Huskies Hit Road For Crossover Classic

THE MATCHUPS
The Washington Huskies (2-2) leave the friendly confines of home for the first time this season and will participate in the Crossover Classic at The Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., starting Monday, Nov. 22 through Wednesday, Nov. 24. The Huskies will open the tournament against George Mason (4-1) at 6:30 p.m. PT on Monday, followed by South Dakota State (4-1) on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. and Nevada (1-3) at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday. All three games will be carried on ESPN+.

--UW is facing George Mason for the first time.

--Washington and South Dakota State have played once previously on Dec. 18, 2011 at Alaska Airlines Arena with the Jackrabbits earning the road win, 92-73. Nate Wolters led five South Dakota State scorers in double figures with 34 points. Tony Wroten led UW with 23 points. The Jackrabbits were an NCAA Tourney team that year while the Huskies won the Pac-12 regular season crown and advanced to the NIT Final Four.

--Washington holds the all-time series lead over Nevada 6-4, but the Wolfpack have won each of the last three meetings. Nevada won 87-85 the last time the two teams met on Dec. 11, 2016. The Huskies last win was 90-60 on Dec. 22, 2010 at Alaska Airlines Arena. The two teams met in a neutral site setting only once previously, March 16, 1984 in the NCAA Tournament where the Huskies prevailed 64-54.

NOTEWORTHY
Jamal Bey and Terrell Brown Jr. are the only two Huskies to score in double-digits in all four games. Dating back to last season, Bey has scored 10+ in 9-straight games ... Brown scored 30 points on Thursday vs. Wyoming, his fourth 30-point game of his career, first by any Husky since David Crisp in 2019 ... Brown Jr.  had all nine of the Huskies' assists on Monday vs. Texas Southern. He is the first Pac-12 player to have 9 or more assists and account for all his team's assists since Brevin Knight (9) of Stanford vs. Utah on Mar. 20, 1997 ... Nate Roberts opened the year with his third career double-double (10 pts/19 rebounds). His 19 rebounds are tied for 19th most in UW single-game history .  

• Coach Hopkins (70-62 at UW/5th Year): Head Coach Mike Hopkins is in his fifth year at Washington, and fifth as a head coach after becoming the 19th head coach in UW history. During his 22 years as an assistant at Syracuse, Hopkins was a part of teams that reached the NCAA Tournament 16 times including the 2003 National Championship, four Final Fours, five Elite Eights and 10 Sweet 16s along with four NIT berths. Syracuse never dipped below a 55.0 percent record while Hopkins was on staff. Hopkins is a two-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year, winning the honor in each of his first two seasons with the Huskies as he led UW to back-to-back 20 win seasons with postseason appearances each year. (2018 NIT, 2019 NCAA Second Round).

• The Team: The Huskies have two returning starters from 2020-21, Jamal Bey and Nate Roberts. Bey is the Huskies leading returning scorer at 10.3 points per game and shot a Pac-12 leading 50.8% from three-point range. Roberts average 5.2 ppg and was the Huskies' top rebounder in 2021, averaging 5.7 per game. Cole Bajema, a one-time transfer from Michigan, also figures prominently in his second season at UW. He averaged 5.9 points over the final 7 games after he averaged 1.9 ppg in first 17 games. The Huskies return only 31.3 percent of their scoring and 42.4 percent of their rebounding from last year, but they are by no means left without experienced players. In fact the Huskies add four transfers from Division I schools -- Terrell Brown Jr. (Arizona), Daejon Davis (Stanford), PJ Fuller (TCU) and Emmitt Matthews Jr. (West Virginia) -- that bring with them 12 years of high-level playing experience. Combined, the foursome who all hail from the Seattle/Tacoma area, have played in 336 games (256 starts), scored 3,238 points, grabbed 1,295 rebounds and dished out 964 assists. Brown enters the year with 1,254 points in three seasons (1 at Arizona, 2 at Seattle U) and Davis has 1,064 career points and 429 assists. The Huskies have two freshmen that are expected to contribute immediately. The local connection is 6-foot-10 forward Jackson Grant from Olympia. He was the Gatorade Washington State Player of the Year and a McDonald's All-American. Also joining the fray is 6-foot-8 Samuel Ariyiba out of Lagos, Nigeria. He was part of the NBA Africa Academy.

• Signing Day: The Huskies added 6-7 forward Tyler Lindhardt (Seattle, Wash./King's HS) and 6-2 Keyon Menifield Jr. (Mount Morris, Mich./Phoenix [Ariz.] Prep) to the roster for 2022-23. Lindhardt is the No. 1 rated player in the state of Washington and averaged 21.8 ppg, 12.3 rp and 3.5 apg as a sophomore. Menifield played four years at Beecher HS in Flint, Mich. and was the Michigan Division 3 POY in 2021 after averaging 26 ppg, 9.3 apg, 6.6 spg and 4.7 rpg. He is currently enrolled at Phoenix Prep.

• NBA Connections: Not only are there eight former Huskies currently active in the NBA, but there are two former players on the Huskies' coaching staff with NBA experience. Seventh-year coach Will Conroy spent part of four seasons in the NBA, while first-year coach Quincy Pondexter just wrapped up a nine-year career in 2019. The following eight players are currently on NBA rosters: Markelle Fultz (Orlando Magic), Justin Holiday (Indiana Pacers), Jaden McDaniels (Minnesota Timberwolves), Dejounte Murray (San Antonio Spurs), Jaylen Nowell (Minnesota Timberwolves), Terrence Ross (Orlando Magic), Isaiah Stewart (Detroit Pistons) and Matisse Thybulle (Philadelphia 76ers). Additionally, Marquese Chriss began the 2021 season with the Portland Trailblazers.