Dawgman Radio: A Washington Huskies athletics podcast

Junior guard Nahziah Carter, freshman forward Isaiah Stewart, and UW Head Coach Mike Hopkins all talk post-game after the Huskies defeated Maine 72-53 Tuesday night at Alaska Airlines Arena. Stewart led the Huskies with 16 points and 9 rebounds, while Carter had three first-half Top-10 Sports Center dunks to his ever-growing show reel. Hopkins talked about Washington switching between man and zone, and also about freshman phenom Jaden McDaniels' struggles from the field.

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Jack McCauley - spoke to some of Washington's defensive players and coaches about shutting out Oregon State, what they got accomplished during their bye week, and also about their next opponent, the Colorado Buffaloes.

But the highlight of the media session was the conversation with redshirt walk-on linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio, whose 9 tackles, 1.5 sack-effort earned him Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week honors last week. He talked about coming from Alaska, moving to Las Vegas and using that move as a chance to fulfill his dreams of playing football and going to college.

He also talked about getting the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week honor, how he found out, and his reaction. And finally he spoke about coming to UW, how he picked them over some FCS offers, and how he felt like the move to Montlake was always supposed to happen.

"In high school I would always watch their videos and think that was so cool," Ulofoshio said. "I just feel I gravitated to them. And then when Coach Pete talked about life and the culture, I definitely liked the way he thinks, I liked his philosophy. It was easy for me to make that decision."

The Lineup

Linebackers Coach Bob Gregory

Defensive Lineman Levi Onwuzurike

Outside Linebacker Joe Tryon

Inside Linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio 

Defensive Back Myles Bryant

Defensive Back Keith Taylor

The Washington Huskies (2-1) are in the middle of a 9-day stretch where they play four games. The silver lining is that, after their 13-point loss to Tennessee in Toronto, the other three games will be played in the friendly confines of Alaska Airlines Arena. UW Head Coach Mike Hopkins is glad for that second fact, but isn't a big fan of the first. In fact, he said right now he feels more like the head coach of the Washington Wizards than the Washington Huskies.

But Hop also acknowledged that stretches like this one, as well as the challenge of their non-conference schedule, is what helped the Huskies win the Pac-12 regular-season title last year and he expects a similar pay-off after playing a strong non-conference slate this year.

Up next is a matchup with the Maine Black Bears (1-2) on Tuesday night, the first meeting between the two programs. It’s also the first time UW has had seven-straight non-conference games at home since the 2008-09 season.

Hopkins talked to the media about getting through the non-conference schedule, getting better - especially on the offensive end, slow starts, expectations for certain players, and more.

Washington Head Coach Chris Petersen took questions from the media Monday ahead of their game at Colorado this coming weekend, and the press took a cue from Pete: instead of asking a ton of questions about the opponent, it was mostly about the Huskies and what's going on with the offense, specifically the pass game.

Petersen said that if it was just one thing wrong with that aspect of the offense, it would be an easy fix, but like most things it's a combination of failures at different times. Sometimes it's quarterback Jacob Eason not finding the right read or throwing it on time. A lot of it has to do with the receivers not getting separation, or making key drops at critical times.

The UW coaches took the bye week to get things together, and while they didn't do the super self-scout they did after the first bye week, they definitely took a long look at why they weren't able to put points on the board at Oregon State, and how that had mostly to do with the passing game.

Pete also took a couple of questions on the Buffaloes, as well as the state of the Pac-12, officiating, and more.

The guys from Dawgman.com - Chris Fetters and Scott Eklund - talk about Washington's newest 2020 commit, offensive lineman Samuel Peacock from Gig Harbor, and what that means not only for the offensive line numbers this year, but what it also means down the road.

While they're talking about the big men, they also talk about who they think their OL rotation will be next year, as well as depth. The Huskies lose four seniors (Trey Adams, Nick Harris, Jared Hilbers, Henry Roberts), and there are questions as to who will be the starters at three positions.

With the Huskies on a bye week, Fetters and Eklund also quickly roll through the five Pac-12 games and pick their winners. Stanford is at Washington State, ASU is at Oregon State, UCLA is at Utah, Arizona is at Oregon, and USC travels to California.

Finally, Fetters talks a little about today's hoops game, as the Huskies travel to Toronto to play Tennessee in the Naismith Hall of Fame Classic. The game is on ESPN+ (streaming), as well as KOMO 1000AM radio.

Washington didn't have much go well for them offensively, but Nahziah Carter provided the fireworks anyway. A high flying, Vince Carter-esque tomahawk dunk by the junior guard with 9:35 to play in the game brought the partisan crowd off their seats and into the game, as the Huskies kept the clamps on Mount St. Mary's and held the Mountaineers to 29 percent shooting on the night, eventually beating the visitors 56-46 Tuesday night at Alaska Airlines Arena.

Isaiah Stewart scored 16 and Carter 14 for the Huskies (2-0). The freshman center added five blocks and five rebounds, while junior forward Hameir Wright scored 9 points and added 7 rebounds.

Vado Morse was the only Mountaineer to score in double-figures, as he finished the game with 10 points.

The win was Mike Hopkins' 50th as Washington's head coach.

Listen to Hop, Carter, and Wright talk about the game here.

Isaiah Stewart came to Washington to help the Huskies win national championships, and he should know. He's already played in one. The 6-foot-9 freshman forward, winner of the 2019 Naismith High School National Player of the Year award, helped lead his La Lumiere squad to the Geico National Championship game last April, eventually losing to IMG Academy 66-55.

He's played for his country, helping the USA U17 team win gold at the 2018 U-17 FIBA World Cup in Argentina. He averaged 11 points and led the team in rebounds per game (8.4). He led the team in scoring against France in the game that clinched the gold.

And in arguably the top AAU tournament in the country, Peach Jam, Stewart helped Albany City Rocks to a quarterfinal finish, losing to eventual champions Team Takeover (Washington, D.C.) 65-57.

So playing against No. 16 Baylor in Alaska wasn't going to faze him all that much. And when he found himself next to the basket with the game tied at 64 and just over 30 seconds to play, Stewart didn't hesitate. The Bears were in a switching man defense at the top of the key, and a screen with UW's Quade Green found Stewart matched up with 6-foot-5 Mark Vital, one of the best rebounders for Baylor.

No problem for Stewart. He just backed Vital up to the cylinder, caught a feed from Hameir Wright, quickly turned without putting the ball on the floor and floated up a shot that hit the left rim, then the backboard, and then through the net.

All in a day's work for the former McDonald's and Jordan Brand All-American.

Stewart talked to the Seattle media Monday about his experience in Anchorage at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson as part of the Armed Forces Classic, playing in his first game for Washington, and more.

Monday was the first time the Seattle media caught up to UW Head Coach Mike Hopkins after Washington's come-from-behind 67-64 win over No. 16 Baylor at the Armed Forces Classic in Anchorage. The Huskies used a 21-5 closing run to end the game with the victory, but it wasn't easy. In fact, far from it.

The Huskies committed 15 first-half turnovers and couldn't contain a Baylor offense that hit five 3-pointers as the Bears took a 31-24 lead into intermission.

As it was Washington's season-opener, this was the first time the team had played with something on the line. It was the first time Kentucky transfer Quade Green had played since getting his eligibility waiver approved. This was the first time playing a real game for true freshmen Isaiah Stewart and Jaden McDaniels. And it showed too. Everybody, in Hopkins' words, were trying too hard to making something happen, instead of letting the game come to them.

Once they slowed down in the second half and got into a rhythm, they were able to execute on defense, make some shots, and get the Anchorage crowd behind them. And that helped spur their final 21-5 run.

Hopkins talked about speeding up the process for the team by calming things down, as well as his assessment of Green, McDaniels, Stewart, and more as they prepare for Mount St. Mary's Tuesday at Alaska Airlines Arena. Hopkins also talked about the news this past weekend that Washington has been named as the Pac-12 representative for the 2020 China game. They will play Tulane. It's the second time they've played in the China game, beating Texas 77-71 in 2015 in Shanghai. 

It was a late night anyway, so why not go just a little later? Or was it earlier? And on top of it, the guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds and Chris Fetters - broke out the ancient tradition of recording their post-game podcast via car on the way out of town after a game played at Oregon or Oregon State.

Saturday morning, aka late, late Friday night, they turned the recorder on and proceeded to break down Washington's 19-7 victory over the Oregon State Beavers. And they did it between Salem and Tigard as they looked for the welcome sight of their hotel.

While many folks will bemoan UW's offensive performance, it was Death Row that traveled south to Corvallis, and boy did they put on a show. Record-setting, in fact. They held OSU to 8 offensive yards and no first downs in the second half. Now THAT is how you finish a game.

Since it was a 60-minute game, Grinolds and Fetters also talked about the offensive woes, especially when it comes to quarterback Jacob Eason, but also some things that went well - namely the running attack and the return of redshirt freshman Richard Newton. Salvon Ahmed was the one that ran for a career-high 174 yards, but it was Newton that proved to be the catalyst.

And Peyton Henry...dang! After nailing a 47-yard field goal - one Grinolds says would have been good from 65 - he missed a 28-yard chip shot wide right to finish out the half and went downhill from there. What happened?

But the end result of Friday night's game? The Washington Huskies achieved bowl eligibility, which means they get those coveted 15 bowl practices. And perhaps of all the positives that came out of the win over Oregon State, that just might be the biggest one of them all.

If it looked like the Washington Huskies had Oregon State's number Friday night, it might be because they did. Remember post-game after the 23-13 loss at Stanford, and some of the offensive players felt like the Cardinal knew what was coming before the ball was even snapped?

Well, I suspect Jonathan Smith might be feeling the same way after UW's 19-7 win that saw Death Row rise from the ashes and hold the Beavers to 119 total yards on offense, the lowest output since the California game two years ago.

In talking with players like defensive backs Myles Bryant and Elijah Molden, the UW defensive players felt like they had taken a trip back to 2017 when Smith was UW's offensive coordinator.

On Molden's interception in the second quarter was on a play he had been burned on before as a freshman by Smith's offense. But not tonight.

And both Chris Petersen and Defensive Coordinator Jimmy Lake talked about Joe Tryon's remarkable game. The sophomore from Renton finished with 7 tackles, including 4.5 tackles for loss and two sacks.

Petersen also talked about sticking with the run game, which paid dividends. They only mustered 63 yards on 18 carries in the first half, but by the end of the game they had 245 yards on the ground on 48 carries. Salvon Ahmed was the main beneficiary, going for a career-high 174 yards on 25 touches, including a 60-yard romp late in the third quarter which helped push UW's final margin of victory.

Ahmed talked about having Richard Newton back to help get the tough yards, and how his physical style motivated Ahmed to run the same way.

To listen to the full post-game reaction from the players and coaches, click on the audio link above.

The Lineup

Head Coach Chris Petersen

Defensive Coordinator Jimmy Lake

Quarterback Jacob Eason

Running Back Salvon Ahmed

Defensive Back Myles Bryant

Defensive Back Elijah Molden