Washington basketball in contact with local G, All-Big Sky standout

With the Washington Huskies looking for major reinforcements through the transfer portal ahead of Danny Sprinkle's third season, his coaching staff is looking for scorers and local talent who would play with passion for the program.

Weber State guard Tijan Saine Jr. checks both of those boxes after the product of Everett, Washington, who was named to the All-Big Sky First Team after posting 17.5 points, 4.3 assists, and 2.2 rebounds per game across 32 starts for the Wildcats after spending his first three seasons (including a redshirt year in the 2022-23 season) at Western Washington.

According to The Portal Report, the Huskies are among several high-major programs that have shown interest in his services, including California, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Kansas State, Seton Hall, and UCLA. While the scoring need is the most pressing, the 5-foot-10 Saine's local ties could turn him into a priority target for Sprinkle's coaching staff.

"We need all the best Seattle kids," Sprinkle said of recruiting local talent in March. "State of Washington kids, Northwest. Like, we have to somehow get those kids to want to come here and be a part of this and play in the Big Ten because...the best teams that have been here have all had that local influence when you look at (Brandon) Roy and Will Conroy, Nate Robinson, Tre Simmons, you can go down the list just with that team, it was, like 80 percent from Washington."

With the Huskies going through a complete overhaul in the backcourt around junior Wesley Yates, after Quimari Peterson graduated, and the trio of Zoom Diallo, JJ Mandaquit, and Courtland Muldrew all chose to enter the transfer portal. While Saine's three-point shooting percentage (34.7) is a little below what the Huskies have been eyeing, his experience as a distributor would be an important part of Sprinkle's offense.

The Huskies currently hold one portal commitment from Davidson's Parker Friedrichsen, and will add several more in the coming weeks.

This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Washington Huskies eyeing local guard on All-Big Sky First Team