If you missed it go back and check out part one of our men’s basketball player preview series from yesterday when we discussed the players most likely to man the point guard spot on this roster. Today we’ll continue on with the guards/wings who are more likely to be secondary ball handlers.
G 6’4 Wesley Yates (3rd Year), Transfer from USC
2024-25 Stats (per game)
: 14.1 pts, 2.9 reb, 1.8 ast, 50.0% 2pt, 43.9% 3pt, 79.8% FTBackground
It was a tremendous get for Mike Hopkins to sign Wesley Yates III,
the #46 prospect in the class of 2024, out of Beaumont, Texas. Of course, the Huskies had a ringer. Yates is the cousin of then (and now) Husky assistant Quincy Pondexter which allowed the Dawgs to beat out Texas and LSU for his commitment. There were early whispers that Yates would force his way into the starting lineup from day one but he suffered a foot injury in the days leading up to the opener. Jon Rothstein reported that Yates was expected to play in the opener still. Instead, Yates missed the entire season and followed Pondexter to USC after the Husky coaching staff turned over.
It took a little bit of time for Yates to shake off the rust. He started 6/22 from 3-point range and played just 32 combined minutes in consecutive Trojan losses to Saint Mary’s, New Mexico, and Oregon. Then he came back to Seattle and was thrust into the starting lineup. That flipped a switch and Yates was one of the best shooters in the country from that point forward. He finished 2nd in the conference in 3-pt% at 47.6% during B1G play and averaged 18.1 points per game.
Yates was a bit of a surprising entry into the transfer portal given his success in L.A and he became coveted by nearly every school in the country. Evanmiya.com had Yates rated as the #24 overall transfer in the class. It quickly though became a Washington vs. Kentucky battle for his services. The Huskies’ victory to bring him back to Seattle became easier to understand in hindsight when Quincy Pondexter later rejoined the coaching staff.
Playing Style
Yates is a true three-level scorer. I noted his outside shooting in the previous section but he also got to the line at a pretty good clip for a 6’4 freshman guard and has the strength to finish at the rim through contact. He still took over 60% of his shots from inside the arc so while Yates made a very strong percentage, he was far from just a long-range sniper. He shot in the 100th percentile though on catch and shoot baskets so he was literally the best in the sport last year when he got his feet set.
Having a player who can absolutely get buckets from anywhere on the court is an advantage but there are definitely holes in Yates’s game. He had the second best Offensive BPR on USC last year per Evan Miya but the second worst Defensive BPR. His steal rate was slightly above average but Yates’ rebounding numbers were quite poor for a 6’4 guard with his athleticism level. When someone is carrying you on offense you allow for some drop in their defensive effort but it’s clear that Washington shouldn’t expect a defensive stopper.
It’s also the case that Yates lives up to the shooting guard moniker. His assist rate of 11.1% is in between what DJ Davis and Mekhi Mason had on last year’s Washington team. Yates isn’t a ball stopper but you aren’t going to see a ton of occasions where he makes a highlight pass to get someone open who otherwise might not have been. The Huskies aren’t going to play Yates at point guard and he will need to play alongside at least one of JJ Mandaquit, Quimari Peterson, or Zoom Diallo at all times. Which shouldn’t be a problem if they’re all healthy but still worth noting.
Expectations for 2025-26
If one player on the Husky roster is going to make an all-conference team this season then my money would be on Yates. The odds are that he isn’t going to match his totals in Big Ten play for USC last year. There is going to be some amount of regression (and if there’s not then Yates will be a 1st round pick next spring).
After Yates committed to Washington in the portal I looked at similar players to try to determine how they performed the next season. There were no comps for a player as young and as good as Yates switching power conference schools. But the closest ones I could find generally saw their counting stats go up but their efficiency go down. This Husky roster has so many potential options though that I think Yates’s counting stats go sideways due to a little less playing time. He should be the best guard scorer in a Husky uniform since Jaylen Nowell.
2025-26 Projected Per Game Stats: 30.0 mins, 14.3 pts, 3.1 reb, 2.0 ast, 1.9 to, 1.3 stl, 0.2 blk, 50.7% 2pt, 37.0% 3pt, 75.8% FT
*****
G 6’6 Desmond Claude (4th Year), Transfer from USC
2024-25 Stats (per game): 15.8 pts, 3.5 reb, 4.2 ast, 52.7% 2pt, 30.7% 3pt, 76.4% FT
Background
Claude was a four-star recruit and the #86 player in the class of 2022 coming out of New Haven, Connecticut when he committed to Xavier over Rutgers. At 6’5 he was considered a jumbo point guard with a still developing outside jumper. It was a bit of a rocky start as Claude came off the bench as a true freshman and shot below 30% from 3-point range with a nearly even assist-to-turnover ratio.
Claude took over as the primary offensive option as a sophomore and led Xavier in scoring averaging nearly 17 points per game while making strides as a passer. Efficiency though was still a question as Claude’s 3-pt% dropped to 23.9% on over 3 attempts per game. That led to Claude entering the transfer portal hoping for a spot where he could be a full-time point guard and so he went to USC where Eric Musselman loves him some position-less basketball.
There were some clear pluses and minuses to Claude’s single season in L.A. He shot career bests from both 2-point and 3-point range and averaged a career high 4.2 assists per game. The turnovers though climbed at an even bigger rate to offset the gains in shooting efficiency and Claude wore out his welcome a bit.
He entered the transfer portal on the final day it was open hoping for a big pay day as one of the more proven primary options on the market. Schools such as Florida, Gonzaga, Alabama, Tennessee, and Oregon all were rumored to be involved with Claude but he ultimately circled back to Washington just after the House settlement was announced (I’ll let you decide what that means…) Washington’s raiding of USC from last season resulted in their two leading scorers, Yates and Claude, plus assistant Quincy Pondexter.
Playing Style
I noted it in the Zoom Diallo preview yesterday but Diallo and Claude were two of only six high major players to have high assist and two-point percentage marks and yet make so few three-pointers. Claude has spent his college career to this point with the ball in his hands and that is a double-edged sword. While Claude would’ve led last year’s Washington team in assist rate, his turnover rate would’ve been 2nd worst on the team ahead of only Tyree Ihenacho. You’re generally going to have more turnovers when you’re the one leading the offense but you can’t have someone controlling the offense who is that careless with the ball.
One of the reasons for those turnovers is potentially that passing lanes are more cramped due to poor spacing. Claude only took a little over 2 three-point attempts per game last season which was down about 35% from the previous season. That’s probably good news because he made a much better percentage which is likely due to eliminating some of the worse off-the-dribble looks and replacing those with passes or drives. But defenses definitely did not respect Claude’s outside shot and mostly played the pass or the drive.
The good news is that it didn’t matter all that much. Claude was a bowling ball going to the rim last season shooting nearly 53% on two-point attempts and finishing 3rd in the Big Ten in fouls drawn per 40 minutes. Once he gets to the line Claude is a solid shooter at 75% for his career but he isn’t quite as automatic as you would like.
If Claude gets denied from going all the way to the rim then he has a good plan B. He made 47.7% of his 2-point attempts outside of the paint last season which is a well above-average mark. Zoom Diallo led Washington last season at 45% and no one else who attempted at least 12 shot over 41%. Having someone capable of hitting a floater or a free throw line jumper is a valuable skill even if it’s preferred that they just shoot 40% from deep.
On the defensive end of the floor it’s fair to call Claude roughly average. He has finished 4th among rotation players on his team in Defensive BPR per Evan Miya each of the last two seasons. His steal and block rates both dropped last season while taking on a heavier offensive burden and playing tougher competition at USC. But he has good size and length especially compared to opposing point guards and isn’t going to be the guy opposing teams consistently target even if he won’t force a lot of turnovers.
Expectations for 2025-26
Washington really wanted to have an elite small forward to close out this roster. They heavily pursued Darrion Williams, Cedric Coward, Jamir Watkins, and Tyon Grant-Foster in the portal. Coward and Watkins ended up getting drafted (Coward first committed to Duke before becoming a lottery pick). Williams earned a huge pay day from Will Wade at NC State. Tyon Grant-Foster went to Gonzaga and was initially ineligible before a court injunction this week. That isn’t to say that the Huskies settled for Desmond Claude but he didn’t quite fit the archetype that would’ve been a 100% seamless fit on this roster.
The Husky roster is missing a 3 and D wing to go alongside several offense-first players who are going to need the ball in their hands a decent amount. That isn’t Claude. At every previous stop he has demanded to be the primary ball-handler and led his team in usage rate. It’s hard to imagine that being the best outcome for Washington’s success if it happens again. How much Claude winds up playing will be in part determined by his willingness to play more off the ball and his ability to be productive in that new role.
It wouldn’t shock me if Claude winds up playing fewer minutes because he is having trouble adjusting to playing alongside two other guards who are at least equally good facilitators. Keeping Claude and the rest of the roster happy with their touches is going to be a chemistry experiment for Danny Sprinkle that could backfire if losses begin to mount.
I’m going to trust that having an assistant and another player who each were on the team with Claude last year means they have a good idea about how to best deploy him and that some of the issues are overblown. Claude has his share of flaws but he is still a good college basketball player and I think it’s reasonable to expect him to be Washington’s second leading scorer.
Claude rolled his ankle and missed the exhibition game against UNLV but should hopefully be healthy for the opener. The good news is that the duplication between Zoom/Claude’s skillset means there’s a replacement at the ready if Claude does end up missing some amount of time (provided Zoom also recovers as expected from a concussion and is healthy for the opener).
2025-26 Projected Per Game Stats: 30.0 mins, 13.8 pts, 3.7 reb, 2.5 ast, 2.1 to, 0.6 stl, 0.4 blk, 49.2% 2pt, 30.0% 3pt, 72.7% FT
*****
G 6’3 Courtland Muldrew; 4-star, #127 overall (1st Year)
Background
The 6’3 guard who is originally from Arlington, Texas played his prep career in Springdale, Arkansas where he was an elite scorer. Muldrew set the Arkansas 6A career points record breaking the mark previously set by Malik Monk who went on to Kentucky and then the NBA as a 1st round draft pick. That included a weekend this past season when Muldrew scored 94 of his team’s 127 points over two games. He averaged 15.8 points and 4.3 rebounds per game on 52.1% shooting at the 2024 Nike Peach Jam to earn 3rd team all-tournament honors.
It had originally been reported that Muldrew would transfer to the famous Oak Hill Academy for his senior season but ultimately opted to return to finish out his high school career at the same school in Arkansas.
When making his college decision, Muldrew had a final group that included schools like Ole Miss, Creighton, and Oklahoma State. But Washington had moved in the shadows and got Muldrew to both visit and commit without sharing their interest publicly. He ended up rated as the #127 player in the class in the 247 Sports Composite and a four-star recruit.
Expectations for 2025-26
Muldrew is a pure scoring guard who can absolutely light it up when he gets hot, scoring from anywhere on the court. This may just not be the roster where he can get on the court. The Huskies have four guard/wings who are proven scorers at the college level with Peterson, Diallo, Yates, and Claude. If there’s room for a 5th guard on the roster then it will be JJ Mandaquit who is a pure distributor to set those other guys up and was also a higher rated recruit.
The rumors in the offseason were that Washington tried to sign all their freshmen to two-year contracts. We’ll see how those hold up in this new version of the NIL era but Muldrew is an intriguing talent that I’m sure the Huskies would love to be able to have redshirt and then step into a bigger role next season once Peterson and Claude graduate.
But then Coach Sprinkle noted at media days that Muldrew had been their best player in the week leading up to that event. And then it came out that Peterson, Claude, and Zoom had all missed some practice time in October with various injuries. That is enough for me to revoke “Not in Rotation” status for Muldrew and project him to at least get some minutes even if he gets a DNP in the majority of UW’s games. It seems every year there’s a freshman who I underrate (Keyon Menifield, Zoom Diallo) and Muldrew is the most likely candidate this year. I still don’t know where he gets minutes from if everyone’s healthy but this isn’t shaping up to be an “everyone’s healthy” season so we’ll see.
2025-26 Projected Per Game Stats: 10 games, 4.0 mins, 1.7 pts, 0.6 reb, 0.2 ast, 0.3 to, 0.1 stl, 50.0% 2pt, 42.9% 3pt, 66.7% FT
*****
SF 6’5 Jasir Rencher; 4-star, #124th Overall (1st Year)
Background
Rencher is a four-star recruit out of Archbishop Riordan in San Francisco, CA and was the #90 overall player in the 247 Sports ranking (124th in the composite). At 6’5 and 190 pounds, Rencher has the size to either be a big shooting guard or a slightly undersized small forward.
It’s clear that Rencher had a major impact on his high school program. Archbishop Riordan went 29-2 and made the CIF state finals before falling in the championship game despite 22 points from Rencher. As a senior, Rencher averaged 14.7 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.7 steals per game. He has plus athleticism that resulted in several ferocious dunks but also has shooting skill as he set a league record with nine made three-pointers in a game this season.
Rencher originally signed with Texas A&M over LSU and Washington in the fall of 2024 but re-opened his commitment after A&M head coach Buzz Williams left to take the Maryland job. That led Rencher to open things up and in round 2 he opted to commit to Washington rather than follow Williams to Maryland.
Expectations for 2025-26
This is a similar situation to Muldrew but there’s a slightly more open path to playing time for Rencher. Given that Rencher is two inches taller than Muldrew and seems more suited to playing off the ball in a complementary role, Rencher has the skillset that makes him more suited to being a role player early in his career. I still don’t think though that there are minutes for him barring further injuries.
We’ll get to Bryson Tucker in the next edition, but it doesn’t sound like Coach Sprinkle is 100% sold on his effort level so far. If Rencher can show that he is willing to put in his all on the defensive end and can make open shots from the corner then there’s a chance he cracks the backend of the rotation. The more likely scenario though is that he winds up redshirting and the staff hopes he sticks around to gain playing time in 2026.
2025-26 Projected Per Game Stats: Not in Rotation
*****
We’ll be back tomorrow to look at the options at power forward on the Husky roster.
