Freshmen duo shines as Huskies snap losing streak, top Oregon State 64-56
Mike Hopkins told RaeQuan Battle he was starting just minutes before Thursday’s 64-56 victory over Oregon State. The only thing the freshman forward could do was look at his head coach, a little stunned, and repeat the words back to him.
“I’m starting?”
Entering the game, Battle had appeared just six times this season. He had never scored more than three points, and his career-high for minutes was the 10 he played in the overtime loss to Cal last week.
But freshman forward Jaden McDaniels had injured his ankle against the Golden Bears and only managed a few shootarounds during practice this week. Hopkins allowed him to decide whether he was ready to play, and he said he wasn’t ready.
Hopkins admitted to a brief moment of panic. UW is already without point guard Quade Green, who was declared academically ineligible a week ago. Without McDaniels, the Huskies were down two starters and in desperate need of a victory. Perhaps realizing as much, McDaniels told Hopkins he could go into the game if he was needed.
“I said, ‘We’ll see how we do,’” Hopkins said aferward before gesturing to the box score in front of him. “I started RaeQuan, and he did this.”
What was this?
He started by knocking down his first shot attempt — a baseline three-pointer — and proceeding to go 4-of-6 from the field and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. He finished the game with 11 points, all of them coming in the first half as the Huskies built a 31-21 advantage at the break.
“It just brought me back to high school,” Battle said of his performance. “Just coming into college and not playing for a long time, it messes with you. But the coaches told me to be ready all year so as soon as I got in and the shots went in, I just said it’s my time. It’s our time. We had to step it up and we came out with the win.”
Battle and guard Marcus Tsohonis weren’t the freshmen everyone was talking about heading into the season.
Five-star recruits Isaiah Stewart and McDaniels dominated the conversation. They were in the spotlight for a reason. Both were considered top-10 recruits nationally, and they expected to be lottery picks in the 2020 NBA Draft.
The other two members of the 2019 class didn’t enter the program with the same amount of fanfare. Battle was a four-star out of Marysville Pilchuck; Tsohonis a three-star from Portland, Ore. A little more than a week ago, Tsohonis was still expected to redshirt.
But then Green was declared academically ineligible and McDaniels injured his ankle and the Huskies had lost four out of their last five games heading into the match-up with Oregon State. And somehow, in the midst of it all, a pair of freshmen emerged at just the right time.
Just not the two you would expect.
Without Green, the Huskies are not only missing their point guard, but also their best three-point shooter. Against the Beavers, Battle and Tsohonis combined to fill those gaps.
While sophomore Jamal Bey started at point guard for the second straight game, Tsohonis served as his primary backup. When Tsohonis was on the floor, Bey shifted to the two-guard. Tsohonis played a career-high 29 minutes, finishing with 11 points, three assists and one turnover.
Stewart still finished as UW’s leading scorer with 13 points and five rebounds. But in the postgame press conference, he was content to let Battle field most of the questions. He mostly sat quietly beside him, just smiling.
“It feels great,” Stewart said. “(The freshmen) all room together. We chill with each other every day. We all are brothers. Obviously, me and Jaden were playing a lot. To see Marcus and RaeQuan come out and do their thing and scoring in double digits? It felt great. I was happy for them. Real happy for them.”
Entering Thursday’s game, Tsohonis played in just four games this season. Hopkins decided he would redshirt after the Nov. 24 game against San Diego but Tsohonis returned out of necessity against Cal. Sophomore point guard Elijah Hardy, who started against Stanford, didn’t play against Oregon State.
“I was just impressed how (Tsohonis) hadn’t played then plays in a big-time environment against a really good team and he showed a lot of poise, a lot of patience,” Hopkins said. “He got us in our sets and he executed our defense.”
As for Battle, he gave the Huskies the three-point shooting they’ve needed all season, even more so after the loss of Green. Starting in place of McDaniels, he played a career-high 23 minutes. Along with his offensive production, he also had six steals.
“In our first scrimmage, before we went to Italy, he had seven threes,” Hopkins said of Battle. “When you have a guy who hasn’t played a lot get opportunities, he’s got that amazing not only shooter’s mechanics and feel but he’s got the shooter’s mind. Everything he did tonight was pretty special and it was the difference in the game.”
UW never trailed against Oregon State and led by as many as 15 points in the first half. The Huskies expanded their advantage to 18 in the second half before it dwindled down the stretch. UW shot 50 percent from the field, including 40.9 percent from the three-point line, while also holding the Beavers to 39.2 parent shooting. Oregon State shot just 16.7 percent from beyond the arc.
Nahziah Carter and Bey also reached double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. The Huskies held Oregon State leading scorer Tres Tinkle to 15 points on 2-of-12 shooting from the field, including 0-for-4 from the three-point line.
It was a promising performance, one UW hopes will propel it into Saturday’s game against No. 8 Oregon. On Wednesday, both Hopkins and Bey addressed the fact that the Huskies are basically a new team without Green. There are players in different roles, and players taking on much larger ones.
Battle and Tsohonis are two of those players, and they just might hold the key to unlocking UW’s new identity.
“It just shows we’re young and talented,” Stewart said. “When someone steps out, it’s just another man up. That’s the mentality we have right now. We’re doing a pretty good job of it.”
This story was originally published January 16, 2020 at 10:10 PM.
