Inside The Huskies

Former Toledo Guard Draws UW Portal Interest

Sam Lewis is a 6-foot-6 shooter who has at least four Big Ten schools reaching out to him.
Dan Raley|
Toledo Rockets guard Sam Lewis (11) looks to make a move on Purdue guard Gicarri Harris.
Toledo Rockets guard Sam Lewis (11) looks to make a move on Purdue guard Gicarri Harris. | Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

As the University of Washington basketball team continues to cold call on players in the transfer portal, Sam Lewis is the latest to hear a Husky sales pitch.

He's a 6-foot-6, 210-pound shooting guard from Toledo, a second-team All-Mac selection, someone who is drawing significant interest so far.

The UW is one of 16 schools to reach out to him, according to 247Sports, and one of four Big Ten schools, joining Illinois, Michigan and Northwestern.

Lewis is said to be smooth player who made great strides from a fairly uneventful freshman season for Toledo to become a 16.2-point scorer for an 18-15 team, dropping double figures in every outing except two over 33 games.

Besides his height, Lewis is attractive because he shot 47 percent from the floor and 44.4 percent from 3-point range. He has two seasons of eligibility remaining.

Now the obvious question is whether he can transfer his offensive prowess to the Big Ten or disappear in the face of tougher competition, which is what a lot of Danny Sprinkle's newcomers did this past season.

Lewis has one Big Ten-related sample to work from, coming in an 83-64 loss to Purdue: he scored 13 points on 4-for-13 shooting and came up with a season-high 11 rebounds.

Previous to Toledo, he played his high school ball as a senior for Chicago's vaunted Simeon Career Academy and helped it finish 29-3 and win the 2023 city championship.

Lewis sort of resembles Husky guard Mekhi Mason, though he's taller by an inch, but both appear to have offensive games that hold up.

As Sprinkle mentioned when the season ended and he was stuck with a last-place team (13-18 overall, 4-16 conference), successful Big Ten teams need two of everything to withstand the rugged play, the intense travel and a big stage.

To get the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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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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