UW's Hopkins: 'I've Moved Forward. This Is What We've Got'
Washington basketball coach Mike Hopkins met with media members on Wednesday afternoon and briefly discussed academically ineligible point guard Quade Green.
This was somewhat of a revelation because he carefully avoided any mention of the player during the recent Bay Area road trip, something the school said would happen.
Hopkins finally acknowledged how the sophomore from Philadelphia and Kentucky transfer was a significant loss, that the Huskies would miss his late-game leadership, his outside shooting.
Then he put his coach's hat back when pressed further about Green, ending that discussion.
"To be honest, I've moved forward," Hopkins said, as shown in the accompanying video. "This is what we've got. This is who we are. This is how we have to win. Sometimes things like this happen. We got to realize we've got good players in the program."
The Huskies (11-6 overall, 1-3 Pac-12) will try to reinvent themselves on Thursday night, when they host Oregon State (12-4, 2-2) at 8 p.m. at Alaska Airlines Arena. FOX Sports 1 will televise the game with Bill Raferty and Ian Eagle calling the action.
The Beavers are coming off a stirring 82-65 victory over Arizona at home. The UW has lost four of its five past outings. It won't be easy.
Hopkins pointed to three areas in need of vast improvement for his team to become successful again:
The Huskies are 255th in the nation in 3-point shooting (31.7 percent)
They languish at 285th nationally, tied with South Florida, in turnovers committed (15 per game).
And they're eighth in the Pac-12 in defending the 3-pointer (31 percent) after leading the league for three consecutive years.
"We should be better," the coach said. "We know we have enough. We have to become better in certain areas if we want to win."
Green won't be there to help them against the Beavers, likely replaced by sophomore Jamal Bey as the playmaker. But at least everyone knows he exists.
