UW's Koren Johnson Receives Pac-12 Freshman of Week Honor

The first-year guard scored a career-best 15 points against Stanford and Cal.

Koren Johnson wasn't supposed to play right away for the University of Washington basketball team this season, if at all. He had a shoulder injury in need of repair and was late getting started.

However, the 6-foot-2 freshman guard from Seattle's Garfield High School lately has found a comfort zone with the Huskies after scoring 15 points in consecutive games, outings that on Monday brought him Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors.

Johnson is the first UW player to receive this conference reward since forward Jaden McDaniels in 2020.

In an 86-69 victory over Stanford, Johnson came off the bench and scored a career-best 15 points, hitting 5 of 8 shots, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range.

Two days later, he came up with another 15 points in an 81-78 overtime win over California. He connected on 4 of 8 shot attempts, 3 of 4 behind the line.

"He's a freshman, year-wise," UW coach Mike Hopkins said. "He's a senior in confidence and belief."

Koren Johnson hit 7 of 10 3-pointers against Stanford and Cal.  / Skylar Lin Visuals

This season, Johnson has appeared in 16 games while he's eased his way into basketball shape, all as a reserve. He averages 6.5 points and nearly 2 assists each outing. He's shooting 44.2 percent from the floor, 40.9 from behind the line.

Against the Bay Area schools, he also came up with 6 steals, collectively.

"He's as disruptive of a player as we've had since Teese," Hopkins said, referring to Matisse Thybulle, now with the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Huskies will take these positive developments and return to the road this week for games against Colorado, on Thursday at 6 p.m., and at Utah, on Saturday at 5 p.m.

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