Notes: Jones, Brockman come up big in win

LOS ANGELES — Lorenzo Romar saw it coming all week in practice. Bobby Jones and Jon Brockman — Washington's two most-renowned try-hard guys — had been subdued in recent losses to Arizona and Washington State.

But with the season at a critical juncture, each threw their respective cares — Jones a sore ankle, Brockman a freshman slump — to the side and played to their reputations.

Jones had a season-high 22 points and nine rebounds; Brockman had nine points and seven rebounds as UW beat USC 86-77 here Thursday.

"The last couple of days [Brockman] has been like that," Romar said. "Same with Bobby. They've been a lot more aggressive ... "

Teammate Brandon Roy said he thinks USC's Lodrick Stewart also lit a fire under Jones. "He was talking some trash," Roy said. "He blocked a shot and he said, 'Get that out of here.' I was like, 'Good, keep talking.' I knew Bobby wasn't going to back down."

Jones said his ankle is less than 100 percent. "But it's getting better," he said.

Brockman had scored just 11 points in the first three Pac-10 games. He said he "had to just go strong and go hard" and forget about his struggles.

Soft schedule hurt

As the Huskies headed into Thursday's game with a 1-2 mark in Pac-10 play, even players began to wonder about the impact of the team's soft nonconference schedule.

Senior forward Jamaal Williams said he thinks the team's 11-0 start, forged against a schedule that included only one ranked team, No. 6 Gonzaga, might have given UW a false sense of confidence.

"It made us be able to get away with some things that we are not able to get away with playing against some better teams," Williams said. "It kind of gives you this confidence about things and you don't really see the bad areas, and those bad areas are starting to be exposed now."

Next season should be a little tougher. The Huskies will continue their annual series with Gonzaga, playing next year in Spokane, and are nearing agreement to host LSU and play at Georgia Tech — games that would be reversed the next season.

Notes

• Stewart got the start for USC despite being kicked out of practice Tuesday for elbowing teammate Collin Robinson. He apologized to the team on Wednesday and coach Tim Floyd said no further punishment was warranted.

• Reserve guard Ryan Appleby was bothered by a fever and played just eight minutes, all in the first half. Brandon Burmeister took his minutes in the second half.

• This was UW's final game at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.