Wesley Yates III spent the 2023-24 season on the Washington bench, unable to play because of a foot injury.
With changes to the Huskies’ coaching staff following that campaign, Yates transferred to Southern California, where he led all Big Ten freshmen with an average of 14.1 points per game in conference play.
Now he is back at Washington and feeling just fine.
The Huskies (3-1) will play host to Southern (2-2) on Tuesday night in Seattle, and Yates enters the contest sharing the team lead with a 15.3-point scoring average.
Yates scored a season-best 26 points and tied a career high with seven rebounds as the Huskies defeated host Washington State 81-69 on Friday in the basketball version of the Apple Cup rivalry.
Yates made 4 of 10 3-point attempts after shooting just 3 of 14 from long range in the first three games of the season.
“He was tremendous,” Huskies coach Danny Sprinkle said of Yates. “He was aggressive from the start, and that’s what he needs to be. He’s a professional scorer. I thought he did a great job of getting the ball to the rim and it created some open threes for him. Guys were looking for him, hunting him, especially when he started getting hot.”
Yates and the Huskies still are adjusting with just two returning players on the roster.
“New team, but I feel like we’re gelling pretty well early,” he said. “My job is to knock down open shots, get stops on the defensive end and just be a leader. Being an older guy, just calming down some of our younger guys. … Obviously score the ball and do what I do best and play the game the right way.”
Zoom Diallo added 20 points and four assists for the Huskies, and freshman Hannes Steinbach had his third straight double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
The Jaguars (2-2) opened the season with road losses to Arkansas and Marquette but bounced back with lopsided home victories against two non-NCAA teams, Ecclesia and Champion Christian.
Michael Jacobs, a preseason all-Southwest Athletic Conference first-team selection, scored 26 points in just 19 minutes during Southern’s 129-64 victory over Champion Christian on Saturday.
“The thing that’s different with this team is, boy, that ball goes flying up the floor,” said Southern coach Kevin Johnson, whose team was picked to finish second behind Bethune-Cookman in the SWAC preseason poll. “Sometimes, maybe it’s a little bit quick for me, but I’ve got to get used to it.
“One thing I do want this group to do is be better defensively, and I thought they took a step forward just in terms of defending the ball.”