SEATTLE — The Washington Huskies men's basketball team finished 12th in the 18-team Big Ten conference last season, in large part due to struggles on offense.
Among the Huskies offensive troubles lied on their efficiency from 3-point range. In the 2025-26 season, Washington connected on just 221-of-702 shots from beyond the arc. The team's 221 makes ranked 14th in the Big Ten and its 31.5% clip from 3-point range ranked 16th in the conference.
The Huskies' go-to 3-point shooters, such as since-graduated senior guard Quimari Peterson and fourth-year guard Wesley Yates III, dealt with injuries last year that prevented them from reaching numbers they previously hit in their careers. Yates missed five full games with a broken bone in his wrist that required surgery. When he returned, he had a cast on his hand and was unable to maximize his potential as a shooter.
Washington added nine new players this offseason, many of whom specialize in 3-point shooting. Two key additions are eighth-year wing Steele Venters (transferred from Gonzaga Bulldogs) and fourth-year guard Parker Friedrichsen (transferred from Davidson Wildcats).
Those additions have already paid dividends. In the Huskies' 109-91 exhibition game loss against the Boise State Broncos, UW shot 11-for-27 (40.7%) from beyond the arc. Venters shot 2-for-6 from 3-point range and Friedrichsen connected for a 3-for-5 mark from downtown and fifth-year point guard and Nevada Wolfpack transfer Tayshawn Comer was 2-for-2.
For their careers, Friedrichsen is a 35.9% 3-point shooter, Comer has shot 33% from beyond the arc in his career and Venters has connected on 39.6% of his shots from outside the arc.
Wake Forest - Zone Fist Crack
— Brian Geisinger (@bgeis_bird) February 17, 2025
Zone ball screen (Hunter Sallis + Tre'Von Spillers) with a weak-side duck-in/seal from the low man (Efton Reid) as Spillers dives to the rim -- creates the kick-out to Parker Friedrichsen pic.twitter.com/g3ElluFt5I
"I thought we were taking good shots (from 3-point range)," Washington head coach Danny Sprinkle said in a news conference Thursday. "When we're taking the good 3s — the ones we missed against Boise, we were taking bad shots. We were taking contested 3s (when) we don't need to take those. If we let the ball move and find the open shot, if one of those guys — (Yates), Harun Zrno, Parker, Steele — those guys get open looks, I think it's going in every time. And I can't say that I've been like that with a lot of our players the first two years (I've been here). ... That's the stuff as coaches, and as teammates, we have to be able to find those shots now."
Sprinkle and the rest of the coaching staff have preached on the current iteration of the team running an offense that spaces the floor, can playmake and can read and react quickly. If the offense is able to successfully implement that philosophy, 3-pointers will be easier to come by for UW.