DJ Davis Couldn't Come In From the Cold for Huskies

Originally posted on Washington Huskies on SI
By Dan Raley | Last updated Mar 16, 2025 12:20 PM ET

In terms of basketball style points, DJ Davis earned a lot of them by entertaining fans at Alaska Airlines Arena this past season with his quick-release, high-arching jump shots from the outer reaches, from where Steph Curry makes a good living.

For the University of Washington basketball team, however, Davis came up short in providing regular points, way short.

Not to put this all on him, but the veteran guard's falloff in offensive production contributed as much as anything to the Huskies finishing last in the Big Ten (13-18 overall, 4-16 conference).

His ball simply wouldn't go down like before, wouldn't go in at the end of the game, wouldn't swish through with everything on the line.

Whereas Davis should have left college basketball with a shooter's bang, he went out with clank after clank, experiencing the worst overall shooting performance of his five-year career that included prior stops at UC Irvine and Butler.

He went from 39.4, 38.6, 40.1 and 42.9 percent marksmanship from the field -- to just 36.9 percent for the UW.

Davis connected on just 35.2 percent from 3-point range for the Huskies after twice finishing over 40 percent for his California school, with his previous long-range accuracy greatly contributing to him becoming a first-team, All-Big West selection.

Most revealing, his overall offensive production dropped dramatically from 510 points in 2023 for UC Irvine to 446 in 2024 for Butler to just 235 for the UW.

Unfortunately for first-year coach Danny Sprinkle and his program-launching efforts, Davis went cold at a most inopportune time.

"He's one of those guys, like a lot of elite shooters, it's just seeing one go through the net," Sprinkle said at midseason of getting him going.

From the very beginning, Davis had difficulty shooting the ball in Montlake, going 0 for 8, including 0 for 5 from behind the line, in the season opener against UC Davis.

He ended the season with a 1-for-4 effort against Oregon at home, all 3-point attempts.

Davis appeared in 27 games for the Huskies, starting seven of them. He scored in double figures just 10 times and twice went scoreless.

Even in his most prolific UW moment, a 31-point splurge against Illinois in which he connected on 11 of 19 shots, with 7 of 14 coming from 3-point range, the Huskies lost 81-77 late when everyone's shots went cold. In the final 14 seconds of that game, Davis committed a turnover and a foul, and missed a trey.

"That's what I expect," Sprinkle said of Davis' big point production against Illini. "I'm shocked he hasn't had more of them this year."

Davis no doubt felt the same way. For his sake, here's hoping his stroke warms up when the NBA is on the line for him.

This article first appeared on Washington Huskies on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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