No Knock on Wood: He's Played Lots of Places, Taken Endless Shots
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Moses Wood's well-traveled college basketball career has been a lot like a cruise ship, stopping in port after port from New Orleans to Seattle.
Entering the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas on Wednesday, the 6-foot-8 graduate forward from Reno has gone full circle in the state of Nevada. He could be down to his final NCAA outing, though he likes to think this University of Washington team is always capable of going on a run.
Wood, 24, can tell you how his first coach at Tulane, Mike Dunleavy Sr., got fired after a disastrous 4-27 season — which included 20 consecutive losses to finish — and how his last leader, Mike Hopkins, will be let go once the 17-14 Huskies call it a wrap.
Yes, since you were wondering, athletic director Troy Dannen pulled the plug on each guy.
Going up against USC in the tourney opener at noon, Wood has appeared in 151 college basketball games, starting 103 times.
Known as a shooter, he's taken a generous 1,140 field-goal attempts in his career and connected on 501, including 665 tries from 3-point range with 264 makes. That's 43.9 and 39.6 percent, respectively.
A true journeyman, he came to the UW after stops at Tulane, UNLV and Portland, trying to improve his basketball situation each time.
"I don't know I can say it went the way I wanted," the pragmatic Wood said of his lone season in Montlake. "Whatever happens, happens, and you have to live with it. I think for the most part, I fit in pretty well. I'm super grateful to the coaching staff for bringing me in here."
Wood is one of two UW players who have started all 31 games this season with fellow grad forward Keion Brooks.
CHOPPING WOOD
He's averaged 4.5, 6.1, 14.2, 15.3 and now 11.7 points per game in his college seasons.
Generally a support player, he's turned in 20-point games 15 times as a college player, though just once for the Huskies with 21 against Colorado State. His career best is 28 points, which he did twice for Portland.
His finest moment might have been his buzzer-beating 3-pointer to upend California 77-75 in Berkeley in mid-January.
"I thought for the most part, I showed what I'm capable of," Wood said. "Obviously, I think I could have done better, as well. Things happen."
He's the son of David Wood, a 6-foot-9 forward who emerged from Vancouver, Washington, to play collegiately for two-year Skagit Valley College in Mount Vernon, Washington, and the University of Nevada.
The elder Wood, 59, wound up playing two decades of pro basketball — which is why Moses was born in Limoges, France — and this included seven NBA seasons for eight teams.
Father and son regularly text about all things basketball, replaying practices and games. Considering Moses Wood's circuitous career, it's been a long-running conversation for these two.
"I'm super grateful for him, because he's been kind of like a great mentor to me," Wood said. "Just leading me the way through high school and college. Just kind of telling me how it is, especially for going professional hopefully next year. He's just kind of telling me how that's going to be like."
By now, they both know it will involve a lot of cities, basketball teams and pull-up jumpers.
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