When he first arrived at Washington as a mid-season enrollee, second-year forward Nikola Dzepina started every offensive set in the corner near the Huskies bench.
That way, the coaching staff could tell him when and where to be on each play.
"He had never even been to the United States as of December 11 last year," head coach Danny Sprinkle said after the game. "Literally, he got here, and we put him in a game the next day because we had so many injuries last year. He didn't know any of the plays. He'd missed 7 months; he wasn't here all summer or anything."
Signed as a 16th roster spot made available due to injuries to last year's team, Dzepina showed flashes in limited minutes - 155 of them across 14 games off the bench. But his shot took time
to arrive from Serbia - he made just 30.2 percent from the field and 25 percent from three, with a season best of 7 points, which came on December 22 against San Diego.
Dzepina nearly quadrupled that number on Monday, pouring in 27 points on 10-of-17 shooting, making 6-of-7 free throws, and leading the Huskies with 7 rebounds and 2 blocks.
His scoring came at all three levels, as the second-year forward showed the confidence to pop it from three, making one of his four attempts in the first half. As the game wore on, however, Washington began finding Dzepina in the post - all 11 of his shot attempts in the second half came from inside the arc. Dzepina found the ball on his own, too, grabbing four offensive rebounds, all in the second half, and shooting 2-for-3 on tip-ins.
Imagine not being at Hec Ed for the Nikola Dzepina second half.
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Sprinkle said the change in emphasis was intentional, challenging his second-year forward to get to the inside.
"It was actually probably midway through the first half, you know, jumped him pretty good because he was just out there shooting fadeaway threes," Sprinkle said. "Yeah, you're open, but put the pressure on the defense. And he started doing that, and that's when he got more aggressive, because he was closer to the basket, and he got a couple of offensive rebounds, tip-ins, got to the free throw line a couple times being aggressive. When you're closer to the basket, it puts you in the fight, you know. There's contact down there, and I think that kind of got him into the game."
After the game, the second-year forward credited his summer practicing with the Serbian national team and Denver Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic as one of the catalysts for his development.
"I feel it's much different (between last year and this year)," Dzepina told the media. "I came in (the) middle of December when they already started playing in games, so I didn't have that much time to adapt, but I had (a) great summer. A great national team, so I've been confident. I think I put (it) back on this game."
Sprinkle added that Dzepina is a "cerebral" player, complimenting his passing ability out of the post and emphasizing that Washington needed that element of his offense on Monday.
"That's the thing about a lot of these guys, our post guys are some of our best passers. You know, like LeJuan (Watts), Nikola, Lathan (Sommerville), they can really pass the basketball," Sprinkle said. "And sometimes they pass up layups, which is the problem. But [Dzepina's] got such a really good feel. Sometimes he settles for the three too much, because he's dynamic when he plays 15 feet and in."
It wound up being the difference on Monday. Washington took a 5-point lead into halftime after a back-and-forth first half thanks to a last-second three from Wesley Yates III, but Dzepina went on a solo 11-3 run early in the second half to push that advantage to 13. Washington did not allow the lead to falter into the single digits for the remaining 10:03 of the game as they won their season opener.
Sprinkle has been hesitant to crown anybody the top option for the Huskies, and remained so after the game, mentioning that Watts, point guard Ryan Beasley, Yates, and Dzepina are all capable of scoring at that kind of clip. But if Washington continues to see improvement from their second-year Serbian forward, it could push the Huskies to their best season under Sprinkle.
Washington returns to action next Monday, November 9, against Mississippi Valley State.
This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Washington's Nikola Dzepina nearly quadruples career best in opener
