Turner hoping to turn up the confidence

His inconsistency this season seems fitting, given the bumpy start the Washington men's basketball team has endured to this point this season. But Elston Turner has also shown flashes of brilliance, signs that he could establish himself as a third scoring option on a team that desperately needs one. Now if only head coach Lorenzo Romar can just figure out which Turner is going to show up each night - the guy who scored 11 points in the first half against Arizona Sunday, or the struggling marksman who was shooting just 28 percent from the 3-point range heading into last weekend's games, playing without confidence and passing up open shots. "Maybe his effort wasn't where it needed to be at times, and that set him back," Romar said. "And, just more inconsistency." Romar concedes that Turner's inconsistency may have something to do with the strange fluctuations the sophomore has been through in the in-game rotations. Turner, who is averaging 16.3 minutes and 5.4 points per game, made the first start of his career earlier this season against Texas Tech and missed two free throws in the final seconds, marring an otherwise career game in which he scored 15 points and made three 3-pointers. But he's also spent time on the end of the bench, the last scholarship guy to play on more than one occasion, the most head-scratching of which came against Oregon when he played just four minutes in a game the Huskies lost 90-79. Part of that was because he was struggling. But part of why he's struggling, maybe, is because he hasn't been given consistent minutes to allow him to shoot out of his slump. "Yeah, that has a lot to do with the confidence," Turner said. "These last couple of days, I just put it into my mind that regardless of where I am, I have to be ready." Romar has heard the talk of needing a third scorer. And he thought earlier this season that Turner might be that guy, based off of a couple of impressive non-conference performances, including the Texas Tech game and a 12-point performance against Montana in the game prior. Based on the way Turner ended his freshman season, it was realistic to think he could be a 3-point shooting threat who could work his way into the starting lineup. He hit three 3-pointers in the closing minutes of the first half against Stanford in the Pac-10 tournament last season and made a huge 3-pointer in the second round of the NCAA tournament against Purdue at a critical juncture in the game. The latter 3-pointer caused Romar to say afterward that he regretted not having Turner on the floor more in the second half. So goes the curious case of Elston Turner. If his play against Arizona is any indication of where he's headed, the sophomore from Missouri City, Texas, may be headed to a more stable identity on a team desperately searching for its own. "I think it was a turning point," Turner said. "Now that that happened, I feel like I should play like that every game ... All shooters have bad days. In my mind, I'm going into every game with the feeling that I'm going to make every single shot, and that's the mindset I have to go in with." FOUL SHOTS Reserve forward Justin Holiday, who sat out last weekend's games against Arizona and Arizona State due to an eligibility issue, is expected to play Thursday against Stanford. Romar said that Holiday isn't in any kind of academic trouble, just that there was a technicality that didn't get taken care of. "It's just that rules change from time to time, and like I said, he should be back," Romar said. Isaiah Thomas says his ankle isn't in top condition, but that's not likely to change the rest of the season. "It won't get no better, because I'm steady practicing on it, steady playing on it. But you've got to fight through it." Reach Sports Editor Christian Caple at sports@dailyuw.com.

Turner hoping to turn up the confidence

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