Most UW Transfers Landed Postseason Berths Elsewhere

Four of the six defectors will participate in the NCAA or NIT tournaments.

A year ago, a half-dozen University of Washington basketball players entered the transfer portal following a disastrous 5-21 season, looking for a fresh start.

While a rebuilt Husky team on Sunday failed to land a postseason tournament berth, most of Mike Hopkins' defectors fared better elsewhere. 

Former Husky guards RaeQuan Battle and Nate Pryor, who now play for Montana State and New Mexico State, respectively, are part of NCAA Tournament teams.

Ex-UW guard Marcus Tsohonis and forward Hameir Wright, with Virginia Commonwealth and North Texas, respectively, will enter the NIT.

That leaves guard Erik Stevenson and forward J'Raan Brooks, who play for South Carolina and UC San Diego, to go without a postseason tournament same as the Huskies.

For Brooks, it's been much worse than that. The 6-foot-9 junior injured a knee in a preseason exhibition game in which he was a starter and missed the entire season.

Of the four transfers who joined the UW this season and replaced these guys, guards Terrell Brown Jr. and Daejon Davis finished their college careers with just one tournament appearance each. Brown played in the 2019 CollegeInsider.com event for Seattle U and Davis shared in the 2018 NIT with Stanford.

Emmitt Matthews Jr., the Huskies forward who still has eligibility remaining, appeared in the 2019 CBI tournament and the 2021 NCAA tournament for West Virginia.

TCU transfer guard PJ Fuller still awaits his first postseason berth as a collegian.

Of the departed, former Huskies Battle and Pryor both come off the bench for their new teams and play solid contributor roles. In fact, each won a game this season with a buzzer shot. 

A 6-foot-5 sophomore from Tulalip, Washington, Battle drained a 35-footer to beat Northern Colorado 87-85 at home just a week ago. In early December, Pryor tossed in a short shot over his head to topple New Mexico 78-76 in overtime in front of 13,000 people in Albuquerque.

Nate Pryor will play in the NCAA tournament with New Mexico State :: Nathan J. Fish/USA TODAY Sports

For a 27-7 team that won the Big Sky tournament, Battle averages 8.5 points per game as the Bobcats' fourth-leading scorer. Turning his career around, he's reached double figures in points in 14 of his past 17 games. He's been used as a sub for all 34 games.

Pryor, a 6-foot-4 junior from Seattle, started 6 of 19 games that he appeared while dealing with a string of injuries for 26-6 New Mexico State, the WAC champion. He averages 2.9 points an outing.

Tsohonis heads to the NIT with VCU. A 6-foot-3 junior guard from Portland, he averages 5.5 ppg for a 21-9 team that will face Princeton in the opening round. He's started 3 of the 27 games he appeared in so far.

Marcus Tsohonis will play in the NIT with VCU :: Kevin Jairaj/USA TODAY Sports

Wright, a two-year and 71-game starter for the UW, likewise turns to the NIT, but he's been humbled by his transfer to North Texas. The 6-foot-9 forward from Albany, New York, doesn't play much. Wright appeared in just 11 regular-season games, a third of the schedule, while averaging just 7.2 minutes and 1.5 points each outing. North Texas, 24-6, plays its NIT opener against Texas State.

Then there's Stevenson. He's not going anywhere either, with his 18-13 South Carolina team snubbed by the postseason tournaments. The 6-foot-3 junior guard from Lacey, Washington, started all 31 games for his third team after previously playing for Wichita State and the UW. 

Stevenson finished as the Gamecocks' second-leading scorer at 11.6 points per game, while shooting 36.9 percent from the field and 33.1 from 3-point range.

Of these six players, only Wright appeared in a postseason tourney while with the Huskies, going to the NIT as a freshman in 2018 and the NCAAs as a sophomore the following year.

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