BOISE, Idaho -- With a flurry of steals, layups and 3-pointers, the Washington Huskies seemed well on their way to quieting critics who questioned their pick as a No. 1 seed.
Following it up with an inconsistent finish is certain to keep the conversation going.
After charging out to a 19-point lead in the first nine minutes, Washington played well enough the rest of the way to open the NCAA Tournament with a harder-than-expected 88-77 victory over Montana on Thursday.
"We came out with a lot of intensity and rotated guys in there who kept up the intensity up, but then we kind of got cool down the stretch," Washington's Brandon Roy said. "Being a No. 1 team is hard because you're thinking about it the whole game. We're still new to this system and we're just going to take this win and get better from it."
Roy had 17 points, Tre Simmons added 15, and Washington (28-5) shot 55 percent to win an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since reaching the round of 16 in 1998. But with Pacific -- a 79-71 winner over Pittsburgh -- up next in the second round Saturday, the Huskies will need to find more consistency to move onto Albuquerque next weekend.
"Usually, we try to take advantage early and I think that's what we did," Simmons said.
"Then we kind of played it cool after that, kind of turned the switch on and off."
Montana (18-13) won the Big Sky Conference to get into the NCAA Tournament, but beating the Pac-10 champion was probably a little too much to ask. Led by Kamarr Davis' 24 points, the Grizzlies at least gave it a try, rallying from a dismal start before fading against the bigger, more athletic Huskies.
"It was a tough situation. I've been in games where we're supposed to win and let's face it, Washington was supposed to beat us," Montana coach Larry Krystkowiak said. "Good, bad or indifferent, we fought to the end. Nobody was interested in moral victories. I legitimately thought, until I looked up with three minutes to go, that we had a chance to win."
Montana wasn't supposed to have any chance -- no 16th seed has ever won a tournament game -- and it didn't help that the Huskies had extra incentive.
Though it won the Pac-10 Tournament, Washington finished eighth in the final AP poll, the lowest for a No. 1 seed since the field expanded to 64 in 1985. Plenty of criticism followed and the Huskies took umbrage with those who said the only reason they got the top spot in the Albuquerque Regional was because Kentucky and Arizona slipped in their final games.
Washington said it had something to prove and played that way early, pouring it on against the overmatched Grizzlies.
The Huskies scored the game's first 13 points and kept coming at Montana in waves, rotating players off the bench like it was a hockey game, pressuring the Grizzlies into mistakes and pushing the pace at every turn.
Montana didn't score until Davis hit a turnaround jumper 4:10 in and was down 27-8 before the game was nine minutes old.
"At the start I thought our defensive intensity was outstanding, which gave us good looks at the basket," said Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar, who agreed to a new eight-year contract before the game.
But after withstanding Washington's initial surge, the feisty Grizzlies fought back.
Forcing Washington into bad shots and staying patient offensively, Montana cut the lead to 32-23 with a 15-5 run. Davis capped the rally with a two-handed dunk that brought the large contingent of Grizzlies fans to their feet.
Washington got the lead back to 17 points at halftime after Simmons hit a 3-pointer from the corner. But Montana wouldn't quit.
Led by Davis' physical play inside, the Grizzlies trimmed the Huskies' lead to 52-43 with 13½ minutes left. Washington followed with a 9-0 run, only to see Montana cut the lead to 67-57 with eight minutes left, leading to a chant of "Overrated! Overrated!" from the Grizzlies' side.
Montana never got closer, but it didn't matter -- the Grizzlies had left doubts about Washington's choice as a top seed.
"That's a loaded question. The committee knows a heck of a lot more about us and maybe we took some of the shine off," Krystkowiak said. "But they are a No. 1 seed, they have a great team and I expect they'll go far in the tournament."
