Arizona men's basketball scouting report: Washington at No. 4 UA, noon Saturday

Washington (15-12, 7-9) at No. 4 Arizona (20-6, 11-4) | McKale Center | Noon, Saturday | CBS | 1290-AM, 107.5-FM

Probable starters

WASHINGTON

G Sahvir Wheeler (5-9 senior)

G Paul Mulcahy (6-6 senior)

F Keion Brooks (6-7 senior)

F Moses Wood (6-8 senior)

C Braxton Meah (7-1 senior)

ARIZONA

G Kylan Boswell (6-2 sophomore)

G Caleb Love (6-4 senior)

F Pelle Larsson (6-6 senior)

F Keshad Johnson (6-7 senior)

C Oumar Ballo (7-0 senior)

How they match up

The series: Arizona leads Washington 60-31 and has won the last eight matchups. Last season, the Wildcats struggled against the Huskies at McKale Center on Jan. 4, 2023, but ultimately erased a 14-point deficit and kept Washington scoreless on its final possession to win 70-67. They had an easier time of it in Seattle on Jan. 28, when post players Oumar Ballo and Azuolas Tubelis both had double-doubles — and guard Kerr Kriisa hit 6 of 11 3-pointers to score 18 points in the 95-72 win.

Washington overview: Hovering in mediocrity since a five-win COVID season in 2020-21, the Huskies were picked to finish in seventh place this season — and are just about there at this point. Washington is in a three-way tie for eighth place at 7-9 in the Pac-12 but the Huskies are mostly on an upswing lately.

After a home loss to Washington State in overtime on Feb. 3, Washington lost at Oregon by just five points on Feb. 8, then beat Oregon State 67-55 in Corvallis two days later. Last weekend, Washington beat Stanford but lost to Cal in Seattle, then beat ASU 84-82 on Thursday in overtime — after letting the Sun Devils completely erase their 21-point halftime advantage.

Keion Brooks, the Pac-12’s leading scorer, had 21 points and eight rebounds at ASU but made just 2 of 8 3-pointers. As a team, Washington rates 10th in 3-point shooting percentage in Pac-12 games at 33.7%. However, the Huskies lead the conference in 2-point percentage at 54.6 and lead the conference in non-steal turnover percentage (6.4%) in Pac-12 games.

Defensively, Washington is below-average among Pac-12 teams, allowing conference opponents to shoot 36.6% from 3-point range and 50.3% from two. Offensively, 5-9 veteran point guard Sahvir Wheeler pushes a fast pace, and he combines with pass-minded 6-6 Rutgers transfer Paul Mulcahy for a backcourt that leads the country in combined career assists.

Washington lost starting center Franck Kepnang for the second straight season to a knee injury on Dec. 17 and initially expected he might return in 4-6 weeks but Washington coach Mike Hopkins confirmed this week that he would miss the rest of the season. The 6-11 Kepnang had given the Huskies an option to use two big men inside, while Washington has gone mostly with only the 7-1 Braxton Meah inside, with the 6-8 Moses Wood or Brooks at power forward. Washington was 7-3 early this season with Kepnang but is 8-9 without him since then.

He said it: “They’re a talented group, and they're a better unit than maybe what we've seen in the past. They play better together. They’ve got a big-time point guard (Wheeler) who can distribute the ball and make plays. Keion Brooks is probably having his best year in college basketball and those other guys really are contributing in a big way. Woods makes shots, and (Koren) Johnson comes off the bench and he’s an electric scorer. The big kid, Meah, is really producing on a high level, defending and scoring around the basket. So, they seem to have better pieces right now.

“(Brooks) can run in and post up, give them flexibility and versatility. It’s not like there’s two big guys sitting on the block. They have four guys out for one type of alignment and sometimes they're five out and nobody in. It gives them more room to operate.

“(Wheeler) may be the fastest and quickest guy we have played all season. On the court, he's a terror, pushing the ball and creating scoring opportunities for himself or kicking the ball to open guys for shots.”

— UA assistant coach Steve Robinson, who scouted the Huskies.

Key players

WASHINGTON — Keion Brooks

Recruited by Arizona heavily as a transfer from Kentucky in 2022, Brooks had 16 points and nine rebounds at McKale last season — but went 0 for 5 from 3 in the Huskies’ three-point loss. He became a second-team all-Pac-12 pick last season and is on track for a first-team nod this season, shooting 37.0% from 3, 54.5% from two and drawing 5.8 fouls per 40 minutes.

ARIZONA — Kylan Boswell

One of Boswell’s breakout games as a 17-year-old freshman last season came early in league play against Washington at McKale, where he had nine points, six rebounds, six assists and no turnovers. Maybe that memory helps Boswell erase two rough games against Washington State.

Sidelines

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She said yes

About 15 minutes after Washington State knocked off Arizona at McKale Center on Thursday, the Cougars huddled up again to lift WSU assistant coach Jeremy Harden on their shoulders in front of the Zona Zoo section.

This time, they weren't celebrating their win. They were celebrating his win.

Harden, a Tucson native who played at Pima College and graduated from UA, had planned to propose to girlfriend Megan Yanda if the Cougars pulled off an upset in his hometown arena.

After they did, Harden brought Yanda to midcourt, then kneeled down in the middle of the Block A. Yanda bent over, shaking with emotion and slipped the ring on.

After the two kissed and walked off the court, the Cougs mobbed and lifted up Harden, who exited the floor with a wide grin on his face.

“What a night to remember!!” Harden posted on X. “Landed my biggest recruit yet on top of a HUGE win in front of tons of friends and family in my hometown. #SheSaidYES.”

Harden, a Tucson High School graduate who led Pima to a No. 7 finish at the NJCAA national championships in 2010, began a coaching career after graduating from UA in 2012. He spent five years as the head coach at Wenatchee Valley College in Washington, where he coached current WSU standout Isaac Jones, before joining the Cougars this season.

Late-night party

Harden’s friends and family weren’t the only ones having a good time as the clock approached midnight at McKale late Thursday. WSU center Oscar Cluff drew a gang who knew him from his Cochise College days, while others had friends and family on hand — and even those who didn’t hung around for nearly an hour.

WSU coach Kyle Smith noted that the Cougars “have underdog built into our DNA,” with a team that starts two junior college products (Cluff and Jones), a Division II transfer (Jaylen Wells), a lightly-recruited cancer survivor (Myles Rice) and a veteran wing from North Macedonia (Andrej Jakimovski).

“We have a lot of amazing underdog stories on our team,” Wells said. “So this kind of fits.”

Larsson NBA stock rising

While discussing all of Arizona’s threats his Huskies will have to deal with Saturday, Washington coach Mike Hopkins threw out the name of a guy who does a little of everything for Arizona — but might fit into one particular spot in the NBA someday.

“Pelle Larsson is a 6-6, 6-7 point guard,” Hopkins said. “You talk about him being a first-round draft pick.”

Hopkins wasn’t exaggerating. While Larsson hasn’t played specifically at point guard since his freshman year at Utah in 2020-21, his game has elements that could translate there in the NBA.

Maybe so much so that he’s jumping up mock NBA draft charts, with Bleacher Report putting him at No. 34, while ESPN has Larsson as the No. 39 prospect, just behind teammate Keshad Johnson at 38.

The Athletic has Larsson at 47, just a spot ahead of former UA teammate Adama Bal, who has opened eyes at Santa Clara this season after transferring from UA last spring.

Numbers game

2 — Washington’s national Kenpom ranking in Division I experience (3.59 years), a measure of the average number of Division I seasons played by the current roster, weighted by minutes played.

2 — Washington’s Pac-12 rank in adjusted Kenpom tempo, behind only Arizona.

809 — Career assists for Washington’s Sahvir Wheeler, a fifth-year senior who has also played at Georgia and Kentucky.

— Bruce Pascoe

Photos: Arizona falls in a nailbiter to Washington State 77-74 in a Top 25 match-up, Pac-12 basketball