With 3:02 remaining in Sunday’s game, Washington star Markelle Fultz went to the free-throw line with the Huskies down by 10 points.
Fultz has star power at a level beyond what Arizona fans have experienced at McKale Center in a long time.
He is the likely top pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, receiving nearly universal praise from the scouting community despite Washington’s struggles this season.
So Fultz stepped up to the free-throw line, and Arizona’s ZonaZoo student section felt it was an apt moment to start chanting “over-rated.”
Not quite, but the chant seemed effective — Fultz missed both attempts and all four he tried on the day.
But even in a game that one could classify as “a struggle” for Fultz, the star guard still tallied 16 points, nine rebounds, three assists and one block, though he did shoot 8 of 23 from the field while missing all four 3-point attempts.
Still, Fultz is as big a name as there is in college basketball, and he impressed.
There were multiple national reporters in town to check Fultz out — Chuck Culpepper of the Washington Post, as well as The Ringer’s NBA writer Kevin O’Connor, who flew out from Boston.
Washington dropped to 9-12 on the season with Sunday’s loss, but Fultz remains the Huskies’ saving grace.
“He’s been learning. About five games ago you could see that he elevated his play,” Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said.
“He was already doing well, then it was something even different. Like, he’s even better right now.”
On the season, Fultz is averaging 23.7 points, 6.2 assists, 6.0 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.3 blocks per game and has scored more than 30 points five times.
After the game, O’Connor asked Fultz questions about which NBA players he watches and tries to model his game after. He named Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook, though he wants to be his own type of player, he said.
“You talk about Markelle Fultz — in any single game, he’s capable of putting his team on his back and winning it,” UA coach Sean Miller said.
