As the Washington Huskies prepare for the hardest part of their schedule in the Big Ten, coach Danny Sprinkle is going to want to rely on his veteran depth at guard. Among that depth is Rhode Island transfer Luis Kortright, who has played sparingly this season.
The senior has just 187 minutes under his belt, the second-fewest among Washington’s guards, and has posted an average of just 5 points per game. In the Huskies’ 75-69 win over Maryland on Thursday, Kortright turned in a modest 7 points, 2 rebounds, and a steal, but also played strong defense in the post and helped hold the Terrapins, who came into the game ranked as the No. 12 offense in the nation, to their lowest output of the season.
After the game, Sprinkle took some time to praise his effort.
“He was phenomenal,” Sprinkle said. “Louie knows he’s been in my doghouse and I think since he came back from Christmas he’s been a different Louie, and that’s the Louie that I expect, that our team expects, that our staff expects, and our fans expect.”
Sprinkle has made it very clear that he isn’t afraid to make it known when he’s unhappy with a player after discussing his decision to take guard Mekhi Mason out of the starting lineup in December. The junior responded with a 23-point display against Eastern Washington, and now it appears to be Kortright’s turn to step up.
“When he’s playing like that and he’s got energy, we’re a different team. He’s a big, physical guard kind of like Zoom [Diallo] and he’s played in over 100 high-level Division I games, he has a lot of experience playing in that stuff and he’s a typical New Yorker, he’s not backing down from anybody and that’s what I love about him. He gave us a spark for about 16-17 minutes in the second half when we put him in and immediately, the energy changed.”