Can the UW Huskies find their way without Quade Green?
There was a sequence against USC — shortly after the Trojans pulled within two points in the first half — that belonged to Quade Green.
USC had just knocked down two foul shots to trim the Huskies’ lead to 16-14. UW responded with a 7-0 run, and Green had a hand in every point. He started the burst with a pull-up jumper, then found Nahziah Carter for a 3-pointer. He capped the stretch with another jumper off a Carter offensive rebound. As a bonus, Green also had two steals during that period.
Those 2 minutes showed everything you need to know about Green’s importance to the Huskies. And now, they have to figure out how to play without him.
On Thursday, minutes before the game against Stanford, UW announced Green had been ruled academically ineligible for the winter quarter. He can still practice with the team, but he can’t play. There is a chance he could return for the NCAA Tournament in March, but first the Huskies have to get there. And right now, that hardly seems like a given.
UW fell to Stanford 61-55 on Thursday night. The Huskies had 21 turnovers and five assists. They shot 38.5 percent from the field, went just 3-of-17 from beyond the arc and didn’t score over the final 3:11 as Stanford closed the game on a 6-0 run.
After the 72-40 victory over USC, UW seemed to be hitting its stride. Now, the Huskies have been left with more questions than answers. Here are the biggest ones:
How quickly can sophomore Elijah Hardy learn?
Hardy was supposed to spend this season learning from Green as the back-up point guard. Now, that won’t be the case. Heading into Thursday’s game, Hardy was averaging 8 minutes and 0.8 points per game. He played 31 minutes against the Cardinal, finishing with two points on 1-of-7 shooting, one rebound, three assists, three turnovers and three steals.
Green was shooting 44.7 percent from the 3-point line, which led UW and ranked seventh in the Pac-12. On a team that struggles with shooting consistency, Green was an outside threat that helped give star freshman Isaiah Stewart room to work inside. Hardy hasn’t shown that ability yet. He’s 5-of-22 from the field on the season, including 1-of-14 from the 3-point line.
“Elijah played against TCU (in the private scrimmage),” head coach Mike Hopkins said after the loss to Stanford. “He did a really good job in the preseason scrimmage. He’s just got to play the way we want him to play. We had a couple breakdowns, but for the most part it’s a tough situation for him to get thrown into.”
Hardy was solid in the exhibition game against Western Washington, finishing with four points, five assists and two turnovers. But how is Hardy’s ceiling, and how quickly can he get there? Those questions have yet to be answered.
Asked what he wanted to see from Hardy moving forward, Hopkins said: “Getting some more offense, being a leader on the court, being a great defensive player. If he’s at the end of the shot clock, try to make a play. Not early in the shot clock.”
What will the offense look like now?
The Huskies ran much of their offense through Jaden McDaniels (18 points, 15 rebounds) and Nahziah Carter (16 points) against Stanford. Without Green, it looks like that could be the strategy moving forward. Hopkins said he expects the offense to be run more “by committee.”
McDaniels and Carter are both capable of putting together stellar performances, and that was the case against the Cardinal. But neither one has found a high level of consistency. That becomes a more pressing issue now, particularly when it comes to outside shooting. Without the threat of Green on the perimeter, Stewart will be facing more double teams inside. He finished with just four points and five rebounds against Stanford.
Sophomore guard Jamal Bey is important here, too. Bey has scored in double figures twice his season and has shown the ability to hit outside shots, but he hasn’t been able to do it on a regular basis. With Green out, Bey will likely see his minutes increase. If he can become a reliable scoring threat, that would go a long way in helping UW recover from the loss of Green.
Another player to keep an eye on: Freshman RaeQuan Battle. He’s played sparingly this season and only saw meaningful time against UCLA, but Hopkins has often praised his shooting ability and has discussed wanting to get him more time. If UW can’t hit outside shots, he might not have a choice.
What will Marcus Tsohonis’ role look like?
Freshman point guard Marcus Tsohonis was supposed to redshirt this season, but that won’t be the case now. Tsohonis dressed against Stanford, but didn’t play. Sophomore Jamal Bey — Hopkins has often praised his ability to play four positions — primarily served as Hardy’s back-up.
Hopkins said Tsohonis didn’t play against Stanford because of the way the game was trending early. The Huskies had an eight-point lead at the half and led by as many as 12 points midway through the second.
“I wanted to get him in the first half, and I felt the way that the game was going, we were great defensively, we were moving the ball, we were getting in transition,”’ Hopkins said. “We had control of the game. That’s what happened.”
It seems likely that Tsohonis will see the floor against Cal on Saturday and could see his role increase from there. He’s appeared in just three games during the regular season but played well during UW’s foreign tour in Italy this summer. He averaged 9.3 points, 2.5 assists and 2.0 rebounds per game.
His best outing came in the final game when UW outscored Siena 26-8 in the second quarter. Tsohonis helped ignite the offense with several strong takes to the basket and had 12 points at halftime.
This story was originally published January 10, 2020 at 10:49 AM.
