University of Washington

What: UW vs. Texas, presented by Alibaba
Where: Mercedes-Benz Arena, Shanghai, China
When: Friday, November 13, 2015, 7 p.m. PT
Watch: ESPN (Roxy Bernstein & Bill Walton) | WatchESPN link
Listen: KOMO 1000/FM 97.7/Sirius 93/XM 203 (Steve Sandmeyer & Jason Hamilton) 

Dawgs Open 114th Season in China
The Huskies open the season in historical fashion as they face the University of Texas Longhorns on Friday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. PST in Shanghai, China. The game, which will be played at Mercedes- Benz Arena, will air nationally on ESPN with Roxy Bernstein and Bill Walton on the call. Additionally, fans can tune into KOMO 1000AM and FM 97.7 or Sirius 93/XM 203 to hear Steve Sandmeyer and Jason Hamilton on the call. The two squads have faced off twice in program history with Texas earning the win both times.

The Coach
Head Coach Lorenzo Romar, in his 14th year at Washington, has amassed a 270-159 (.629) during his time in Seattle and an overall mark of 363-247 (.595) in 19 seasons. Romar has taken the Huskies to the NCAA tournament six times including three Sweet 16 appearances.

For Starters
Washington is 11-2 in season openers during the Lorenzo Romar era and have only opened the season away from home once during that span, while winning its last five openers. Additionally, the Huskies have not opened the season at a neutral site since the 1986-87 campaign in Alaska facing Utah State at the Great Alaska Shootout (a 72-71 loss).

Quick Hitters
• Washington’s roster is the youngest in the Pac-12 and features the most players under the age of 20 (nine) and 19 (4)
• With 80 percent of the team listed as freshmen or sophomores, Washington ties with Wyoming for the fifth youngest roster of the 345 NCAA Division I squads.
• Senior team captain Andrew Andrews enters the season as the third-leading returning scorer in the Pac-12 (15.0ppg in 14-15) and currently sits 31st all-time in scoring at UW with 1,100 points (13 behind current assistant coach Will Conroy)
• Andrews will make the move back to the point guard position this year after playing mostly at the two-spot since he arrived on campus in 2011.
• Washington welcomes the No. 6 recruiting class in the nation (Scout.com) to the court this year which includes guard Dejounte Murray, forward Marquese Chriss, forward Noah Dickerson, forward Matisse Thybulle, forward Dominic Green, guard David Crisp, forward Malik Dime and forward Devenir Duruisseau. Washington is also the only school nationally with five Top 100 signees (Scout.com)
• The UW front court will have an entirely new look to it and will feature 6-9 freshman Marquese Chriss, ranked No. 49 in the class of 2015, freshman Noah Dickerson (6-8), ranked 52nd, along with junior college transfer Malik Dime (6-10) who helped Indian Hills CC advance to back-to-back NJCAA Championship game appearances
• Additionally, the backcourt will also look different as Andrews will move back to the point guard position for the first time since he arrived on campus in 2011 ... he’ll be joined by sophomores Donaven Dorsey and Dan Kingma along with the heralded freshman class in Murray, Thybulle, Green and Crisp.
• The Huskies spend the majority of November on the road, first as they open with a history contest against Texas in the first regular season collegiate or professional game to be played in China. The Dawgs follow that up with a date at the stacked Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas. UW only has two home November games.
• UW welcomed back one its standout performers as head coach Lorenzo Romar hired Will Conroy as an assistant coach this summer. Conroy spent the last seven years playing professionally and this is his first collegiate assistant coaching job.

Ni-Hao (Hello in Mandarin)
The Huskies made sure to take advantage of the unique situation that they were in with this game in China as they enrolled in English 295, a two-week course taught by UW Professor Shawn Wong. The course helped prepare the team by learning basic Mandarin and more about the sights they will be visiting in Hangzhou and Shanghai. Each player will receive three-credit hours and are being graded on the presentations they will be giving while in China. Both Professor Wong and his teaching assistant Jane Yang, a Shanghai native and sophomore at UW, made the trip to China with the team. Yang will also serve as the team’s interpreter when needed.

Unique Opportunity
Prior to departing for China, the Huskies were lucky enough to hear from some distinguished speakers including UW president Ana Mari Cauce, former Washington Governor and US Ambassador to China Gary Locke along with Vice Provost Jeff Riedinger. Cauce hit on the importance of representing the University abroad as UW has the most Chinese students in the Pac-12 while Governor Locke talked about his experience as the U.S. Ambassador to China and gave tips on what the team could expect from a cultural standpoint.

The Year-Long Process
The logistical planning for the trip began long before this year’s squad even got to campus. Having so many young newcomers, many had not even been out of the country before, so acquiring passports was a long process that had to start even before applying for the Chinese Visas. Senior Andrew Andrews is the only current player to have been to China before, as a member of the Pac-12 all-star team last summer. Also of note, junior college transfer who hails from Senegal had to fly to New York in July to the Senegalese Consulate to get his passport approved.

Racking Up Airline Miles
The Huskies will easily rack up their fair share of airline miles in just November alone as they will travel 17,000 miles over the first three weeks of the season. Roundtrip to and from Shanghai (not including the two-day trip to Hangzhou) comes in at 11,422 miles. Then the Huskies get right back in the air six days after landing (and playing two home games) to head to the Bahamas which is 5,788 miles roundtrip. Not only will the squad log a lot of time in the air, only two players (senior Andrew Andrews and sophomore KJ Garrett) have ever flown farther than 5,000 miles roundtrip anywhere.

New Faces on the Bench
With a revamped roster featuring 10 newcomers, nine of which are eligible this season, Husky fans will have a lot of new faces to get used to. The nation’s sixth-ranked recruiting class will join the five returning Dawgs to make up the 2015-16 roster, which has the most newcomers and fewest returners since coach Romar took over in 2002-03.

Familiar ‘New’ Face on the Bench
While the player’s roster will have a new look, there will be another new face on the sidelines that will likely be familiar in new assistant coach Will Conroy, who donned the purple and gold from 2002-05 for coach Romar. Conroy joined the staff during the summer of 2015 and still holds the UW career record for assists (515).

Youth Movement
Not only is the roster revamped, but coach Romar reloaded with a group of talented teens as UW’s roster is the youngest in the Pac-12 with nine players starting the season at 19 and four of which are currently 18. Additionally, with 80 percent of the team listed as freshmen or sophomores, UW ties with Wyoming for the fifth-youngest roster of the 345 NCAA Division I squads. Only Georgia Southern (92 percent), Liberty (91 percent), Ohio State (85 percent) and Fairleigh Dickinson (85 percent) have a higher percentage of underclassmen on their current roster.

Athleticism and Length
While Washington’s roster may not boast anyone over 6-9, its overall athleticism and length will surely make up for it. Highlighting that fact is freshman Matisse Thybulle who is 6-5, boasts a 7-0 wingspan and a 40 inch vertical while also running a 4:55 mile. Forward Malik Dime’s wingspan is eight inches bigger than his 6-9 frame at 7-5 while freshman Dejounte Murray’s 6-10.5 wingspan helps him on the court where he’s listed at 6-4.5.

Exh Recap: 98-80 Over SPU
Washington opened their season with a 98-80 win over Seattle Pacific that saw six players reach double-figures including four of the five starters. Andrews led the team with 21 points and five assists with just one turnover while freshman Dejounte Murray quietly stuffed the stat sheet with 16 pts, five rebounds, four assists and one steal. The Dawgs shot a blazing 58.1 percent from the field including a 47.4 percent mark from 3-point range.