Raphael Chillious first coached Matthew Bryan-Amaning nearly seven years ago at a time when Bryan-Amaning could just use his superb footwork and quickness to score, when Bryan-Amaning could score and look good doing it, without any grit.
''Now he's got to the point where it doesn't matter what it looks like. The ball is going in the hoop,'' said Chillious, now in his second season as an assistant at Washington.
The play of Bryan-Amaning, Washington's senior power forward, is one reason why the Huskies head to the desert this weekend still with the hope of winning a Pac-10 regular season title. The Huskies (17-7, 9-4 Pac-10) play at lowly Arizona State on Thursday before a huge showdown with No. 12 Arizona on Saturday that will go a long way toward deciding the Pac-10 regular season champion.
In his Washington career, Bryan-Amaning never averaged in double figures until this season. He topped 10 points only nine times in his first 65 college games, only to do it 33 times in his last 50 games, along the way shedding some of the ''soft'' label that accompanied the Brit early in his Washington career. Bryan-Amaning enters Thursday night's game against the Sun Devils averaging 15.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.
''He's a lot more aggressive. That just comes with confidence, knowing he can make the shots he takes and knowing that we're looking for him down there,'' Washington guard Isaiah Thomas said. ''He's just real confident right now and really playing at a high level and we need him to do that.''
The way Bryan-Amaning plays this weekend will be significant in determining whether Washington returns home back in the Pac-10 title race or feeling as though an NCAA berth that seemed a lock just a few weeks ago is in peril.
A sweep of Arizona State and Arizona would not only right the Huskies' recent road problems that include three straight losses away from home, it would catapult the Huskies into league title contention with their final three conference games at home. Bryan-Amaning will also get another showdown with Arizona star Derrick Williams, even though the two rarely guarded each other during the first game in Seattle.
''I think it's a make or break trip as far as winning the league,'' Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said.
Washington could use more of what Bryan-Amaning provided the first time the Huskies faced the Arizona schools. Bryan-Amaning had 18 points and seven rebounds when Washington handed Arizona just its fourth loss of the season in an 85-68 victory. He then scored a career-high 30 points in a win over Arizona State two days later.
It's what followed that became troubling for the Huskies. In two of the next three games, Washington was unable to get Bryan-Amaning established on the interior and he was limited to just six points against Washington State and 12 against Oregon State. Most Pac-10 teams have gone to using a zone defense against Washington in an attempt to limit Bryan-Amaning's touches on the inside and corral the penetration of Thomas.
The need to get an inside game going was perfectly clear when the Huskies returned home last week and routed California 109-77. Washington made it a point to go inside from the beginning and give Bryan-Amaning his chances. He scored 18 points in that victory with 10 coming in the first 8 minutes, 5 seconds. That led to open shots on the perimeter, where the Huskies tied a school-record with 17 3-pointers.
It also helped that Washington's defense found some of its missing intensity that led to easy baskets in both victories over Cal and Stanford last weekend.
''On the road, you have to bring your own energy. You have to bring that much more intensity on the road because you haven't got anyone else cheering you on,'' Bryan-Amaning said. ''I'm not saying that we have, but I think it's just easier to coast at home because you can use the crowd as energy.''
Chillious first was Bryan-Amaning's head coach at South Kent, a prep school in Connecticut, before joining the staff at Washington. He remembers an unflappable kid who was willing to take on anyone in high school, but his real transformation has taken place in the last year, since the middle of Bryan-Amaning's junior season when he started to shine.
''Now that he's been able to harness his talent, he's able to slow the game down in his head. Because he is so talented and athletic and quick for a big guy that a lot of times he was going too fast, too fast in his head,'' Chillious said. ''Now he's gotten really good at slowing the game down in his head and playing good basketball.''
