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Inside The Huskies

Best Pac-12 Freshman: It's Stewart, Week in and Week Out

League honors precocious UW newcomer for fourth time
Dan Raley|
Best Pac-12 Freshman: It's Stewart, Week in and Week Out
Best Pac-12 Freshman: It's Stewart, Week in and Week Out

When the Washington basketball team hosted USC, two of the Pac-12's best freshmen, if not better players from any class, went face to face.

The Huskies' Isaiah Stewart and USC's Onyeka Okongwu.

Stewart and Okongwu were multiple conference Freshman of the Week recipients, with the Trojans big man also being named league Player of the Week.

It didn't take long to see how they stacked up in person. 

Four minutes into the Huskies' 72-40 romp, Stewart received the ball down low, took a hard step around a helpless Okongwu and went to the basket uncontested with his left hand. It was that overpowering.

Any similar comparisons in talent between these two stopped right there. 

The 6-foot-9 Okongwu was virtually invisible in the one-sided game, overshadowed and outplayed by Stewart and his more mature basketball skills.

And for that reason among others, Stewart on Monday was selected Pac-12 Freshman of the Week for the fourth time in nine weeks--and third consecutive. 

The 6-9 Huskies forward averaged a double-double against UCLA and USC, 21 points and 10.5 rebounds. Against Okongwu and the Trojans, Stewart went for 18 and 10; three nights earlier, the UW player had 24 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocks against the Bruins. Okongwu was limited to 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting against the Huskies.

Stewart, who ranks as the nation's leading freshman scorer, averages 19.5 points and 9.1 rebounds on the season. Among the Pac-12's other top first-year players, USC's Okongwu averages 17.8 points and 9.2 rebounds an outing, while Arizona's 6-11 Zeke Nanji contributes 16.6 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.

Counting all classes, Stewart stands third among all Pac-12 scorers, trailing only Utah's sophomore forward Timmy Allen (21.1) and Oregon State's senior forward Tres Tinkle (19.7).

"You need to find ways to get him the ball," UW coach Mike Hopkins said of Stewart. "He's just a difference-maker. I think he's the best player in the country."

He said best player, not best freshman.

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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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