Washington Huskies: 5 takeaways from 1-6 start to 2020-21 season

As the year draws to a close, we break down the Washington Huskies’ 1-6 start to the 2020-21 men’s basketball season.

In the grand scheme of things, the Washington Huskies’ 1-6 start to the basketball season doesn’t really compare to everything that has happened during 2020. However, this doesn’t change the reality that it has been an extremely frustrating time for the program.

As the year (finally) comes to an end, we review the Huskies’ 2020-21 season to date. Here are five takeaways from their disappointing start to the current campaign:

1) On course for a historically bad season

While accepting that it’s still early in the season, the signs are not promising as things stand. No matter how you approach it, a 1-6 record after seven games is very worrying.

For some context, the last time the Washington Huskies started 1-6 was during the 1993-94 season. That team went on to finish 5-22, for the program’s worst winning percentage record in school history.

This leads to the question of how badly the current team will perform for the remainder of this season? As things stand, the Huskies will play 25 games in total, pending any compromise caused by the ongoing impact of COVID-19.

There have been various predictions about what Washington’s record will be in 2020-21, including finishing with as few as five wins. However, at least as things stand, it’s going to be a struggle to win four more games if the performances don’t improve sooner than later.

2) A home fortress no more

One of the standout aspects during Mike Hopkins’ time as head coach, has been his record on home court. Heading into this season, he had a 45-12 record at Alaska Airlines Arena (including exhibition and NIT games).

However, the Huskies are off to a poor start at home in 2020-21. They following up a win over the Seattle Redhawks with a heartbreaking loss to Oregon and an embarrassing defeat by Montana.

No matter how poor Washington has been so far this season, they shouldn’t be losing to a team such as Montana. The last time the Grizzlies beat a Pac-12 team was in 2010, and they hadn’t defeated the Huskies since 1994.

Some may point to the lack of fans having an impact, but the reality is the cracks started to appear last season. After beginning 11-2 at home – including one exhibition win – Washington went 1-5 the rest of the way at Alaska Airlines Arena.

3) Three-point shooting has been terrible

Hopkins’ decided prior to this season to change the plan of attack. More specifically, to put a greater emphasis on shooting from behind the arc.

As per Percy Allen of The Seattle Times, Hopkins believed the three-point shot was the great equalizer in college basketball. As noted by Allen, the Huskies’ coach envisioned the Huskies shooting between 25-30 shots per game from downtown.

While some criticized the move it was at least understandable at the time, especially when considering the personnel on the roster. Regardless, the change in the offensive game plan has been a complete disaster up to this point.

Through seven games, Washington is shooting just 25.4 percent from three-point range (and averaging just 19.7 attempts per contest). For more clarity, this ranks them 311th out of 327 Division 1 teams at the time of writing.

4) Overall offensive woes

As you’d predict for a team putting more of an emphasis on long-range shooting but performing badly, the offense has been poor in general. To reflect this – again at the time of writing — they are averaging just 61.0 points per game, tied for 306th out of 327 teams.

On a more individual level, Quade Green leads Washington with an average of 14.4 points per contest. He has been decent enough with taking his opportunities, as evidenced by shooting .938 at the charity stripe and .345 from three-point range.

Unfortunately for Huskies fans though, Green is the only player on the roster currently averaging double figures this season. Nate Pryor is next at 8.2 points per contest, followed by Nate Roberts with 7.1 points.

For what it’s worth, Roberts in particular is capable of improving his offensive output, assuming Hopkins can work out how to utilize him more effectively. With the forward also leading the team with 7.4 boards per game, he has the potential to average a double-double.

5) Other notes

The Washington Huskies have 18 games remaining this season, with an even split of nine home and away contests. The schedule will include two meetings with inter-state rivals, the Washington State Cougars.

Erik Stevenson leads Washington with 10 steals, followed by Green, Pryor and Hameir Wright, with eight each. Wright also has a team-best eight blocks, closely followed by Roberts and Riley Sorn, who both have seven.

While it won’t be much consolation for fans, the team has been performing slightly better at the defensive end of the court, allowing an average of 70.3 points per game. This has them ranked 181st out of 327 teams; not great, but still considerably better than their offense.

Critics will likely be wondering how much time Hopkins will be given to turn the program around, with this season’s poor start following on from a 5-15 finish to the last campaign. One factor to consider is the six-year, $17.5 million contract extension the San Mateo, California native signed in March 2019, which runs through the 2024-25 season.