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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Walk-ons help Washington basketball on scout team

Christian Caple Tacoma News Tribune

SEATTLE – This might come as a surprise considering the final score when these teams played each other on Dec. 7, but it was a struggle for the Washington Huskies men’s basketball team to defend San Diego State’s offensive plays.

Not when San Diego State was running them, of course. But in the week leading up to UW’s 49-36 throttling of the Aztecs earlier this month, the Huskies’ scout team had its way with the starters.

“We’re running their plays, and we’re scoring on them every other time, 50 percent of the time, maybe more,” said freshman guard KJ Garrett, one of three walk-ons tasked with scout-team duties before each of UW’s games. “We’re hitting shots, we’re getting to the rack, working them really hard, messing with them, making them work, getting them frustrated. And that really brought their energy up, and the scout team, we kept pushing it.”

The Huskies are 11-0 for the first time since 2005-06, and are ranked 13th in both major polls after beginning the season unranked and unheralded. Sophomore point guard Nigel Williams-Goss leads the team in scoring and assists. Seven-foot center Robert Upshaw is one of the nation’s best shot blockers and a force on both ends of the court. As a team, the Huskies guard as if they finally believe strong defense must be the foundation of their identity.

But when they hold a team like San Diego State to 20.4 percent shooting from the field, or hold a better shooting squad like Eastern Washington to 36.8, part of the credit should go to the players who comprise that scout team, who must quickly learn and then simulate each opponent’s schemes and tendencies in practice.

This year, along with lesser-used scholarship players, that crew includes a trio of walk-ons: Garrett, a 6-foot-3, 190-pound guard from Manhattan Beach, California; Dan Kingma, a 5-foot-10, 155-pound guard from Jackson High in Mill Creek, Washington; and Greg Bowman, a 6-foot-5, 200-pound forward from Mountlake Terrace, Washington.

Each has appeared in only two games – blowout victories over San Jose State and Grambling – but they’ve earned recognition from coach Lorenzo Romar for their contributions in practice.

“They’re very smart. They all love Husky basketball,” Romar said. “They are actually all pretty good players. … Those guys are able to hold their own against our guys in practice, and our guys respect them, and they’re very helpful for our team.”

Each of them starred in high school. Bowman averaged more than 18 points per game as a senior at Mountlake Terrace. He long dreamed of attending UW as a student, and earned his walk-on spot following a couple of open gym invitations from the coaching staff.

Kingma’s name rings out in local basketball circles. His twin sister, Kelli, is a freshman on the UW women’s team. His older sister, Kristi, set UW’s single-season record for made 3-pointers. His older brother, Brett, is now on Western Washington’s roster after stops at Oregon and Washington State (and they all starred at Jackson). Their father, Gregg, was an All-American at Seattle Pacific, and their mother, Gail, qualified four times for the Olympic marathon trials.