Holiday to get his chance against Arizona schools

Feb 4, 2010, 12:00 AM

Stuck in Seattle due to a brief eligibility issue, Justin Holiday could only watch as the Washington men's basketball team suffered back-to-back 17-point losses to Arizona State and Arizona in the desert earlier this season. He could only watch, and he could barely watch. "It was real bad, real bad for me," he said. "I mean, I almost stopped watching the game, even though I had to keep watching because my teammates need support. But that was real tough for me, not only not being able to play, but how the game was going." Holiday will get the chance to make sure that doesn't happen again today, as the Huskies take on surprise conference-leader Arizona at 7:30 p.m. at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. The last time the two teams faced, Jamelle Horne went for 22 points and 5-8 from 3-point range in an 87-70 Wildcats victory. And the game prior against Arizona State, Sun Devils guard Rihards Kuksiks got loose for 27 points and also made five of his eight 3-point attempts in a 68-51 ASU win. Both Horne and Kuksiks are of above-average height for sharp-shooters - Horne at 6-foot-7, and Kuksiks at 6-foot-6 - meaning that Holiday, UW's long, athletic, 6-foot-6 defensive specialist, likely would have had a crack at guarding both of them. He admits that's what he was thinking the first time around. "Oh, of course," he said. "Any athlete would do that with any sport, especially being a defensive player and seeing Kuksiks and Jamelle go off like that. I felt I could've helped them there." It seems that he's been making up for lost time ever since. Holiday made his first career start in Washington's next game, sparking an energetic first half that led to a 94-61 win. The Huskies brought the same kind of intensity two days later in an 84-69 win over California, and Holiday has remained a starter ever since. "He brings so much energy for the team on the defensive end, and he really gets us going," UW senior Quincy Pondexter said. "He's a tremendous defensive stopper, and he's going to have that ability to contest the long-range shots that we kind of lacked in the Arizona games." But they also lacked any kind of offensive rhythm in either of those games, most specifically the loss to Arizona State. Herb Sendek's Sun Devils play an aggressive matchup zone defense, something designed specifically to give fits to teams like the Huskies who lack multiple 3-point shooters. That's been changing, though. Isaiah Thomas seemed to get his legs back in Washington's 92-64 win over WSU on Saturday, nailing three consecutive 3-point attempts in the second half. And it looks as if Scott Suggs and Elston Turner are a little more confident putting up outside shots when they get a good look, part of the reason why the duo is 8-for-19 from 3-point range in UW's past two games. That, combined with the addition of Holiday and the confines of Hec Ed - where UW is 14-1 this season - could spell a different story for the Huskies this time around against the Wildcats and Sun Devils. "The thing he does best is win," UW head coach Lorenzo Romar said of Holiday. "He really impacts winning the game." They hope that's true again today. Reach Sports Editor Christian Caple at sports@dailyuw.com.

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