Inside The Huskies

Huskies' Jasir Rencher To Have Heart Procedure

The freshman swingman has had a couple of episodes where he experienced an accelerated heartbeat.
Dan Raley|
Jasir Rencher scores against Southern early in the season.
Jasir Rencher scores against Southern early in the season. | Dave Sizer photo

While his teammates face Penn State on Wednesday night, freshman swingman Jasir Rencher will undergo a medical procedure during the day to see what's been causing him have an accelerated heartbeat, his coach said.

The 6-foot-5 Rencher from Oakland, California, has sat out the Huskies' past 10 games and is likely done for the season.

"Anytime you're dealing with your heart, obviously it's a serious deal," UW coach Danny Sprinkle said.

Rencher has had two heartbeat episodes that raised concern -- one in the preseason and the other at Indiana, when the UW was in a walk-through before the game.

Asked if Rencher's situation could be in any way career-threatening, Sprinkle acknowledged, "Possibly, yeah."

While the coach couldn't confirm it was the same thing, he alluded to Bronny James' heart issues, which were both alarming and reassuring.

The oldest son of LeBron James, Bronny suffered cardiact arrest during a USC practice in the summer of 2023 and was hospitalized.

The youngerJames next underwent a procedure to treat a congenital heart defect

Bronny James, 19, suffered cardiac arrest on July 24 during a USC practice and was hospitalized for three days in Los Angeles. He underwent a procedure to treat a congenital heart defect and resumed playing in the fall.

Jasir Rencher shows his leaping ability as he goes after a rebound.
Jasir Rencher shows his leaping ability as he goes after a rebound. | Dave Sizer photo

This season, James has bounced between the Los Angeles Lakers and the G League.

"They have so much stuff now they can do," Sprinkle said. "They can put in things that shock the heart back into rhythm. Hopefully, it doesn't come to that."

Rencher came to the Huskies after originally committing to Texas A&M and leaving there when the Aggies coach Buzz Williams stepped down to take the job at Maryland.

A promising player in what little anyone saw of him, Rencher appeared in eight games for the Huskies this season and averaged 3 points and 1.8 rebounds per outing. He looked athletic, jumping explosively to block a pair of shots.

He had high game of 8 points against Southern and 5 rebounds against Nevada.

At recent UW home games, Rencher seemed upbeat enough while his teammates warmed up. He sat in a front-row seat, next to other injured Huskies, and chatted them up.

"He feels normal," Sprinkle said.

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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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