Huskies Have Tsohonis and Stevenson Playing at High Level, Why Not Sorn?
The University of Washington basketball team won.
Beat Colorado.
Ended an eight-game losing streak.
Marcus Tsohonis played.
Scored a career-high 27 points.
As a sub.
Erik Stevenson put up 17 points.
His fourth consecutive double-figure game.
Victories all around to be sure, but there's still work to be done.
Namely, the Huskies (2-11 overall, 1-7 Pac-12) need to find more ways to take advantage of the tallest player in America.
That would be super gangly 7-foot-4 Riley Sorn.
While he sometimes finds himself out of position or gets stripped clean of the ball, Sorn changes everything when he enters the game.
It's hard to say which is more pleasing to watch this big guy do:
Swat away a stunned opponent's shot in the key with the other guy yelling no way or stand flat-footed and shoot downward rather than up to score.
As Husky coaching legend Marv Harshman used to say, you can't teach 7 feet.
The Huskies have one of two 88-inch players in college basketball.
Sorn currently averages 10 minutes, 4.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and a block a game.
Granted the sophomore from Richland, Washington, needs to add pounds and strength, but that doesn't mean he can't double all those numbers across the board right now.
So what's it going to take?
"To be honest with you, it's all about energy," Husky coach Mike Hopkins said. "When he has energy, he's a different player. When he doesn't, he doesn't help us."
Well, that's where Hopkins comes in. That's why they pay him the big bucks.
If the big man isn't properly motivated, the coach should be in his ear at all times, reminding Sorn of what more he can do for the Huskies, that the NBA loves tall guys, that time is short and that precious height needs to be fully utilized.
Sorn is reminiscent of a young James Edwards, who showed up at nearby Roosevelt High School as this towering but exceedingly uncoordinated athlete who made himself into a player because he wanted it. It wasn't easy.
His Roosevelt coaches had him jumping rope and over benches daily, and he was properly developed and motivated by the time the 7-1 player became a four-year starter for the UW and then a 19-year NBA veteran with three league championship rings.
Hopkins should personally escort Sorn to Dick's Drive-In not far from campus for a daily meal of milkshakes and Deluxe hamburgers to put some instant weight on him.
The Huskies, who play Utah (6-6, 3-5) on Sunday at 1 p.m., have something no one else in the Pac-12 has.
A guy with tremendous reach and the potential to influence every game he plays in from here on out.
It's up to Sorn to want it.
It's up to Hopkins to make him want it.
Follow Dan Raley of Husky Maven on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven
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