Washington Coach Lorenzo Romar said he wanted his team to play `'Husky basketball'' when it took on McNeese State in the season-opener Saturday.
By that he expected to see tight defense and aggressive rebounding. His players responded, while also scoring the third-most points in school history in the 18th-ranked Huskies' 118-64 victory.
''Defense and rebounding. That's all it is,'' said Matthew Bryan-Amaning, the 6-foot-9 senior forward who scored a career-high 28 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.
It was a little more than that as the Huskies were also relentless offensively. They put up 92 shots, making 43. They hit 12 of 30 3-point attempts. However, they also missed 22 of 42 free throws.
The only other higher productive outings in school history were 130 points against Chico State on Dec. 1, 1992, and 123 against Seattle University on Jan. 26, 2010.
Bryan-Amaning was one of seven Huskies scoring in double figures. Isaiah Thomas, who played sparingly in the second half, finished with 17 points for Washington, while Aziz N'Diaye, a 7-foot junior-college transfer, had 12 points and 15 rebounds in just 15 minutes.
Patrick Richard led the Cowboys with 18 points, while Diego Kapelan added 15.
The Huskies were coming off a lackluster 97-76 exhibition victory last Saturday over Division II St. Martin's. In that game, the Huskies were outrebounded 42-32.
That had Romar stressing rebounding all last week in practice.
''Sometimes I think Coach makes up rebounding drills on the spot,'' Bryan-Amaning said.
The Huskies responded by outrebounding the Cowboys 69-32, including 30 offensive rebounds.
''I would have to say that we made progress in a week's time,'' Romar said. ''There were some things we wanted to concentrate on - playing efficient basketball and doing a better job on the backboards. We accomplished that I thought.
''Rebounding and being aggressive. That's what this team is about.''
N'Diaye, a sophomore from the College of Southern Idaho, played just 11 minutes against St. Martin's and fouled out. He picked up two fouls in his first minute on the court against McNeese but Romar said ''we decided to just let him play.''
N'Diaye stayed active and didn't pick up another foul while establishing a presence inside.
''Aziz is someone who we just haven't had,'' Romar added.
N'Diaye said, ''I came off the bench and was ready to help my teammates. I thought we did a pretty good job as a team crashing the offensive glass. I'm feeling good.''
Bryan-Amaning said when he's on the court at the same time with N'Diaye he gives him the confidence to slip away from the basket to shoot his mid-range jumpers.
Justin Holiday, who had 11 points, also contributed 12 rebounds.
The Huskies dominated from the start, staying aggressive and forcing the Cowboys into 27 turnovers.
Despite the lopsided nature, Romar would not allow his players to lose focus. The Huskies led by 42 points at halftime and allowed two quick 3-pointers by Kapelan to open the second half.
That prompted Romar to call an immediate timeout just 48 seconds into the half. He addressed his players in animated fashion.
The Huskies got the message and had no more lulls. They outscored the Cowboys 55-39 the rest of the way.
The Huskies' biggest lead was 110-52 with 3:32 left.
''Right off the bat they hit two 3s on us and we were concerned about that going in,'' Romar said. ''All in all, I thought we made progress and that's what we're trying to do every day is make progress.''
McNeese, the Southland Conference school playing Washington for the second time ever, led 3-0 on a long-range basket by Patrick Richard 11 seconds into the game.
The Cowboys then missed their next 12 shots. Over a 13-minute span, they had more turnovers (14) than shots attempts (12).
McNeese finally scored its second field goal at 7:19 with Richard hit a short jumper. By then the Huskies led 44-9.
Washington led 61-19 at halftime, shooting 43 percent from the field but committing just five turnovers. McNeese had 18.
Thomas made all four of his first-half 3-point attempts and had 15 points.
