The Washington women’s basketball team began the 2022-23 season with eight nonconference games and an overall record of 7 wins and 1 loss.
In a scheduling oddity, PAC-12 conference play begins Sunday afternoon at 2PM, when arch-rival Washington State visits Hec Ed Pavilion.
So how is each player on the Huskies active roster contributing this season?
Here’s a rundown starting with the juniors and seniors:
UW Seniors
Haley Van Dyke
Haley Van Dyke is currently averaging 9.4 points, as well as 5.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.5 steals per game in 29.4 minutes– a stat line demonstrating her all-around game and on-court leadership — on 41.5% shooting from two-point range and 23.1% from three-point range.
Amazingly, Van Dyke is actually struggling scoring the ball this season compared to last season’s 11.0 points per game on 40.6% from two-point range and 33.8% from three.
Van Dyke has a history of excelling at three-pointers in transition so expect her to return back to form, if the Huskies pick up their pace offensively (131st out of all Division One teams).
AND ONE @haleyvandykee
📺 @Pac12Network
📲 https://t.co/l6C6obdRuK pic.twitter.com/qDZAyJaziQ— Washington Women’s Basketball (@UW_WBB) November 21, 2022
Trinity Oliver
photo courtesy of gohuskies.com & University of Washington Athletics
Last season’s transfer from Baylor was new to Langley’s Husky system, but is now looked at to bring experience to the backcourt.
Oliver is currently averaging 6.0 points, as well as 5.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game in 21.4 minutes– a nice all-around stat line.
Trinity Oliver is a very efficient scorer in the midrange area (40.0% shooting);in the lane (50% shooting); and at the rim (61.1%).
Oliver is also an effective shooter on corner threes (33.3%) but struggles on straightaway “above the break” threes (20% shooting) — 23.1% overall from three-point range (3 for 13).
As a veteran, Oliver knows where to cash in on offense and she’s shooting 55.2% on all two-pointers (16 for 29), proving her maturity as a scorer.
TT Watkins
TT Watkins is currently averaging 4.0 points, as well as 2.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 0.8 steals per game in 17.1 minutes.
So far, Watkins is struggling shooting the ball this season — she is usually reliable shooting corner three-pointers, yet this season is only making 25% (2 for 8) and 18.2% shooting on threes overall (2 for 11).
Expect Watkins to breakout and start converting those corner threes that she is (smartly) seeking out within the Huskies offense.
STEAL ➕ SCORE@watkins_tyiona
💻 Washington Live Stream
» https://t.co/BV7qKPi52c pic.twitter.com/Z2P7ZwG7hn— Washington Women’s Basketball (@UW_WBB) December 4, 2022
Darcy Rees
Darcy Rees is currently averaging 3.6 points, as well as 1.9 rebounds in 9.1 minutes.
Rees is the Huskies’ most efficient scorer in the lane (60%); and third most effective scoring at the rim within 4.5 feet (53.3%) — behind Emma Grothaus (88.2%) and Jayda Noble (70%).
Darcy Rees also has the Huskies’ fourth best offensive efficiency rating overall — behind Emma Grothaus, Dalayah Daniels and Hannah Stines.
We expect that Rees may receive more playing time when PAC-12 play begins and the opponents’ frontcourt size increases.
DARCY REES 💪
💻 Washington Live Stream
» https://t.co/BV7qKPi52c pic.twitter.com/QkrAftigzG— Washington Women’s Basketball (@UW_WBB) December 4, 2022
Emma Grothaus
Senior transfer Emma Grothaus is currently averaging 7.9 points as well as, 3.8 rebounds in 15.2 minutes.
Grothaus is the Huskies most efficient scorer from all areas of the court, except corner threes (no attempts).
Grothaus presents an interesting conundrum for Huskies coaches.
Through no fault of her own, Emma Grothaus is a player that has yet to prove herself at the elite PAC-12 level but has dominated UW’s (mid-major) nonconference opponents.
Expect UW coaches to closely monitor Grothaus’ performance versus Washington State to get a feel for her offensive capacity versus a PAC-12 frontcourt.
Will Emma Grothaus’ offensive efficiency stay consistent against PAC-12 defenders?
Is 15 minutes of playing time the perfect “sweet spot” for Emma Grothaus to perform at her peak efficiency?
Should they increase playing time for Grothaus and risk losing some of her efficiency?
After viewing her Lehigh game film, we questioned her physicality and toughness down low, particularly on defense — but there’s only one way to find out.
That’s 21 PTS and a new season-high for #2️⃣1️⃣ We see you Emma 👀🔥#GoHuskies x #Becoming pic.twitter.com/oLMZHroyqW
— Washington Women’s Basketball (@UW_WBB) November 26, 2022
UW Juniors
Lauren Schwartz
Lauren Schwartz is currently averaging 4.5 points as well as, 2.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 0.9 steals in 26.1 minutes.
Schwartz is only shooting 21.4% from three-point range – a mere 15.8% on straightaway “above the break” threes and 25% on corner threes.
This is a shocking development considering Schwartz made 37.8% of her threes last season.
She ranks towards the bottom in both offensive and defensive efficiency, currently third worst on offense and last on defense.
Lauren Schwartz presents UW coaches with a dilemma of whether they can continue to play her substantial minutes without getting a bigger result offensively and/or defensively.
With the Huskies shooting a woeful 22% from three-point range as a team, Washington likely has no other choice but to wait it out in hopes that Schwartz will return to form by the PAC-12 season.
.@lschwartz15 for 3⃣❕
💻 Washington Live Stream
» https://t.co/BV7qKPz84c pic.twitter.com/ML1OmGC8Pr— Washington Women’s Basketball (@UW_WBB) December 1, 2022
In our next installment, we will finish our player-by-player analysis with a look at UW’s freshmen and sophomores.
GO DAWGS!
*Shooting charts courtesy of CBBAnalytics.