Inside The Huskies

Huskies Add Another Guard in Well-Traveled Ihenacho

He was signed to play for Wyoming until the Cowboys coach left.

Dan Raley

North Dakota Fighting Hawks guard Tyree Ihenacho (4) drives on Minnesota in 2020.
North Dakota Fighting Hawks guard Tyree Ihenacho (4) drives on Minnesota in 2020. / Harrison Barden-USA TODAY Sports

A well-traveled Tyree Ihenacho has become the 13th and final University of Washington basketball roster addition for Danny Sprinkle, providing he stays put.

The 6-foot-4 senior guard has been a lot of places, even over the past month, in his college basketball career.

He comes to the UW after signing with Wyoming in April, only to pull out once four-year Cowboys coach Jeff Linder quit to become an assistant coach at Texas Tech.

Last season, Ihenacho played in 22 games for North Dakota and averaged 14.5 points, 5 rebounds and 3.9 assists an outing for an 18-14 team, Even while missing 10 contests with an upper-body injury, he still was named to the All-Summit second team.

And it was his second stint with the Fighting Hawks.

Ihenacho playing for James Madison for two seasons after beginning his career as a freshman for North Dakota and being named Summit League Freshman of the Year.

Whew.

Ihenacho was all set to finish up his college basketball career at Wyoming ater the school announced in April he was signed to play for the Cowboys of the Mountain West Conference.

Linder even released the following statement about the guard: "Tyree is a skilled playmaker with a lot of 'pop' to his game.  He's a proven guard who has already had a successful four-year run in college.  Tyree's ability to get downhill and put pressure on the defense will add great value to our back court.  The experience that Tyree brings to the program will have an impact from day one.  His maturity and feel for the game will be boost for Wyoming basketball.  We're ecstatic to have Tyree in the Brown and Gold."

This past Tuesday, Texas Tech announced it had hired Linder as an assistant coach for Grant McCasland's staff. The two previously coached together in the junior-college ranks. Ihenacho obtained a scholarship release.

Inhenacho, originally from Prior Lake, Minnesota, brings plenty of experience to Montlake, having played in 84 college games and started 65.

He becomes one of six new guards for the Huskies, joining 6-foot-1 Butler transfer DJ Davis, 6-foot-5 Rice transfer Mekhi Mason, 6-foot-3 Rhode Island transfer Luis Kortright and a pair of highly regarded freshmen in 6-foot-4 Zoom Diallo and 6-foot-4 Jase Butler.

For the latest UW basketball and football 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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