For most of the night, the loudest cheer from the half-full Alaska Airlines Arena crowd came when a fan made a crosscourt putt to win a gift card to the Washington Huskies team store. Until sophomore forward Tyler Harris drained a floater to give coach Danny Sprinkle’s team a 60-58 lead with 6:03 remaining in the second half, things looked somewhat grim against the UC Davis Aggies.
Despite Ty Johnson’s best efforts, as the Preseason All-Big West honoree dropped a game-high 35 points, the Huskies were able to pull away for a 79-73 win thanks to a late spark from Harris, who scored all 9 of his points in the second half.
However, even though Sprinkle started his career 1-0, the Huskies have a lot of work left to do. Preseason Big Ten Player of the Year Great Osobor had moments of brilliance, stuffing the stat sheet with 15 points, 17 rebounds, 3 assists, 6 steals, and 2 blocks in 38 minutes of action, but he also showed that he has some rust to work off.
Although he shot 4-8 from the floor, the senior struggled at the free throw line, where he hit just 7 of his 16 attempts. He also committed 4 fouls and 6 turnovers. As a whole, it wasn’t pretty for Washington.
Guard DJ Davis struggled mightily from the floor, going 0-8 in a microcosm of the Huskies’ opener. As a team, they went just 2 of 14 from three-point range and 21 of 38 from the free-throw line, committing 15 turnovers in the process.
“This will probably be our worst shooting game of the year,” Osobor said after the game.
A bright spot in the game was true freshman Zoom Diallo, as the highly-touted local product was impressive in 26 minutes. He finished his college debut with 12 points, 3 rebounds, and a team-high 4 assists.
“He gets an A from me,” Sprinkle said. “I thought Zoom was terrific.”
Overall, the Huskies looked like exactly what they are. A brand new team that was playing its first game together, and while they have a lot of promise, they are a long way from reaching their potential.