The Washington Huskies travel to the Key Arena to face the Seattle Redhawks on Thursday night at 10:00pm.

The (4-4) Washington Huskies have some definite gaps to fill on their roster after losing leading scorers Terrence Ross and Tony Wroten Jr. to the NBA draft.  The Huskies are coming off a 76-73 loss to Nevada.  Washington trailed by as many as 16 in that game, and it wasn’t until the second half that the Huskies went on a 20-2 run in the late second half to close the deficit and tie the game at 55.  Washington had four players scoring double digits with C.J. Wilcox leading the way with 21 points and 7 rebounds.  The Huskies shot (.379) from field goal range and went 9 for 22 from three point range.  Sophomore forward Shawn Kemp Jr, son of former NBA great Shawn Kemp, made his season debut for the Huskies after returning from an injury that sidelined him for the first 7 games.  Washington’s most notable win this season came in a 84-73 overtime victory over Seton Hall.  Senior 7’0 center Aziz N’Diaye led the team with 14 points and 9 rebounds over the Seton Hall Pirates of the Big East.  Washington is part of the Pac-12 Conference and is currently 3-4 against the spread this season.

The (3-3) Seattle Redhawks of the Western Athletic Conference need to improve their offense which is only averaging 64 points per game on (.390) field goal percentage on the young season.  Seattle defeated Eastern Washington 75-69 on the road in their previous matchup, led by Chad Rasmussen’s 16 point performance on 4 for 8 from 3 point range.  The Redhawks losses have come against quality opponents such as Stanford, UVA, and Boise State.  Junior forward Clarence Trent leads Seattle in both scoring and rebounding with an average of 11.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.  Trent is in his second year with Seattle after transferring from the Washington Huskies after his freshman year.  Seattle is 3-2 against the spread and 1-1 against the spread at home on the year.

Washington has won the last four meetings against Seattle.

Prediction:  Washington is still a talented team after losing two star players to the NBA draft, but are not up to par with last year’s team.  Shawn Kemp Jr. will be back in the lineup from injury for the Huskies, which should provide some extra depth.  Seattle has been one of the worst shooting teams in the nation so far, so I like Washington to get the job done on the road.