The Washington Huskies are 3-1 through their first four games of Danny Sprinkle’s tenure in Seattle following a 74-69 victory over the UMass Lowell River Hawks, largely thanks to the play of Great Osobor.
Although the senior still has plenty of room to improve, since according to Sprinkle, he should have finished with 35 points and 25 rebounds instead of (just) 23 points and a career-high 18 boards on 8-21 shooting from the floor. He also added 3 steals, 2 assists, and a blocked shot, while cutting his turnovers down to just 2.
Now, the preseason Blue Ribbon Yearbook All-American needs to find his touch when finishing around the rim, especially since center Franck Kepnang missed his second straight game with a knee injury. Osobor also got a lot of help from an emerging star, Portland transfer Tyler Harris.
The 6-foot-8 sophomore played a team-high 38 minutes coming off the bench and showed his stellar potential on both sides of the ball. He finished with 12 points, shooting 6-12 from the field, adding 7 rebounds and 5 blocks. Harris was one of just two Huskies to finish at 50 percent or better from the floor on Sunday night.
The other was freshman guard Zoom Diallo, who displayed his stellar ceiling as a playmaker, finishing with 12 points while going 5-9 from the floor. He added 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and a block, but also committed 4 fouls, which limited him to 22 minutes.
“We’ve been talking with him,” Sprinkle said earlier in the week about Diallo’s foul trouble. “That’s the one thing, he needs to guard without fouling because he can do it, and with his size and strength he doesn’t need to put his hands on guys, he’s strong enough to get his hands up and we’ve still got to train him, he’s got to keep working on developing those habits as a freshman of showing his hands and being able to move his feet.”
Before the Huskies take on Alcorn State on Friday, Sprinkle needs to continue working with the Huskies on improving their efficiency from the floor, which has been the biggest limiting factor for his team this season. Washington shot a meager 37 percent from the floor, including 3-16 from three-point range.