Washington vs. Santa Clara Game Preview

by Jeff Wright, posted in Basketball

Washington (2-1) vs. Santa Clara (0-2)

Sunday, November 18th @ 5:00 p.m. PST

Vancouver Convention Center (Vancouver, Canada)

Line: Washington –17.0

TV: ESPN3

Radio: 1000AM KOMO/97.7 FM

 

KEY PLAYERS: WASHINGTON

Forward – Noah Dickerson

Noah Dickerson returns for his senior season and is currently averaging 15.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game this season.  He is a dominant player in the paint and can also rebound the basketball.  Last season, Dickerson was named to the All-Pac-12 First Team for his stellar play.

Guard – Matisse Thybulle

Matisse Thybulle returns for his senior season and is averaging 7.3 points this season and garnered 101 total steals last season.  He is the spark plug and energy of the team with his elite play on defense.  Last season, Thybulle was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.

Guard – Jaylen Nowell

Jaylen Nowell returns for his sophomore season and is currently averaging 17.0 points and 2.7 assists per game this season.  The talented all-court guard excels in the midrange game and is often the go-to-guy down the stretch.  Last season, Nowell was named to the All-Pac-12 Freshman team.

KEY PLAYERS: SANTA CLARA

Forward – Keyshawn Justice

Keyshawn Justice is a true freshman and was the leading scorer against Prairie View A&M, posting 15 points in just 17 minutes of action.  He is currently the leading scorer on the season for the Broncos while averaging 13.0 points per game.

Guard – Tahj Eaddy

Tahj Eaddy is a sophomore guard who is eligible this season after sitting out 2017-18. He transferred from Southeast Missouri last summer.  He has reached double-digit scoring in both of the Broncos games so far this season.

Forward – Josh Martin

Josh Martin is a senior who posted his ninth career double-double, registering 11 points and 13 rebounds against the Panthers. He had a career-best five last season at Cal Poly.  He is a local from Bothell High School in Bothell, Washington.

PREVIEW

The Washington Huskies came into the start of their regular season returning all five starters from last season, and that experience will prove to be the driving force to their success this season.  Last game the Huskies earned a hard-fought 66-63 win against San Diego and the game came down to the final possession.  The Huskies are still trying to find their true identity and their stride.  They are looking to shore up their 2-3 zone defense and find some easier scoring from the outside.  The Huskies are looking forward to putting their best foot forward in the Vancouver Showcase Tournament.  “When we get there, the focus will be on Santa Clara. You want to win that first one above all else.”  Washington head coach Mike Hopkins said.

On the other side, the Broncos bring back a revamped roster of their own.  Guard KJ Feagin, and forwards Henrik Jadersten and Josip Vrankic are the only returning rotational players.  Santa Clara currently has an 0-2 overall record with losses to Prairie View A&M and also UC Irvine.  There are eight additions to the 2018-19 squad.  The Broncos are in their 112th year of existence, including third under Herb Sendek, who has been successful in each of his three previous head-coaching stops. With a resume that includes 18 postseason appearances and three conference coach of the year awards, Sendek, was one of the three youngest coaches with 400 or more career victories. He is in his 25th season as a collegiate head coach with stops at Arizona State, North Carolina State and Miami (Ohio).

ESPN MATCHUP PREDICTOR

 

HUSKY NOTES

• Sophomore Jaylen Nowell once again leads the Huskies in scoring as he has not scored below 16 points in a game this season … he’s averaging 17.0 ppg over the first three outings after leading the team with 16.0 ppg a year ago … both him and Noah Dickerson have yet to score below 10 points this season.
 
• Senior Matisse Thybulle is ranked 15th nationally in blocks per game (3.0) and 13th in total blocks (nine) … he also leads the Pac-12 in steals per game at 2.67 which ranks 48th nationally.
 
• Washington is holding opponents to 37.6 percent shooting from the field and 30.4 percent from 3-point range in the second half while shooting 49.3 percent from FG range and 42.3 percent from long distance in the same half …the Huskies are also holding opponents to an average of just 30.0 points in the second 20 minutes of the first two games compared to 38.7 in the first half.
 
• UW signed RaeQuan Battle (Marysville, Wash.) and Marcus Tsohonis (Portland, Ore.) to letters of intent for the class of 2019 this week.
 
• Matisse Thybulle is the first player in Pac-12 history since 1992-93 with the career stat line of at least 100 blocks (112), 200 assists (206), 200 steals (213) and 300 rebounds (315), via SportsReference.
 
• Matisse Thybulle, UW’s career steals leader at 213, has now recorded at least one steal in 49-straight games.
 
• Sophomore Jaylen Nowell has shot over 50 percent from the field in 16 of his 37 career games (43.2 percent) including his most recent outing vs San Diego where he went 6-of-11 from the field for 18 points … Nowell is 20-of-35 (57.1%) this season and for his career is at 45.9% (223-of-485).
 
• UW has two 1,000 point scorers on the team with the potential to add a third as Matisse Thybulle is 63 points away. Only two rosters in UW history have had three 1,000 point scorers at the same time, 2008-09 (NCAA Round of 32) and 1998-99 (NCAA Round of 64). Dickerson currently has 1,211 career points which ranks 27th while Crisp has 1,096 career points which ranks 33rd.
 
• Three Huskies are in the 100 games club now as seniors Matisse Thybulle and David Crisp are at 102 career games while senior Noah Dickerson is at 101 … additionally Thybulle has started in all 102 career games.
 
• UW has representatives on three of the Naismith Starting Five National Award Watch Lists in sophomore Jaylen Nowell(Jerry West Shooting Guard Award), senior Matisse Thybulle (Julius Erving Small Forward Award) and senior Noah Dickerson (Karl Malone Power Forward Award). UW is one of 11 schools nationally to have representatives on three of the 11 awards joining Kentucky, Duke, Tennessee, Virginia, Kansas, Nevada, Auburn, Oregon and Gonzaga.
 
• Noah Dickerson is 272 rebounds away from becoming only the 15th member of the Pac-12’s 1,000 career rebounds club. Dickerson, who has 728 boards in his career, grabbed 284 boards as a junior in 2017-18.
 
• With another 100-steal season, Thybulle could become only the second member of the Pac-12’s 300 career steals club. Thybulle, who has 213 career thefts following 101 as a junior in 2017-18, would join OSU’s Gary Payton (321) as the lone members.
 
• UW’s senior class of Dominic Green, David Crisp, Noah Dickerson and Matisse Thybulle have combined to play in 400 career games including 260 career starts which is the most by any four seniors at a Power 5 school.

BRONCOS NOTES

• The Broncos will face Washington for the seventh time in school history, but this will be their first meeting since 2002. Santa Clara has played Minnesota three times with the last occurence in 2007.

• Eight of the 10 Santa Clara players who saw action against Prairie View A&M (Nov. 9) appeared for the first time as Broncos. Freshman KeShawn Justice was the lead- ing scorer against Prairie View A&M, posting 15 points in just 17 minutes of action. Senior Josh Martin posted his ninth career double-double, registering 11 points and13 rebounds against the Panthers. He had a career-best five last season at Cal Poly.

• Justice and Tahj Eaddy are the only players toreach double figures in both games. Eaddy has not shot the ball well (32 percent from the floor), but is averaging 5.5 rebounds (second on the team) and3.0 assists.

• Feagin has gone back-to-back games not reach-ing double-figure scoring for the first time since 2016-17 (Dec. 22 vs. Valparaiso/Dec. 29 vs. BYU), inhis first two games after returning from a foot injury.

• Guard KJ Feagin, and forwards Henrik Jadersten and Josip Vrankic are the only returning rotational players. Feagin, a three-year starter, is a two-time All-West CoastConference selection who averaged 17.5 points per game (fifth in the league) and 4.0 assists pg (ninth in the league) in 2017-18. Jadersten has appeared in 84 careergames and Vrankic was one of the more productive freshmen in the WCC during2017-18, ranking third on the team in both scoring (10.4 ppg) and rebounding (4.6 pg).

• Sophomore guard Tahj Eaddy is eligible this season after sitting out 2017-18. Hetransferred from Southeast Missouri last summer.

• There are eight additions to the 2018-19 squad, including five true freshmen inGuglielmo Caruso (Naples, Italy), Juan Ducasse (Montevideo, Uruguay), Keshawn Justice (Madison, Wisconsin), Zeke Richards (Oak Park, California) and Trey Wertz(Charlotte, North Carolina). Fallou Ndoye, DJ Mitchell and Josh Martin are trans-fers. Ndoye (CSU Bakersfield) and Martin (Cal Poly) are graduate transfers with im- mediate eligibility. Mitchell played the last two seasons at Wake Forest and will sit out2018-19.

• The Broncos are in their 112th year of existence, including third under Herb Sendek,who has been successful in each of his three previous head-coaching stops. With a resume that includes 18 postseason appearances and three conference coach of the year awards, Sendek, was one of the three youngest coaches with 400 or morecareer victories. He is in his 25th season as a collegiate head coach with stops at Arizona State, North Carolina State and Miami (Ohio).

AP Photo/Ted S. Warren

Published by Jeff Wright

Jeff Wright is the “Owner/Editor In Chief” for DubLife and has over 28 years of experience and knowledge of Husky Sports. He also is a Huskies Radio Analyst on various shows including the weekly Radio/Podcast show “Dawg Thoughts”. Jeff has extensively covered Husky Football, Husky Basketball, Husky Baseball, Husky Softball and Husky fanfare events. As a former athlete and Letterman at the University of Washington in Men’s Tennis, his passion and charisma for the Huskies shows in his writing, expert coverage and analysis.