Washington Men’s Basketball Player Projections- Part 3
Continuing our preview series with a pair of talented scoring forwards for the Dawgs
We examined each guard on the Husky roster in the first two iterations of our player-by-player Men’s Basketball preview series. We’ll continue today with the four players on the squad who are arguably best described as 3/4 forwards: two who should start and two who will have trouble getting into the game.
Parts one and two can be found here (Wheeler, Johnson, Calmese) and here (Mulcahy, Yates, Holland), respectively, if you missed the first two.
SF 6’8 Moses Wood (6th year), Transfer from Portland
2022-23 Stats (per game): 15.3 pts, 6.3 reb, 1.8 ast, 0.5 stl, 52.2% 2pt, 40.3% 3pt, 83.9% FT
Wood was a solid recruit coming out of high school as the 258th rated player in the 247 Sports Composite when he committed to Tulane. He had a good start to his career coming off the bench to score nearly 5 points per game on 37% 3-point shooting. That allowed him to receive an offer from hometown UNLV so he chose to redshirt in order to transfer back. After a year off his numbers incrementally crept up as he started 8 games under T.J Otzelberger while slightly increasing his efficiency.
Following TJ’s departure to accept the Iowa State position, Wood transferred out and wound up at Portland, where he started every game and established himself as one of the nation’s top shooters, averaging 45.5% 3-pointers and 83.2% free throws in WCC play. His scoring average increased to 14 points per game as a result. Although he still had excellent 3-point shooting last season (over 40%), he needed a few more attempts to record career highs in points and rebounds.
Without a doubt, Wood’s playing style can be summed up in one word: shooter. Wood, who is 6’8″, has shot 60% of his baskets from three points range, indicating that he is most at ease playing on the wing. Last year, he made about half of his shots curling off screens or on catch-and-shoot opportunities. In recent years, the Huskies have had a few players who can consistently make a 3-pointer from a standing position, but none who can shoot as well as Wood can when moving.
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We’ll start though with those catch and shoot looks. Wood made 45% of his jumpers last year when he didn’t need to dribble which is good for the 92nd percentile nationally. His totals drop when h
e faces a close out but he still shot 37.5% on contested shots in part because he has the size at 6’8 to not have to worry about a lot of defenders actually blocking his shot.
Wood is capable of doing more than that offensively. His numbers were in the WCC the last two years but he still shot 40% when curling off a screen. When Wood drives to the basket he made over 50% on runners and floaters although he doesn’t usually pull up in that range very often. With Wood’s size he can usually finish at the basket and made 53% of his shots in the paint last season. He only dunked it 4 times so he isn’t a high flying finisher by any means but can dunk it if he needs to do so.
The Pilots participated in the PKI last season, which had an extremely challenging three-game stretch against Michigan State, Villanova, and North Carolina (though we subsequently found out that UNC and Nova would have off years). In addition, they have two games against Gonzaga in the WCC schedule. Wood did not merely score high points by feasting on weak opposition; in those five games, he averaged almost 16 points each game on 45% 3-point shooting.
Wood is being questioned primarily about his defensive play. When it came to opposing points per possession on defence last year, he only finished in the 10th percentile nationwide. It’s evident that’s not good. It’s also true that Portland used Wood as a small ball 5 for the majority of the previous campaign. At the end of the season, he spent 68% of the team’s minutes at centre, according to KenPom. This year, Wood shouldn’t see a lot of action at that position defensively unless something goes really wrong.
Wood had to play a lot of the 4 and the 5 the year prior as well, but he was still able to finish in the 85th percentile defensively. It’s reasonable to suggest that opinions on what Wood can do on that end given his usage and the variability from year to year. He is an adequate shot blocker for his size and a solid rebounder but doesn’t get many steals.
Expectations for 2023-24
I fully expect that Wood is going to start and play heavy minutes for this Husky team. His shooting should be a huge upgrade over recent nominal shooters with size like Hameir Wright and Cole Bajema. We’ll see if having more proven passers naturally creates more motion than past UW offenses which will allow Wood to thrive if a defense forgets about him.
Mike Hopkins should be keeping at least one of Wood and Keion Brooks (who we’ll get to next) on the floor at all times to provide a scoring option from the forward spot. That should allow Wood to lead the team in 3-point attempts and also likely lead in percentage. I think the roster is a little too deep to project Wood to end up close to the 15 points per game he averaged at Portland. But it wouldn’t shock me at all if he is a little bit of the Robin to Brooks’ Batman the way that Emmitt Matthews was for Terrell Brown Jr. a few years ago and earn honorable mention all-conference..
2023-24 Projected Stats: 10.7 pts, 4.0 reb, 1.0 ast, 0.7 stl, 52.6% 2pt, 38.0% 3pt, 81.1% FT
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