Huskies Tip-Off With Exhibition Vs. Central Washington

SEATTLE -- Fans will get their first glimpse at the new look Husky men's basketball team on Thursday when they take on Central Washington in an exhibition game at Alaska Airlines Arena. Tip is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. with tickets available through GoHuskies.com.

Fifth-year coach Mike Hopkins may only return a pair of starters in Jamal Bey (10.3 ppg, Pac-12 leading 50.8 3pt%) and Nate Roberts (5.2 ppg, team-high 5.7 rpg), but his 2021-22 squad is definitely not short on experience. Joining the fray are four transfers with a combined 336 games under the belts at Division I institutions, who are returning home to represent the 206 and 253, and keep Alaska Airlines Arena rocking.  

Guard Daejon Davis scored 1,064 points and dished out 429 assists in a four-year stint at Stanford, while his cousin, Terrell Brown Jr., tallied 1,254 points in two seasons at Seattle U and most recently last year at Arizona, where he ranked second nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.91) in 2021. Fellow former Garfield Bulldog PJ Fuller also joined his fellow Seattleites on Montlake after two seasons with TCU, where he made 26 starts in 57 games. Finally, Tacoma native Emmitt Matthews Jr., brings Sweet 16 experience with him from West Virginia where the 6-foot-8 forward played 92 games (67 starts) and averaged a career-high 7.7 points and 4.0 rebounds in 2021.

The Huskies also return Cole Bajema, who emerged down the stretch as one of the team's energy guys and scored in double-figures twice over the final seven games, plus 7-foot-5 center Riley Sorn, who provided a spark off the bench for the Huskies.

Hopkins also has several exciting newcomers that will be making their debuts on Thursday evening. Ultra-athletic junior college transfer Langston Wilson was the No. 2 rated JUCO player in 2021, and at 6-foot-8 will provide some highlight dunks to please the crowd. McDonald's All-American Jackson Grant is from Olympia and has an impressive inside-outside game at 6-foot-10, and 6-foot-8 forward Samuel Ariyibi has turned heads with his energy and ability to pick up Hopkins' intricate defensive schemes.

Thursday's game is the Huskies lone exhibition contest before they tip it off for real next Tuesday, Nov. 9 at 7:00 p.m. against Northern Illinois.