Coming off arguably the best recruiting class in school history, Washington basketball should be at the top of the Pac-12, yet they’re sitting at 1-3 in conference play
Obviously, losing Quade Green hurt Washington basketball in a major way, but no one could’ve guessed that even without him, they’d be sitting at 1-3 after an overtime loss to Cal, and a home loss to UCLA.
Reigning back-to-back Pac-12 Coach of the Year Mike Hopkins has to do something, and he has to do it now. We saw flashes of his plan for the future in the game against Cal, where we saw more time on the floor for freshmen guards Marcus Tsohonis and RaeQuan Battle. The plan had been to redshirt the talented duo, but after losing Green, and piling up 21 turnovers to just five assists in the loss at Stanford, something has to change.
The only other “ball-handler” the Huskies have to work with is Elijah Hardy, who’s averaging one assist per game this season. Tsohonis has also provided a three-point shooting boost (granted, he’s only gone 2/3 behind the line) in his time on the floor which is something the Huskies definitely need, after going 8/32 from long range against Cal.
The offense can’t strictly run through Isaiah Stewart and Jaden McDaniels. Sure, the two five-star freshmen have been excellent so far this season, but there are going to be games like Stewart had at Stanford where it’s just going to be tough to get the ball into him when you’re playing against an older, more disciplined team. Woes from beyond the three-point line and at the free-throw line have killed this team in numerous losses (see the 12/25 at the stripe performance against Stanford).
Hopkins needs to find a better way to utilize Hameir Wright on the offensive end. Wright has to get back in the post and use his length to his advantage, because 17/63 (27%) from the three-point line isn’t going to work for this team. Its gotten to the point for Wright where sometimes the opposing team won’t even guard him because they’re not concerned with him from behind the three-point line. This allows teams to dedicate an extra man to Stewart, and could easily fix part of the offensive struggles if Stewart has an open man he can dump the ball off to down low.
This Husky team is so talented and they have the potential to be great, and they’ve given themselves no room for error throughout the rest of Pac-12 play. The expectations for this team should not change in any way. This is the most talented Washington team we’ve seen in a very long time, and they still have the potential to do a lot of damage if they can get right, but they need to do it now with the Oregon schools coming to town this weekend.