Syracuse Webcast | Texas Tech Webcast

SEATTLE -- Washington heads to Las Vegas this week participate in the South Point Shootout. The Dawgs will face No. 23 Syracuse and Texas Tech as part of the tournament that will provide the Huskies with their stiffest competition of the season. Washington takes on Syracuse on Friday night and Texas Tech on Saturday night with both games tipping off at 6:45 p.m., PT. Both games will be available via a free webcast linked above as well as 1150 KKNW AM and 1150kknw.com with Steve Sandmeyer on the call.

What To Look For
- Washington's 4-0 start is the best since 2005 when the Dawgs started 5-0.
- The Huskies are averaging 91.2 points per game, which is second in the Pac-12.
- The Huskies are not ranked, but did receive a vote in the AP Poll this week for the first time this year.
- Kelsey Plum leads the nation in scoring, averaging 28.8 points per game.
- Plum was named the No. 10 player in the country in the ESPNW preseason rankings.
- Plum was also named to the Wooden Award Preseason Top 30.
- The Huskies were picked sixth by both the coaches and the media in the Pac-12 preseason polls.
- Plum was chosen as preseason All-Pac-12 by the media.
- Chantel Osahor became the fourth player in program history with a 20-rebound game vs. Seattle U.
- It's early, but the Pac-12 is 38-5 to start the season.
- Chantel Osahor (17), Katie Collier (16) and Brianna Ruiz (15) scored career highs against Fresno State.
- Talia Walton's 33 pts in the opener were a career high, while her eight 3's were second-most in UW history.
- Plum became the 12th player in program history to score 1,500 points vs. Seattle U. (She now has 1,573).
- Hannah Johnson and Deja Strother made their Husky debuts against Santa Clara.
- Dating back to last year, the Dawgs have won 14 of their last 16 home games.
- Syracuse will be the Dawgs first ranked opponent of the year. Last year, UW was 2-4 against ranked teams.
- Washington is 22-5 in non-conference games under head coach Mike Neighbors.
- Talia Walton is currently tied for fourth in the country with 17 steals on the year.
- Kelsey Plum is tied for the national lead in free throws made (39) and third in attempts (43).

Previous Matchups With Syracuse and Texas Tech
Friday will be the first-ever matchup between Syracuse and Washington in women's basketball. The Dawgs do have much more of a history against Texas Tech, having played the Red Raiders seven times, compiling a record of 2-5. The last matchup came in 2003 at Alaska Airlines Arena with then-No. 4 Texas Tech prevailing, 74-70. Washington last beat the then-No. 6 Red Raiders in Lubbock 1994 with the other win coming in 1978 for a game that Texas Tech later had to forfeit. Texas Tech does have a bit of Washington history as Sheryl Swoopes owns the all-time record for points scored against the Dawgs with 48 coming back in the 1983 contest in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament.

Scouting Syracuse
Syracuse is 2-1 on the season and ranked No. 23 in the nation in the AP Poll. The Orange have wins over Rhode Island and Morgan State, while falling at No. 4 Tennessee, 57-55. Brianna Butler leads Syracuse in scoring at 15.0 points per game, while Alexis Petersen adds 13.0 per game. Last year, the 'Cuse finished 22-10 and advanced to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. Earning a No. 8 seed, the Orange beat Nebraska in the First Round, before falling to top-seeded South Carolina.

Scouting Texas Tech
Texas Tech is off to a 3-0 start to the season, but will face Fordham in the first game of the South Point Shootout Shootout before playing the Huskies. The Red Raiders are led by Ivonne Cooktaylor who is averaging 15.7 points per game. Tech is also getting 15.3 points and 12.7 rebounds from Leashia Grant. Last year, the Red Raiders finished 15-16 and 5-13 in the Big-12.

Plum's Preseason Honors
Kesley Plum in an All-America candidate and piled up some honors preseason. She was named the No. 10 player in the country on the list compiled by ESPNW. Plum was also named to the Wooden Award Preseason Top 30 and the preseason All-Pac-12 Team.

Dawgs Run Away From San Diego State
Kelsey Plum scored 32 points for the second-straight game as Washington pulled away from San Diego State in the second half. Leading by as few as three in the third quarter, the Dawgs ran away and won 80-51. Talia Walton added 19 points, while Brianna Ruiz had 12.

Dawgs Come Back To Beat Fresno State
The Huskies trailed by as many as seven points in the second half, but rallied to beat Fresno State, 89-79. Kelsey Plum led the way with 32 points and six assists, scoring 21 in the second half to lead the Dawgs back. Chantel Osahor (17), Katie Collier (16) and Brianna Ruiz (15) also had career highs.

UW Claims City Rivalry
UW claimed the city rivalry game, beating Seatte U., 96-55. Kelsey Plum led all scorers with 26 points and added six assists, but it was Chantel Osahor who posted the most impressive numbers. Osahor had 12 points, 20 boards, four assists and three steals. She became the fourth UW player with a 20-rebound game.

Dawgs Rout SCU In Opener
Washington blew out Santa Clara 100-55 in the opener behind a career-best 33 points from Talia Walton. The senior made 8-9 from behind the 3-point line, while adding nine rebounds, six steals and four assists. As a team the Dawgs shot over 50 percent from the field and Kelsey Plum added 25 points and eight assists.

2014-15 In Review
Washington returned to the NCAA Tournament last year off the strength of a 11-1 non-conference record and fifth-place finish in the Pac-12. Washington picked up some signature wins along the way, defeating Florida State at the Cancun Challenge, then upsetting No. 5 Texas A&M and No. 7 Oregon State at Alaska Airlines Arena. Overall, Washington now has three-straight wins over top-10 teams at home, having also upset No. 3 Stanford in 2014. For the season, the Huskies finished 23-10, falling to Miami (Fla.) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Washington was selected as a top-20 team during the midseason look by the NCAA and earned a No. 6 seed in the Big Dance. The Dawgs finished 11-7 in conference and beat Utah in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament. The Huskies also led the conference in scoring at 75.0 ppg and led the nation in free-throw shooting at 78.0 percent.

Entering the Year
Washington enters the 2015-16 season coming off four-straight 20-win seasons and a return trip to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007. Head coach Mike Neighbors has built the program into a nationally relevant squad and the Dawgs will look to carry the positive momentum to even greater heights this season. Much of the excitement revolves around All-America candidate Kelsey Plum who is coming off a Wooden Top-15 nomination last season and a summer playing with the best the United States had to offer at the Pan-American Games. She will be joined by returning starters Talia Walton and Brianna Ruiz, along with key reserve Chantel Osahor. Walton is coming off her best season at Washington and will be asked to take on an even bigger role in 2015-16. The Huskies will play a difficult non-conference schedule that includes neutral-site matchups with Syracuse and Texas Tech at the South Point Shootout in Las Vegas, a road game at South Dakota and a home game against Oklahoma. That combined with the always difficult Pac-12 conference should set up the Huskies with plenty of competition for the results needed to get back to the NCAA Tournament.

Kelsey Plum
The Huskies return one of the top players in the country in junior guard Kelsey Plum. The native of Poway, Calif., was a Wooden Top-15 nominee and WBCA All-Regional selection last season. Her 746 points and 22.6 ppg scoring average both led the Pac-12 and were Washington records. Plum also set Husky records with 45 points against Oklahoma and with 207 made free throws. She returns to UW with 1,458 points career points after becoming the seventh-fastest to 1,000 in NCAA history. A veteran of the U-19 World Championship Gold Medal winning Team USA in 2013, Plum won silver for Team USA at the Pan-American Games this past summer.

Other Returning Starters
Washington returns two other starters in senior Talia Walton and redshirt sophomore Brianna Ruiz. Walto also surpassed 1,000 career points last year, while becoming the Huskies all-time leader in blocked shots with 149. She earned All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention after averaging 13.0 ppg on a career-best 46 percent shooting. Ruiz started 28 games as a redshirt freshman, connecting on 34 3-pointers and will play an even larger role in 2015-16.

Other Returners
The Huskies return perhaps the best bench player in the conference last season in junior Chantel Osahor. Likely to be elevated to a starter this year, Osahor was a key weapon off the bench last year, averaging 5.1 points and 6.4 rebounds in just 21.1 minutes per game. The multi-talented post also had an assist/turnover ratio of 53/26, which was among the best in the nation for a frontcourt player. Also returning in the post and looking for a bigger role this year is redshirt junior Katie Collier. The Huskies best shot blocker is now two seasons removed from her ACL injury and ready for her best season at UW. In the backcourt, the Dawgs return a pair of sophomores in Khalia Lark and Kelli Kingma, along with senior Alexus Atchley. Lark came on towards the end of last season with her slashing and scoring ability from the wing, while Kingma is probably the Huskies' best ball-handler outside of Plum. Atchley is a former walk-on that earned a scholarship and will be one of the team captains this season. Other returners are post Mathilde Gilling and guard Mackenzie Wieburg, both capable of helping the Huskies this season as well.

Incoming All-American
The Huskies have just one freshman this year, but she is a McDonald's All-American in 6-5 post player Deja Strother. Strother will make an immediate impact along the Washington frontline with her rebounding, defense and post scoring. In her senior season at Inglemoor HS in Bothell, Wash., Strother averaged 17.2 points, 11.6 rebounds and 1.9 blocks. She was rated as high as No. 35 in the country by Prospects Nation and is now the third McDonald's All-American on the Washington team, joining Katie Collier and Kelsey Plum.

Graduated Greats
Washington lost two of the program's all-time great players to graduation in guard Jazmine Davis and forward Aminah Williams. Davis left as the Huskies all-time leading scorer, while Williams is the all-time leading rebounder. Both players will be missed, but the Huskies believe they have the depth to overcome the losses of two greats that helped rebuild the program from a Pac-12 afterthought to a NCAA Tournament team. The duo won 84 games at Washington, never less than 20 in a season. Davis scored 2,277 points in her Husky career, leaving as the all-time leading scorer, but also sixth in Pac-12 history. She also holds the Husky record for free throws, 3-pointers, field goals attempted, 3-pointers attempted and free throws attempted. Davis is also the only four-time All-Pac-12 Player in Washington history. Williams was probably the best rebounder in the country for her size, measuring at 6-0, but averaging 10.8 rpg as a sophomore, 10.4 as a junior and 9.3 as a senior. Her 1,142 total rebounds are a UW record, but she also holds the school record for games played at 132.