Harris Has Another Hot Night, Leads Huskies Past Colorado State

The sophomore forward went for a game-high 24 points, following up a 27-point outing.

Tyler Harris led the Huskies with 24 against Colorado State on Thanksgiving day. / UW Athletics

PALM SPRINGS, California -- The University of Washington basketball team celebrated Thanksgiving by going back for seconds and thirds of Tyler Harris.

The 6-foot-8 sophomore forward scored 19 of his game-high 24 points in the opening half to lead the Huskies to a 73-67 victory over Colorado State in the Acrisure Invitational on Thursday in a near empty Acrisure Arena.

Harris, a Portland transfer and a fairly new starter for Danny Sprinkle, was at his shooting best by dropping in 9 of 13 shots, 5 of 8 from 3-point range, plus grabbing 8 rebounds and collecting 2 blocks.

It marked his second consecutive big offensive outing, with Harris following up a career-best 27-point showing against Alcorn State six days earlier.

"He's playing with a ton of confidence and being aggressive," Sprinkle said. "The one thing he's really knocking down shots, which he's more than capable of doing. When he's knocking down threes, he's really hard to guard."

The Huskies (5-1) collectively had their top 3-point shooting effort of the season, hitting 10 of 22 attempts. Their 45.5 percent behind the line was even better than than their overall shooting rate of 44.6 percent.

Sprinkle's team and Colorado State (3-3) played it close for much of the game, with the Rams leading 28-26 at halftime. The teams were never more than 9 points apart.

With 6:18 left to play, the Huskies took the lead for good on Mekhi Mason's 3-pointer that gave them a 59-58 advantage.

The UW's 6-foot-8 Great Osobor supported Harris with a productive stat line of 16 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals. He survived a hard foul, if not a cheap shot, from the Rams' Born Bowen, who sent him crashing to the floor with 38.1 seconds remaining.

Osobor came up limping, a flagrant foul was whistled and the big man sank one of two free throws to give the Huskies a 68-65 lead.

"Teams are guarding us because of him -- they're really packing the paint," Sprinkles said. "For him to have 7 assists, that's great."

The Huskies play again on Friday against Santa Clara (3-4), which beat TCU 69-52 in its tourney opener. The teams tip off at 1:30 PST.

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