Huskies' Biggest Problem — No Points in the Paint

The UW takes on the California Bears at home seeking elusive front-line scoring.

When it hosts California on Wednesday night, the University of Washington basketball team will send the league's leading scorer onto the floor in senior guard Terrell Brown, who averages 20.7 points per game.

The Huskies will supplement his efforts with junior forward Emmitt Matthews, an often productive player who averages 11.5 an outing. 

They also hope to draw more scoring production from sophomore guard Cole Bajema, who suddenly has become a 3-point shooting threat, hitting 11 of his past 15 attempts behind the line over two games.

However, the Huskies (6-7 overall, 1-2 Pac-12), likely will receive very few points if any at all from their big men heading into their conference matchup against Cal (9-7, 2-3) at Alaska Airlines Arena. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.

If Mike Hopkins' crew wants to become anything more than a .500 team this season, it has to deal with its serious lack of inside scoring. Every time the Huskies tip off, it's as if they're playing four-on-five. It's an unfair fight.

Hopkins basically has five options, but he chooses to go longer stretches using just one solution: 6-foot-11 junior Nate Roberts, a notable non-scorer.

The Husky coach will be the first tell you that his center selection involves far more than just point production, that his man in the middle needs to know how to defend his trademark zone, but this problem has not been rectified.

Roberts has started all 13 games so far and draws 16.9 minutes per game, but he averages just 3 shots an outing and 3.3 points, barely making a dent in the offensive end. He can't create any shots on his own, has very limited range and usually scores only on put-backs. When he's not in foul trouble.

The first replacement off the Husky bench is 6-foot-10 freshman Jackson Grant, who takes 1.5 shots per games and averages 1.8 ppg. He's played in all 13 games and appears to have untapped offensive skills, even from 3-point range. Yet Hopkins has intimated all along that Grant remains a work in progress, especially in defending the zone.

Riley Sorn, the 7-foot-5 junior, appeared in 24 games last season and has reasonable scoring potential inside with his extended reach, but he's played in just two outings so far this winter because of continuing health issues. A lengthy back injury and recent COVID protocols have kept him grounded. He's taken just 4 shots and scored 6 points. 

There's 6-foot-9 sophomore Langston Wilson, a junior-college transfer who's appeared in 12 games yet seems to fancy himself as more of a wing. He's just 1 for 9 from 3-point range. Averaging 2.5 shots and 2.2 points per game, he's still finding his way at this level. 

Of course, Hopkins also could lean more to a smaller lineup composed of five fully capable scorers, but suffer on defense and in rebounding.

It's a nagging conundrum. What's clear is the UW coach no longer can sit back and do nothing, and just hope for the best. 

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