Huskies Are 3-Pointing Shooting Themselves in the Foot

Danny Sprinkle has his University of Washington basketball team playing hard, at a high-energy level for a couple of weeks now.

The Husky coach just welcomed back previously injured center Franck Kepnang, who gives the Huskies a sidekick for Great Osobor and two extremely physical big men inside.

Sprinkle has a fearless freshman guard in Vazoumana "Zoom" Diallo, who doesn't hesitate to attack the rim whenever he can.

What has this UW team (10-10 overall, 1-8 Big Ten) on a six-game losing streak and anchored to last place in the conference standings is a problem that continues to plague the program going back several seasons -- no 3-point shooters of any measurable consistency.

Last season, Keion Brooks was a first-team All-Pac-12 swingman, but he couldn't hit the 3. Before that, players such as guard Erik Stevenson and foward Hameir Wright thought they had the green light to fire at will from behind the line and the ball never went in enough to make a difference. In 2021-22, UW guard Terrell Brown Jr. led the conference in scoring (21.7) by a wide margin, yet he connected on just 20 percent (12 for 60) of his 3-pointers.

Luis Kortright fires up a 3-pointer against Illinois. | Skylar Lin Visuals

For the current team, senior guard DJ Davis was supposed to be the answer to all of the Huskies' long-range shooting problems, but it hasn't happened with any frequency He just went 2-for-9 in Friday night's 65-60 loss to UCLA. If he hits two more 3s, the UW walks away with a memorable upset.

At his two previous college stops, Davis shot 40.2 percent at UC Irvine during the 2022-23 season and 35.1 for Butler last year. He's currently at 31.4 percent from behind the line for the Huskies mostly against tougher Big Ten defenses. He showed what he could do against Illinois, hitting 7 of 14 3-pointers, but otherwise he's been somewhat muted.

Nearly two-thirds of the way through the basketball season, the Huskies rank 16th in the Big Ten in 3-point shooting. averaging 32.1 percent while dropping in just 131 of 408 attempts.

In Alaska Airlines Arena, in what's considered a shooter's gym, it's hard to watch balls continually clank off the rim for these Huskies and leave them at a decided disadvantage.

The great Reggie Miller, of UCLA and NBA fame, used to say he preferred playing at the UW more than anywhere else during the regular season because the rims were soft, the background favorable and the ball went in for him at a higher rate in Montlake.

Even last weekend, the latest Bruins came in and hit 9 of 17 3-pointers, which proved to be the difference in a hard-fought game.

"Some of our guys, teams are leaving them wide open," Sprinkle said, acknowledging the conundrum. "It's hard to tell them not to shoot it, but at some point you've got to knock 'em down."

Senior guard Tyree Ihenacho does a lot of things right for the Huskies, described by Sprinkle as his most athletic backcourt player and his top defender. An able 3-point shooter, he's not.

At his two previous college stops, Ihenacho shot 34 percent for James Madison and 28.8 percent for North Dakota from behind the line. He's suffering at a 17.3-percent clip for the UW (4 for 23).

Senior guard Luis Kortright, who shot 30.6 percent for Rhode Island and 30.2 for Quinnipiac from 3-point range the past two seasons, is struggling at 21.4 (9 for 42) for the Huskies.

Even the gifted Diallo isn't cut out for long-range shooting just yet, hitting only 22.2 percent (4 for 18) thus far.

Yet maybe the ball is just in the wrong hands when it's time for a Husky 3-pointer. Sophomore forward Tyler Harris has been notably good from that range this season sinking 43.1 percent of his trey attempts ((25 for 58) while even Osobor has raised his 3-point marksmanship from 21.4 percent at Utah State last year to 32.1 this season.

DJ Davis lets fly from the line against Illinois. | Skylar Lin Visuals

It's the one thing still holding this UW team back as Sprinkle tries to make his guys more competitive and lift themselves out of last place.

Yet then again, 3-point shooting is not the end all, be all, should you have a whole bunch big guys and mid-range shooters who can get the job done.

Michigan State ranks dead last among the 18 teams in the conference in 3-point shooting at a dismal 28.7 percent, yet the Spartans have enough offensive weapons to sit atop the Big Ten standings (17-2, 8-0).

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