Quade Green guides No. 22 Huskies to 90-80 win over Eastern Washington
Washington head coach Mike Hopkins has been experimenting.
It’s easy to understand why. The No. 22 Huskies lost four starters from last year’s team that won the Pac-12 regular season championship and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. They have the talent, but they also have plenty of youth. Hopkins is still figuring out how all the pieces fit.
During Wednesday’s 90-80 victory over Eastern Washington, he tried something new. Hopkins wanted to see how the Eagles — a team that attempts 30.8 3-pointers per game — would respond to UW’s bigger lineup. So, he moved starting point guard Quade Green (6-0) to the bench and opted for Jamal Bey (6-6) instead.
But while some of Hopkins’ adjustments have worked — UW has confused opponents switching from zone to man-to-man defense and Bey scored 14 points in his first career start against South Dakota on Monday — this one failed almost immediately. If Hopkins was hoping to learn something new about his team, this lesson couldn’t have been more clear.
Green makes the offense go.
“I wanted to try to go big and see how they played it,” Hopkins said. “Didn’t work too well. … (Green) got in the game and controlled it.”
Without Green on the floor, the Huskies quickly fell behind 10-1 in the first half and were trailing 10-7 by the time he entered the game at the 15:43 mark. When he headed to the bench 6 minutes later, UW had a 23-15 advantage. But without him, the Eagles rattled off eight straight points to tie the game at 23.
Enter Green — again. He checked back in with 7:59 left in the first half, and the Huskies out-scored Eastern Washington 23-12 over the remainder of the the half. That stretch included a pivotal 14-2 run over the last 4:46 that sent UW into halftime with a 47-35 advantage. The Huskies’ lead never dropped below nine points after that.
“If you watch him bring the ball up, he’s not even looking at the man that’s guarding him,” said senior Sam Timmins, who finished with 11 points and six rebounds. “He’s just … talking to coach, figuring out what offense we’re going to do. With a young team and a team that’s still trying to find its identity, having someone that’s aware and present making sure everyone is getting to their spots, I think that’s a big reason why we’re making offensive strides.”
UW’s lineup features a pair of freshman — albeit five-star freshman — and the Huskies returned just one starter from last year. Hopkins has often compared this season to learning how to dance with a new partner. Finding the right chemistry is a process, and that’s particularly true with a new point guard. Green, a former five-star recruit himself, transferred from Kentucky midway through last season.
But with a match-up with No. 9 Gonzaga looming on Sunday, Green pieced together his best performance of the season. It’s no coincidence that with Green hitting his stride, the Huskies offense is coming together, too. UW has scored at least 75 points in each of its last three games and topped 85 in two of them.
“It hasn’t been for 40 minutes, but there’s been flashes of it,” Hopkins said of the Huskies’ offense, “which is really exciting.”
By halftime, Green had nine points and five assists. He finished with 20 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field, including 2-of-5 from the 3-point line. UW will certainly take his scoring. But to really understand his impact, find the assists column. There were eight of them of there. True to form, that’s where Hopkins’ eyes went first.
“He has the ability to do (score),” Hopkins said. “The thing that I get excited about is the eight assists and the one turnover. Controlling the game, delivering the ball on-time, on-target and finding guys. I was really happy the way that he shared it tonight.”
Afterward, a grinning and relaxed Green talked about the connection he has with Nahziah Carter, who had 13 points and six rbeounds. Green found the high-flying junior twice for two dunks — once on a half-court pass in transition and a second time off a set-play alley oop.
After Bey came up with a steal in the first half, Green rewarded him with an assist on a transition dunk that gave UW a 19-13 lead and forced an Eastern Washington timeout. Green also fed the hot hand. For the most part, that was freshman Jaden McDaniels, who finished with 17 points. Green found him waiting under the basket in the second half to put the Huskies up 56-44.
“When ball go in, the ball go in,” Green said of his performance. “If the ball miss, it miss. My teammates were helping me and I was helping them. That’s all it was.”
Whatever it was, the Huskies hope to see more of it. Especially when Gonzaga comes to town.
“I know they beat us last year,” Green said. “That’s all I need to know.”
This story was originally published December 4, 2019 at 9:27 PM with the headline "Quade Green guides No. 22 Huskies to 90-80 win over Eastern Washington."
