Holiday adds much-needed 'cinnamon' to surging Husky squad

Jan 20, 2010, 12:00 AM

Forget the 11 national championship banners hanging from the rafters of UCLA's Pauley Pavilion. Quincy Pondexter is more impressed by who's sitting courtside, mentioning Jaleel White - who played Steve Urkel on the sitcom Family Matters - as the most notable celebrity he's played in front of at Pauley, John Wooden included. Steve Urkel? Really? "Yeah, Jaleel White, definitely," Pondexter said. "It seems like he sits in the same exact position ... every time. Sometimes during the timeouts or when I'm on the bench, I kind of glance over like, 'Man, that's Urkel over there.' I was like, 'Man, if we win this game, I want to get his autograph or something like that.' But we haven't come out on that side of the games yet, so hopefully, this time I can get his autograph." Um, OK, then. It's not just him, either. Isaiah Thomas noticed the Family Matters star courtside, too, and said he might try to get a picture with him if the Huskies can beat UCLA on its home floor for the first time since 2006. "Yeah, I saw him," Thomas said. "That was funny. Steve Urkel at a game -- that's crazy. I'm looking forward to seeing him again. I need to get a picture with him or something. That's only if we win, I'll try to get a picture with him." HOLIDAY ADDS SPICE Don't expect UW head coach Lorenzo Romar to appear on food-channel programming any time soon. The way he uses food analogies, you might not even trust him to make a sandwich. But you can't fault him for trying, at least, to describe what it was that made the insertion of junior forward Justin Holiday into the starting lineup so successful. "[It was like] we were baking something that needed cinnamon," Romar said. "This thing is blah; it tastes like a handkerchief. You put cinnamon in there all of a sudden -- that's the thing it needed most, was cinnamon, and he was kind of like the cinnamon, you know. You put in, and all of a sudden, that's what he was like. We needed energy; we needed hustle; we needed defense. He's got energy, plays with hustle, and he's got defense." He's got a point. Holiday keyed two of the Huskies' most inspired defensive efforts in recent memory, propelling his team to a weekend sweep of Stanford and Cal and earning himself at least one more start Thursday against UCLA. "Whatever spice it is, he's a tremendous player," Pondexter said. "And what he brings to this team isn't just scoring or some other aspect; it's all-around game. He has a great knowledge of the game, and he makes the job so much easier for everyone else because of what he does defensively." The jury's still out on the whole cinnamon thing, though. "Yeah, I don't know," Romar said. "I'm not a very good baker." FOUL SHOT Holiday suffered a minor concussion during the game against Cal Saturday, but he is expected to start against UCLA tomorrow. He sat out of practice Monday. Reach Sports Editor Christian Caple at sports@dailyuw.com.

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