University of Washington Athletics

UW (9-3) vs. Montana (7-4)
UW wraps up its four-game homestand as it takes on Montana on Friday, Dec. 22 at 8 p.m. inside Alaska Airlines Arena. The game will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks with J.B. Long and Don MacLean on the call. Additionally fans can tune into KOMO 1000AM and 97.7 FM to hear the official UW radio broadcast from Tony Castricone and Jason Hamilton. Washington holds the all-time record at 44-9 with the last meeting coming in Seattle on Dec. 12, 2015 as UW took a 92-62 win.

The Coach
Head Coach Mike Hopkins is starting his first year at Washington, and first as a head coach becoming the 19th head coach in UW history. After spending 22 years as an assistant at Syracuse, Hopkins oversaw teams that reached the NCAA Tournament 16 times including the 2003 National Championship, four Final Fours, five Elite Eights and 10 Sweet 16s along with four NIT berths. Syracuse never dipped below a 55.0 percent record while Hopkins was on staff.

Quick Hitters
• Washington is the only team in the NCAA to record 16 steals and 15 blocks in the same game this season after doing so against BCU .. since the 2011-12 season only one other school has recorded those numbers in a single game ... Syracuse (12/28/2011 - 17 steals, 15 blocks - v. Seton Hall)
• The Huskies tied their single-game blocks record with 15 against Bethune-Cookman ... it previously happened vs. Yale (11/13/16) and vs. Colorado (1/20/16)
• Washington is one of four schools nationally averaging at least 5.6 blocks and 9.1 steals per game joining St. John's (6.5b/9.5s), Penn State (6.1b/9.5s) and Eastern Michigan (5.8b/10.6s)
• UW's 62.7 percent shooting from the field against BCU is its best in the last 15 years and is close to the single-game record (min. 60 attempts) of .676 (48-71) vs. Chico State, 12/1/92
• Freshman Jaylen Nowell has scored six of his 13 total career threes over the last two games
• Junior Matisse Thybulle currently has 75 career blocks, which is nine shy of cracking the top five on UW's all-time career list (10th - 84, Patrick Femerling, 1996-98)
• UW will retire Isaiah Thomas' No. 2 jersey in a ceremony at the Feb. 15 game against Utah
• UW is outscoring its opponents on average 45.5 to 38.2 in the second half
• Washington's win over No. 2 Kansas was its first win away from Seattle over a top 2 team in program history
• Junior Matisse Thybulle is creating scoring on the direct next possession of 69.0 percent (29 of 42) of his 42 steals this year ... over the last two years he is creating scoring on 57.5 percent (62 of 107) of the next possession and for his career he is at 57.5 percent (84 of 146 steals)
• Via Stats Inc., Thybulle is the only player this season to have season highs of 19 points, 7 steals, 5 blocks, 7 assists, 6 rebounds and 5 made FGs from 3 ... and no other Pac-12 player has done it in Stats Inc. data (since 1996-97).
• Sophomore Sam Timmins recorded 11 boards against LMU, one shy of his career high ... he has pulled down eight or more boards four times this season through 12 games ... last season, he only had four games with eight or more in 31 outings
• In his last seven games, junior Noah Dickerson has yet to score less than 10 points and is averaging 17.0 points and 8.1 rebounds while shooting 64.5 percent from the field ... additionally in that span sophomore Sam Timmins is shooting 66.7 percent from the field (18-of-27) with 10 of his 18 made FGs coming as dunks (55.5 percent).
• Junior Noah Dickerson recorded his third double double of the season at #2 Kansas with 14 rebounds and 13 points ... he now has nine for his career which have all come over his last 34 games
• UW is shooting 80.6 percent from the FT line in final five minutes of its 12 games and that goes up to 84.6 percent in the final two minutes ... UW has not been that efficient from the FT line during those two spans since at least 2002-03 (stats not kept as well before that)
• Junior Noah Dickerson is leading the team in FG percentage at 63.0  (63-100) ... as a sophomore Dickerson shot 54.7 percent (93-199) and as a freshman he shot 46.7 (146-267)
• Washington leads the league in steals at 9.1 per game, which also ranks 19th nationally
• Junior Matisse Thybulle currently ranks third in the NCAA in steals, averaging 3.5 per game ... his 146 career steals are sixth in UW history ... the UW school record is 195 (Jamie Booker, 1994-97 over 109 games)