UW Meets Vols for First Time in Hoops
Washington's youthful cadre of promising basketball players has a game scheduled for Saturday afternoon.
Let us know if you can find it.
The Huskies have left the country.
They've disappeared altogether from local cable channels.
In a matchup that makes almost little sense when it comes to location, timing and TV exposure, 20th-ranked UW (2-0) meets unranked Tennessee (2-0) as part of a triple-header at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
Mike Hopkins' team plays following a Buffalo-Harvard contest and before a Rutgers-St. Bonaventure nightcap.
Ticket sales must be brisk.
Washington and Tennessee have never faced each other in basketball. A year ago, this would have been a marquee game worthy of great fanfare.
A high-scoring Vols outfit was the talk of college basketball, handing Gonzaga its first loss of the season, earning a No. 1 ranking in the AP poll, advancing to the Sweet 16 and finishing 31-6.
However, Tennessee, coached by Rick Barnes, returns just one starter from that accomplished group, senior guard Lamonte Turner, hence its lack of a national ranking. The Vols are rebuilding.
Washington likewise has just one starter back from 2018-19, junior guard Hameir Wright. Yet its 5-star newcomers Isaiah Stewart and Jaden McDaniels and others have created a buzz for the program and and helped produce a surprising upset of then-16th-ranked Baylor.
These Huskies next showed their youth against Mount St. Mary's in their subsequent home opener, struggling to put away a modest opponent from Maryland. Roles are still being defined.
"I told them, there are three things I want you to do: play hard, play smart and play together," Hopkins said.
In the accompanying video, Hopkins talks about his team's early growing pains. He seems to relish the situation. Who wouldn't?
Among the UW veterans, junior guard Naz Carter is off to a productive start, averaging 18.5 points per game in two outings.
Stewart, a 6-9 freshman has played solid and workmanlike in two outings, averaging 15.5 points and 6 rebounds per game, while connecting on 14 of 23 shots. He's played as advertised.
Hopkins still hasn't unleashed the big men from his second recruiting class for extended minutes, 7-foot Bryan Penn-Johnson and 6-10 Nate Roberts. At some point, they'll need to dive in and begin their seasoning.
The Huskies will have eight games to figure it all out by the time they host Gonzaga on Dec. 8.
For those of you planning to watch Saturday's Canadian basketball titanic, you'll need to subscribe to ESPN+, a subscription streaming service.
Note that ESPN+ no longer offers a 7-day free trial. You'll have to subscribe for at least a month ($5), if you're not a subscriber already, to see the Huskies play this one.
