UW, WSU men’s basketball teams heading in different directions ahead of regular-season finale
Percy AllenMarch 6, 2024 at 4:55 pmBy
Seattle Times staff reporter
It’s been said that misery loves company.
However, Mike Hopkins, who may be in his final days as coach of the Washington men’s basketball team, expressed genuine admiration for cross-state counterpart Kyle Smith, the presumptive Pac-12 coach of the year favorite following his remarkable performance with the 18th-ranked Washington State Cougars.
“I believe that Kyle Smith shouldn’t just be coach of the year in our league, there’s an argument for him to be national coach of the year,” Hopkins said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for him. [Former UW assistant] Jimmy Shaw, his assistant, I have a lot of respect for them.
“They’ve done a phenomenal job. They have a completely new roster, which has been very difficult to do. And they’ve got them playing at a high level.”
So often during their Apple Cup rivalry, which began in 1910, the Huskies (16-14, 8-11 in Pac-12) came into the annual regular-season finale matchup with sights set on grander prizes, while the Cougars were playing the role of spoilers.
This year, the Cougars (23-7, 14-5) flipped the script while posting their most wins since the 2007-08 season, which is also their last trip to the NCAA tournament.
Regardless of what happens before Selection Sunday, Washington State is going to break its 16-year Big Dance drought. However, if the Cougs continue their strong finish — they’ve won 10 of their last 11 games — then they could potentially receive a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament, according to ESPN’s latest projections.
More to the point, WSU, which is 15-1 at home, is still in the hunt for the last Pac-12 regular-season title before the conference essentially suspends following a mass exodus of 10 teams, including the Big Ten-bound Huskies.
If WSU, which is a half-game behind fifth-ranked Arizona, beats UW in Thursday’s 6 p.m. regular-season finale at Beasley Coliseum and the Wildcats (23-6, 14-4) lose either of their two road games against UCLA or USC this week, then the Cougars will capture a share of the championship and their first league title since 1941.
Washington Huskies coach Mike Hopkins is 71-83 over the past five seasons. Hopkins has $3.2 million remaining on his contract. (Luke Johnson / The Seattle Times)
After being picked 10th in the Pac-12 preseason poll, Washington State is enjoying one of the best seasons in program history, which has made Smith an early candidate for possible coaching openings.
He has two years left on an extension signed in 2021 that paid him $1.5 million last season.
When asked this week about contract-extension talks with WSU, Smith told reporters the topic has been “tabled” until the end of the season.
Roughly 285 miles separate UW and WSU, but the distance between the two teams feels like so much more as the Huskies head into an uncertain future.
For the second straight year, Hopkins, who has $3.2 million remaining on his contract, is facing questions about his job security, which stems from UW’s 71-83 record during the past five years.
“I focus on one game at a time and doing the best job I can,” Hopkins said. “I love the University of Washington. People have been great to me and great to my family. You guys [the media] have been great [and] fair. You know, time will tell. I love coaching. Had a lot of great moments. Just got to keep doing what we do and try to finish up strong. Whatever happens will happen.”
Despite the swirling speculations, Hopkins is hoping to get the Huskies to focus on a dangerous WSU team that beat them in overtime, 90-87, on Feb. 3 in Seattle.
Following their dramatic win, which was sealed by Myles Rice’s three-pointer in the final two minutes, the Cougars partied on the Alaska Airlines Arena floor with their fans.
“The last game, they were dancing on the W and doing all kinds of stuff,” UW sophomore guard Koren Johnson said. “So, we’re going to take this game personally.”
After four months, the Huskies still haven’t fixed a porous defense that allows 79.9 points in Pac-12 road games. Hopkins put the onus on Pac-12 scoring leader Keion Brooks Jr. (21.3 points per game) and mercurial center Braxton Meah to lead the defensive effort.
“There’s no more scouting reports,” Hopkins said. “We’re not going to have a secret play that we’re going to work on for these next two days that we’re going to come out with. … This is a mindset game.
“Washington State has got a great belief right now. They can score from multiple positions. People have taken away [Isaac] Jones and taken away Rice and all of a sudden you see [Jaylen] Wells and [Andrej] Jakimovski making big shots.”
When asked what the keys to beat the Cougars are, Hopkins used the word “tough” nine times.
“They’ve built an unbelievable résumé and to be able to beat them there, we’re going to have to play well,” he said. “We have the ability to do it, but we’re going to have to play well.
“But the biggest thing is … we’ve got to be tough. We’ve got to be tough with the environment. Tough with the refs. Tough with their players. Adapt to how the game is being called and stay together and hopefully put ourselves in position.”
Percy Allen: pallen@seattletimes.com; Seattle Times staff reporter Percy Allen covers the Washington Huskies and Seattle Storm.
