UW MBB returns home to host neighbor Seattle Pacific on Wednesday night

by Junna Base November 14, 2024

SEATTLE – After suffering its first road loss at Nevada over the weekend, the Washington men’s basketball team will look to bounce back Wednesday night by hosting Seattle Pacific for a 7 p.m. PT tipoff at Alaska Airlines Arena.

The matchup will be available to stream on Big Ten Plus and on your radio station at 93.3 KJR-FM, with Tony Castricone and Jason Hamilton on the call. Links to live statistics can be found at HuskyStats.com.

TIPS FOR OPENING

» UW is coming off its first road test of the season, a 63-53 loss at Nevada
» Despite the defeat Tyree Ihenacho posted his first double-digit scoring performance as a Husky, scoring 15 points on 7-10 shooting
» Tyler Harris He also scored in double figures for the first time at UW, leading Ihenacho to lead the team with 9.5 points per game
» Franck Kepnang has registered three blocks in both games this season and has posted at least three blocks in four of his last five games
» UW plays SPU for the first time since 2004
» Wednesday’s game counts for UW’s record, but is a challenge for SPU
» UW has given the starting signal Danny Sprinkles era with a 79-73 home win over UC Davis
» Great Osobor had the first Husky game in a long time and became the first major CBB player with a stat line of at least 15 points, 17 rebounds and six steals since Blake Griffin in 2008

ABOUT SEATTLE PACIFIC

» Seattle Pacific is in its second season under head coach Keffrey Fazio
» Fazio has been an SPU employee since the 2019/20 season and was promoted to interim head coach in May 2023
» Fazio spent 10 seasons at West Seattle High School, the last six as head coach
» Seattle Pacific finished third in the GNAC in Fazio’s first season in 2023-24
» SPU posted a record of 17-11 a season ago and started this season 0-3
» The Falcons were picked to finish 7th in the preseason GNAC coaches poll
» SPU has two preseason All-GNAC picks in junior guards Owen Moriarty and Jaxon Nap
» Moriarty ranked 3rd in SPU in the 2023-24 season with a 10.4 average and shot 49.6 percent from the floor
» Nap is in his first season at SPU after transferring from Montana, where he appeared in 62 games as a reserve player

HISTORY OF THE SERIES – SEATTLE PACIFIC

» Washington and Seattle Pacific have played ten times before
» All 10 matches took place at Washington’s home stadium
» The Huskies are a perfect 10-0 against their nearby neighbors in Seattle
» Washington defeated SPU 89-71 in their last meeting in 2004, the only meeting between the two teams since 1981
» Wednesday’s game officially counts toward the UW record, but not toward the SPU record

DOWN GOES DAVIS
» Washington started this Danny Sprinkles Era ended with a 79-73 victory over UC Davis
» It is the third consecutive season that the Huskies have started with a win
» Five different Huskies finished the game in double figures
» UW dominated fast break points by a 20-2 margin
» The Dawgs got a big bounce from the bench with 35 points
» Below, UW outscored UCD 42-24
» Great Osobor posted a historic overall performance, becoming the first major CBB to record at least 15 points, 17 rebounds and six steals since Blake Griffin in 2008
» Osobor is UW’s first player ever with at least 15 points, 15 boards and 15 steals in a single game
» Oobor set a career high and also became the first UW player 6-8 or taller to record more than six steals in a game

Fill the cupboard
» Washington returns just four letterwinners from last season
» Willhelm Breidenbach is the only returning Husky to have played more than 10 games in a season
» UW returnees started just 16 games in the 2023-24 season, 10 percent of Washington’s total starts
» UW’s 9.7% yield is the 16th lowest in the nation

LET’S BE FRANCK
» UW is 14-6 over the last two seasons Franck Kepnang plays
» Kepnang has suffered a season-ending injury in each of the last two seasons
» UW won 7 of 10 games with Kepnang last season and 6 of 8 the season before that

Vocational school
» Despite only four returning players, the UW squad has a veteran presence
» Washington players have appeared in a total of 814 college games
» The Huskies have 484 career starts
» Four Huskies have played in triple-digit games: Great Osobor (104), DJ Davis (116), Chris Conway (109) and Luis Kortright (103)
» 10 of Washington’s 16 players are upperclassmen
» The UW roster consists of six seniors and one graduate student

PORTAL HOPPING
» Washington has strengthened its squad with eight D1 players from the transfer portal
» The eight additions via the transfer portal are the most in a single season for UW
» Four Huskies (DJ Davis, Tyree Ihenacho, Luis Kortright, Great Osobor) transferred twice during their college careers
» In total, 10 of the 16 UW players came to Washington via the transfer portal
» Washington has added at least three players through the transfer portal in each of the last four years

THE GREAT
» Great Osobor has spent his entire college career as the UW head coach Danny Sprinklesfollowed by Sprinkle from Montana State and Utah State
» Oobor was named a 2023-24 AP Honorable Mention All-American
» Oobor was also named Mountain West Player and Newcomer of the Year
» As a sophomore at Montana State University, Oobor earned Big Sky Top Reserve honors.
» Oobor landed on the watch lists for the Karl Malone Award and the Wooden Award
» Oobor was named a Preseason All-American by Jon Rothstein of CBS and Jay Bilas of ESPN
» Osobor was ranked No. 15 on CBS’ Top 100 list and one of the best players of the 2024-25 season
» Oobor was one of 10 players named to the Preseason All-Big Ten Team

FREE MONEY
» DJ Davis led the nation in free throw percentage in 2023-24 with 95.0 percent
» Davis was perfect from the charity stripe in 23 of 27 games in which he attempted at least one free throw
» Davis made a career-high 10 free throws twice last season, against SEMO (11/10) and against Texas Tech (11/30).
» Davis shot 86.5 percent from the free throw line in three seasons at UC Irvine, including 90.4 percent as a sophomore
» Davis has a career free throw rate of 89.1 percent
» Davis has shot 100 percent of his free throws with at least five attempts in a game 15 times in his career

ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM
» Former Tacoma Curtis star Zoom Diallo is UW’s highest-rated recruit since the Dawgs signed five-star prospects Jaden McDaniels and Isaiah Stewart in 2019
» Diallo is a consensus four-star prospect according to 247Sports, ESPN, On3 and Rivals
» Diallo is Washington’s ninth ever McDonald’s All-American and fourth in the last five years, joining Jackson Grant (2021), McDaniels and Stewart (2019)
» Diallo, the No. 1 player in Washington and the 2022-23 Washington Gatorade Player of the Year, was ranked No. 1. 3 point guard and no. 43rd player in the country according to ESPN

MONTLAKE MAGIC
» Over the last 20 seasons, Washington is Washington went 251-87 (.743) at Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion
» The Huskies have posted a winning record at home in 18 of those 20 seasons, posting double-digit home wins 17 times
» UW has posted a home record of at least .600 in 14 of the last 20 seasons, including each of the last three seasons
» Washington has won at least 80% of its home games nine times in the last 20 seasons, including 90% or more four times

HUSKY GREAT COMES HOME
» Former Husky star Abdul Gaddy joins in Danny Sprinklesis Washington’s first hire as director of player development
» Gaddy, who graduated in 2013, was a two-time captain for the Dawgs
» Gaddy ranks second all-time in Washington with 469 career assists
» Gaddy was a Bob Cousy Award nominee in 2012
» Gaddy played professionally in Italy, Latvia and Germany before playing four years in the NBA G League

A new era of B1G
» Washington will begin its first season in the Big Ten Conference in 2024-25
» The Big Ten received six bids to the 2024 NCAA Tournament, tied for the third-most of any conference
» UW was a founding member of what later became the Pac-12 Conference and founded the Pacific Coast Conference in 1915
» Washington also remained in the Northwest Intercollegiate Athletic Association until 1925
» Washington is 358-347 all-time against current Big Ten member institutions
» UW is 47-33 against Big Ten opponents excluding Oregon, UCLA and USC
» Washington has played 14 of 17 other Big Ten members
» UW has never played Maryland, Penn State or Rutgers

THE SPRINKLE EFFECT
» First year teams under Danny Sprinkles have increased their win total compared to the previous season
» Teams led by Sprinklers have earned an NCAA Tournament berth in three consecutive seasons
» In those three seasons, Sprinkle’s teams have lost just 11 conference games
» Sprinkle’s teams have had at least three players earn all-conference honors in each of the last four seasons
» Sprinkle picked up a Utah State team that came back nine minutes from the previous season and led the Aggies to their first-ever overall Mountain West title
» Was named Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year for his achievements at Utah State University
» In his third year at Montana State, Sprinkle led the Bobcats to their first NCAA bid in 26 years
» Sprinkles Montana State followed with a 25-10 record in the 2022-23 season and won the Big Sky Tournament to secure its NCAA bid for the second straight year
» It was the first time since 1927-29 that Montana State posted back-to-back 25-win seasons

It feels like the very first time
» Danny Sprinkles is the 20th head coach in Washington men’s basketball history
» Since legendary coach Hec Edmundson took over at Montlake for the 1920-21 season, eight of UW’s 11 head coaches have had winning seasons.
» In six of those 11 seasons under first-year head coaches, UW has posted a record of .600 or better
» Washington is 250-183 all-time among first-year head coaches (.577)
» Since Edmundson’s first season, first-year head coaches at UW have compiled a record of 188-151 (.555).

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