Dec. 9, 2011
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NEW YORK - Washington Basketball Coach Lorenzo Romar announced on Friday that senior guard Scott Suggs will redshirt the 2011-12 season, a day before the Huskies were set to play No. 7 Duke at Madison Square Garden.
Suggs (Washington, Mo.) underwent surgery on his right foot on Oct. 14 and was expected to return in time for the current New York City road trip the team is on. Instead, after having the rehab process take longer than he hoped, Suggs decided to sit out the season in order to preserve a full year of basketball.
"I felt like with the rehab process it might go a little quicker," Suggs, one of three team captains said from his New York City hotel room. "My original goal was to play this week in NY. As it got closer, it felt like this was the best decision."
"Being back out there practicing and my rhythm being off a little...I just wanted to be able to play a full year my last season."
Suggs had slowly started his return a little over a week ago and had just recently returned to practice with full clearance. The decision was based more on Suggs being able to have a full season to enjoy as a senior.
"Right now he has practiced fully and is fully recovered. The foot is totally fine and he has zero pain," Romar said. "However, by the time he gets back to where his timing is on and he's knocked the rust off from sitting out, that may not be until the beginning of conference.
"He would love to help our team and he'd love to come back. It's hard for him to sit out and watch his teammates. This being his senior year he felt he did not want to play half or three-quarters of a season in his last go around here at the University of Washington. He wanted to contribute for an entire year. I think in the big picture and the long run, it is a great decision on his part."
Suggs led the Huskies in 2011 and ranked third in the Pac-10 in 3-point field goal percentage (45%) last season. It was expected that he would team with Terrence Ross and C.J. Wilcox to form one of the Pac-12's deadliest shooting trios. Instead, he will sit, watch and wait.
"Eight weeks has been terrible watching...not being able to play and knowing I wanted to contribute," said Suggs.
"But, another year to get better and being able to play a full season - just trying to get the most out of my last year (will be an advantage)."
Suggs will become the seventh player on the Husky 15-man roster to redshirt a season during college.
CARQUEST Auto Parts Classic Up Next
The Husky men's basketball team (4-3) have lost two-straight in heartbreakingfashion
and will have to upset 7th-ranked Duke if they want to get back on their
winning ways. UW is 9-17 vs. top-10 ranked opponents during Lorenzo Romar's 10
years at Washington, with their last win coming vs. New Mexico in the 2nd Round
of the NCAA's in 2010. UW and the Blue Devils (8-1) play Saturday morning at 9:00
a.m. PT (12 p.m. ET) in the fi rst of two games as part of the CARQUEST Auto Parts
Classic at Madison Square Garden. Saturday's game will be broadcast on CBS-TV
with Ian Eagle and Clark Kellogg calling the action. KJR 950 AM and 102.9 FM
will broadcast the game on radio in Seattle with Bob Rondeau providing play-byplay
and Jason Hamilton supplying color analysis. Fans can also
follow the game on the GoHuskies.com live chat by Gregg Bell.
Dawgs Take Over Broadway
In conjunction with the Huskies' trip to New York City to participate
in the Jimmy V Classic and CARQUEST Auto Parts Classic, the 15
members of the team are taking an independent study drama class.
Players attended seminars on the history of Broadway, the study and
reading of plays plus the basics of acting, directing and producing in
theater. In New York, the team attended Memphis on Wednesday
and the Lion King on Thursday. They also visited the set of CBS's
Person of Interest, starring former Mount Vernon, Wash. native Jim
Caviezel. Caviezel met with the players and the team was allowed
to watch fi lming of the show on Wednesday. UW drama professor
Sarah Nash Gates is teaching the 2-credit independent study course
and accompanying the Huskies in New York and onto Broadway to
give expert eyes to what the players are seeing.
UW Making Its Third Trip To MSG
Before Tuesday's game vs. Marquette, Washington last played at
NYC's famed Madison Square Garden in November of 2007 as part
of the pre-season NIT. The team lost a pair of games; a 77-63 decision
to 16th-ranked Texas A&M and 91-85 to No. 21 Syracuse. Darnell
Gant was the only current Husky player that made the trip, but
he did not play in either game as he was a redshirt. Three other Huskies
have played at MSG previously in high school all-star tournaments:
Tony Wroten (twice), Terrence Ross and Abdul Gaddy. UW's
only previous game at The World's Most Famous Arena resulted in a
72-38 rout of host New York University on Dec. 30, 1941.
Washington-Duke History
Washington has played Duke fi ve times previously and is 1-4 alltime
against the Blue Devils. Mike Krzyzewski has been the head
man at Duke since the 1980-81 season, so he has been a part of
four prior match ups. UW lost the first match up on Dec. 4, 1977 in
Durham, 83-81, but got the better of Duke in the second meeting
on March 18, 1984 in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament, 80-
78. Current UW assistant coach Paul Fortier was a member of that
Husky team. Duke has won three straight since that game, cashing
in victories at Cameron Indoor Arena in 1985 and 1990 and also a win at Hec Edmundson Pavilion during the
1989 season. That game was a homecoming for Mercer Island-native Quin Snyder. Saturday's game will be the
first time Lorenzo Romar has faced Duke during his 16 year career.
Last Time Vs. Duke
Dion Brown led Washington in scoring with 13 points, Mark West with 12, Brent Merritt with 11 and Doug Meekins with 10, but turnovers and foul trouble plagued the Huskies and the No. 12 Duke Blue Devils came
out with a 74-64 victory on Dec. 23, 1989. In front of the sellout crowd of 9,314 at Cameron Indoor Stadium,
UW outrebounded Duke 19-11 in the fi rst half, but 17 UW fi rst half turnovers were too great to overcome.
They dropped the number to 10 in the second half but foul trouble then became an issue. The Huskies out-rebounded
Duke as a team, 34-24, holding the Blue Devils to 16 rebounds below their average. The Huskies also
held the Blue Devils to just 33.3% shooting (10-for-30) in the fi rst half and 41% for the night, after Duke had
previously averaged 53.6% shooting on the season. Duke hit just two of their fi rst 11 shots and went ahead
by only two, 37-35, at halftime. Freshman Bobby Hurley's second half effort carried the Blue Devils to victory,
scoring 13 of his 15 points and fi ve of his team-high six assists in the fi nal 20 minutes. UW held a narrow lead,
48-47, as late as the 14:53 mark of the second half, but Duke answered with a 7-0 run, including a pair of three
pointers by Phil Henderson and Hurley, giving Duke a 54-48 advantage that the Huskies couldn't overcome.
The Huskies got within two points, 60-58, at the 10:32 mark of the second half with Mike Hayward's two free
throws. They then came within fi ve points, 65-60, when Hayward fouled out with 7:50 left, followed by Brown
with 4:02 left, which helped seal the win for Duke. Christian Laettner led Duke with 19 points and Henderson
scored 18. The 10-point fi nal margin was Duke's largest lead of the game.
Scouting Duke
Duke (8-1) was ranked as highs as No. 4 in the country last week before falling at No. 2 Ohio State, 85-63, and
suffering its fi rst loss of the season. The team won the Maui Invitational this year, defeating ranked opponents
such as Kansas and Tennessee. Duke beat Colorado State on Wednesday before heading to MSQ to take on
Washington. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski is the all-time winningest coach in NCAA Division I history with
908 wins. Five Blue Devils are scoring in double digits for Duke including, Ryan Kelly, Austin Rivers, Mason
Plumlee, Seth Curry and Andrew Dawkins. Duke has four national championships, the last coming in 2010.
