league title with a sweep in Washington. To do so, the Bruins will rely on their dominant-as-of-late inside presence of Joshua Smith and Reeves Nelson. Smith, who returns home to the school he spurned for UCLA, has become the player the Bruins expected him to be when he was a highly recruited star out of Kent, Wash. His low post presence alongside Nelson’s passion and energy will prove to be a difficult challenge for the Huskies’ interior that allowed Washington State’s DeAngelo Casto to torch them on Sunday.

The Huskies hope they can get back on track following a beat down by in-state rival Wazzu. The Cougars exposed the Huskies’ inconsistent outside shooting en route to an 11 point victory, UW’s first home defeat of the season. Washington should receive a boost with the return of wing Scott Suggs, who missed the past few games with an MCL sprain. UW will also try to get guards C. J. Wilcox, Justin Holliday and Terrence Ross on track from the three-point line. When those three are a threat from outside, it opens up the inside game for Matthew Bryan-Amaning and makes it easier for Aziz N’Diaye to grab offensive boards and lay it in. In a sense, Washington’s outside game goes a long way in determining their offensive success, which coach Lorenzo Romar says leads to better defense as well.

The game Thursday should be very influential on the final regular season standings in the Pac-10. As such, the passion and energy will be flowing amongst both teams, and certainly amongst UW’s student section, the Dawg Pack, as well.