Rush The Court

After a rough start to the season, Washington will honor three seniors this morning that have made great strides in leadership and maturity throughout their final season. From a four year, in-state star to a three-year transfer, all three graduating Huskies have had major impacts at separate points throughout the season. We break them down below.

After arriving on Montlake as one of the most decorated recruits in Washington history, Abdul Gaddy‘s first three seasons in Seattle were filled with injuries and frustration. But he is going out in style, playing some of the best all-around basketball of his career in the last four games. Gaddy’s defensive efforts have shut down some of the best scorers in the conference, and his late-game awareness has pulled out six wins for the Huskies in 2012-13. Playing with more confidence and leadership then ever before, Gaddy has accumulated an average of 11 PPG and 4.3 APG. While he may be remembered for his inconsistency, Gaddy is certainly going out in style. The only thing left to do is win four games in four days next week and finish up his UW career in the NCAA Tournament.

For all that Gaddy has done throughout the home stretch, Scott Suggs makes his numbers look silly. Suggs has averaged 19 points in UW’s last three games, and it’s these kind of streaks from Scotty that makes him so valuable. The guard had a pair of six game streaks in which he scored in double digits earlier in the year. And like Gaddy, his energy has only grown since the beginning of the season, leading vocally and by example for some of the key players behind him on the depth chart.

Finally, we get to Aziz N’Diaye. Rush the Court was one of the few to list N’Diaye to a preseason All-Pac-12 team, and he has proven us right. Sure, he hasn’t been an offensive force by any stretch of the imagination, but he doesn’t have to be with the Huskies. His size and presence inside has been huge for Washington, as N’Diaye has recorded games with 18, 16, and 12 rebounds, respectively. He figures to be a key player in today’s Senior Day meeting with UCLA after scoring 11 points and pulling down the aforementioned 18 boards in the two teams’ previous meeting.