Inside The Huskies

UW Releases Non-Conference Hoop Schedule Featuring Zags, Auburn

The Huskies face plenty of lightweight teams early on, as well.

Dan Raley

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The University of Washington basketball team released its non-conference schedule for the coming season and, yes, there's plenty of fodder on it, but also some interesting developments.

Returning NCAA tournament teams Gonzaga and Auburn are back on it after getting canceled out by the pandemic, with the Zags and Huskies forced to miss their last two meetings.

Bryan Penn-Johnson will return to his former haunts.

C'mon, you remember the one-time 7-foot-1 UW center, don't you? Answered to BPJ. Appeared in 12 games and scored 12 points. Transferred to LSU following the 2019-20 season. Now with Cal Poly after a junior-college stop.

Then there's Robin Looney.

Don't know him either? Well, he was the Seattle Pacific University head coach for seven years before coaching at Point Loma in the San Diego area the past three seasons and he's now in the Big Sky at Idaho State.

With coach Mike Hopkins back for his sixth year in charge, the Husky basketball season will open on Nov. 7 with a home game against Weber State, Portland Trailblazers tandout Damian Lillard's alma mater, coming off a 21-12 season.

The season continues with this  murderer's row: North Florida (No. 11), Utah Tech (Nov. 14) and Cal Baptist (Nov. 17). They went 11-20, 13-18 and 18-16 last season, respectively. Get your seats early.

Never heard of Utah Tech? Last season, it was Dixie State. Twenty-seven years ago, it was Dixie State College, a junior-college that sent a running back named Corey Dillon to the UW.

The Wooden Classic comes next on Nov. 23-24 in Anaheim, with the Huskies opening against Fresno State and playing either St. Mary's or Vanderbilt the next night, on Thanksgiving.

From there, it's the annual neighborhood block party with Seattle U (Nov. 28), followed by a trip to Spokane and potentially an annual beatdown from Gonzaga (Dec. 9), The Huskies haven't won there since 1944.

The Zags, coming off a 28-4 record and Sweet 16 appearance, have three starters back in 6-foot-11 All-America forward Drew Timme, an 18.4 scorer, and guards Julian Strawther and Rasir Bolton. They've reloaded with LSU transfer and 7-footer Efton Reid III and Chattanooga transfer and 19.9-point scorer Malachi Smith. The beat goes on at the Kennel.

The Huskies then host a couple more fillers in Cal Poly (Dec. 13) and Looney-coached Idaho State (Dec. 17), welcoming teams coming off 7-21 and 7-23 seasons.

Finally, Auburn comes to town, two years later than planned because of COVID, with four starters back from a 28-6 team that lost in the NCAA second round. 

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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