Road woes at forefront in Arizona trip

The one thing that could keep the Washington basketball team from achieving its goal of reaching the NCAA Tournament is its well-documented problems playing away from Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

In six away games this season, the Huskies (13-7 overall, 3-6 Pac-10) have failed to win even one. Though they played tight against USC (79-86, OT), Stanford (77-78) and California (69-77, OT), the Huskies have been victims of blowouts by the likes of UCLA, WSU and Gonzaga, losing to the three by an average of 23.3 points.

The UW will be looking for the team that has won 13 of its 14 games at home when it meets Arizona State tonight in Tempe.

"I don't think we've played poorly on the road in all of our losses," said freshman Spencer Hawes. "We've had trouble closing games, which is something we can do at home. But we just have to carry that with us to Arizona."

The team will get its best chance to end the winless streak against the Sun Devils (6-14 overall, 0-9 Pac-10); who have yet to win a conference game.

In their last meeting, the Huskies and ASU took part in a low scoring affair. Coach Lorenzo Romar saw his team shoot a season-low in field goals, something he attributes to the coaching style of Herb Sendek as well as his team's inability to set its own tempo.

"Offensively [the Sun Devils] are different, but the philosophy is the same," Romar said. "We have to make sure that we take care of the basketball, we have to get good shots and get to the foul line. If you go down quickly and cast up a poor shots it's going to be a tough night for you, because they'll get the ball and sit on it until they get a good shot."

As far as taking care of the ball goes, he is confident that his young players have improved enough to keep the turnovers down. Since the UCLA game on December 31 [HTML_REMOVED] when the team committed 22 miscues [HTML_REMOVED] the Huskies have not eclipsed 20 turnovers in a game. Until their last game against Oregon State, they had not had more than 15.

"Everyday they're getting better," said sophomore Jon Brockman of the freshmen. "We have to stop using that excuse, though. The NCAA Tournament doesn't care that we have young guys."

The Husky captain also said that during the team's struggles, the coaches put it on him to be more aggressive and "demand the ball more." The result has been an increase in offensive productivity for Brockman, a positive considering Hawes' trouble returning to form since a stomach virus and a sprained ankle limited his play.

Hawes is confident that he is past the various ailments and ready to produce like he did for a seven-game stretch in which he scored 20 points in six of the seven games.

As a team, though, Romar is pleased to announce that for the first time in weeks he had enough players in practice to have the luxury of a substitute. With the various injuries, assistant coaches Cameron Dollar and Paul Fortier had been forced to take part just to account for two full squads.

A healthy squad and a modest two-game winning streak should help the team as it heads back on the road.

"Everything is coming together at the right time," Hawes said. "We got two wins in a row, but we still have to play like our backs are up against the wall."

Reach reporter Justin Chartrey at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.