Huskies

Scouting report: Seattle University
Game info: 7 p.m. Thursday at KeyArena (9,686 capacity)
TV: ROOT Sports (Tom Glasglow, Lenny Wilkens and Jen Mueller)
Radio: KJR 950 AM and 102.9 FM (Bob Rondeau and Jason Hamilton) and 770 AM KTTH (Dave Grosby and Gary Hill Jr.)
Record: 3-3.
Stats/schedule: Click here.
Game notes: Seattle University and Washington.

Coach: Cameron Dollar is 43-52 in his fourth year with the Redhawks. He spent seven years as a UW assistant.
Prediction: Picked to finish eighth in the 10-team WAC in both the coaches and media preseason polls.
Series: Washington leads 23-4 in a series that began in 1953. UW is 4-0 on the road, 7-3 on a neutral floor and 12-1 at home.
Last meeting: The Huskies held off the Redhawks for a 91-83 victoryat Edmundson Pavilion. C.J. Wilcox finished with 25 points and Tony Wroten added 24. Seattle U erased a 50-37 halftime deficit nine minutes and tied it at 76-76 with less than five minutes left. Washington finished the game on a 15-7 run. The Huskies were 37 of 59 at the line. Five Redhawks fouled out. Two technical fouls and one flagrant foul were assessed in a scrum of a basketball game that lasted more than 2 ½ hours.

Previous game: Won 75-69 at Eastern Washington on Monday.

(AP Photo) – Marcio Jose Sanches

PLAYERS TO WATCH:

— The Huskies are very familiar with junior forward Clarence Trent (near left) who began his college career at Washington in 2009. He played one season for UW and briefly tried out for the football team before transferring to Seattle U. He sat out the 2010-11 season. In his first year at SU, he started 26 of 27 games and averaged 9.4 points and 4.4 rebounds. This season, he’s started all six games and leads the team in scoring (11.2 points per game) and rebounding (7.2 per game).

At 6-6, Trent plays multiple positions on the wing. He’s an explosive athlete who is exceptional in transition. He’s improved as a shooter and is 6 of 14 behind the arc. Still he’s shooting just 37.9 percent from the field. Trent’s career scoring high is 18 points, but against Virginia and Stanford, he tallied just four and seven points respectively. In his only meeting against his old team, Trent had nine points on 4-of-5 shooting last year.

—Redshirt freshman Deshaun Sunderhaus has been the early surprise of the season for the Redhawks. The 6-9, 230-pound forward from Georgia has started every game. He’s second on the team in scoring and tied for first in rebounding with 10.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. Those numbers lead all WAC freshmen, as does his field goal percentage of .473 (26-of-55).

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Washington coach Lorenzo Romar and Seattle University coach Cameron Dollar traded friendly barbs and shared anecdotes about their long friendship during the Alumni Downtown Breakfast held this morning.

The room was divided between supporters wearing Husky purple and Redhawks red. The UW marching band provided the soundtrack while SU cheerleaders entertained folks inside the banquet room at the Sheraton Hotel.

Here’s a few notes from the conversation with Romar and Dollar:

— When asked if both schools would include Gonzaga and someday play a mini-tournament during the offseason, Romar talked about the old Far West Classic. The Portland tournament included eight teams mostly from the West Coast and was played during the holiday season, It was canceled in 1997 and in its heyday it drew 63,872 fans over three days.

— Romar retold the story of how he met Dollar. Former UCLA assistant Mark Gottfried went to Virginia to scout a high-profile recruit. Gottfried tells the Bruins staff: “He’s pretty good, but there’s another guy on their team and he’s more of what we need. He grabbed their best player by the shirt and told him to get his act together. ” Romar ends the story and says “So we ended up getting Cameron Dollar.”

— After receiving a slew of compliments, Dollar likened himself to a farmyard animal that’s “being fattened up right before they take it to slaughter.” He said the hype meter has swung to Seattle U’s side before tonight’s game.

— Dollar told a story about Romar from their days at UCLA when his former coach would ask guys to play a pick-up game. Dollar said Romar would win most games and it was often he’d dunk on unsuspecting foes.

— Dollar talked about his official visit to UCLA. He said Romar popped in a tape of him getting a steal and dunking on a 7-footer against Louisville. Dollar was intimidated at first, but said he thought it was pretty cool his coach could dunk on a 7-footer. He also asked for the tape.

— When asked about one-and-done players, Romar said the situation could work out for everybody if the player doesn’t “rent out your program.” He said guys like Kevin Durant (Texas) and Greg Oden (Ohio State) were one-and-done players who did it the right way.

Dollar said: “We have so much to offer at a university. … I never cheapen the quality of what we do and how we do it. … You’d like for that impact to be 4-5 years, but if all we have them for is six months, eight months or two months, what we have to offer is so special and so valuable that it’s worth it.”

Seattle University coach Cameron Dollar takes his fourth swing at Washington on Thursday when the Redhawks host the Huskies at 7 p.m. at KeyArena.

Dollar, a former UW assistant, is no stranger to coach Lorenzo Romar. Their relationship began in 1993 when Dollar played for the Bruins and Romar was an assistant. They won a national championship with UCLA in 1995 posting a 31-2 record including an 89-78 win over Arkansas in the title game.

At age 22, Dollar became the country’s youngest coach when he was hired at Vanguard University. After a season and a year as an assistant at Georgia, Dollar joined Romar’s staff at Saint Louis. They were together for 10 years, including three at Washington.

Dollar left in 2009. In his fourth season with the Redhawks, he has a 43-52 record. SU is 3-3 this season. Washington is 23-4 against Seattle U. in a rivalry that began in 1953. The series was discontinued in 1980 and started again in 2009. The Huskies are 4-0 since then and 3-0 against Dollar.

Today is the last day to register for next Thursday’s Alumni Downtown Breakfast that features a conversation between Washington coach Lorenzo Romar and Seattle University’s Cameron Dollar.

The 7 a.m. event will be held at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel and moderated by Steve Raible, co-anchor at KIRO 7 Eyewitness news. Tickets are $40.

Here’s the details.