The Washington Huskies took down the USC Trojans in their first game of the Big Ten Tournament. The Huskies are now headed into Thursday to play against the Wisconsin Badgers. After the game, Zoom Diallo, Washington's point guard, got to talking about the matchup and why it will be different this time than earlier this year when the Badgers beat the Huskies 90-73. He ended up saying the most ridiculous quote about Nick Boyd and John Blackwell.
According to Evan Flood, he spoke about the two backcourts and said the Husky backcourt is better. That alone is wild, but his full comment was, "I (Diallo) think I can get downhill better than Boyd. And, I feel like Wes (Yates) can shoot it better than Blackwell, to be honest with you."
It's about as wild a statement as you can assume coming from one of the bottom teams in the league. If you are a Husky fan, you may appreciate the confidence, but you also don't want to give Wisconsin bulletin board material. However, the two backcourts don't stack up at all.
Nick Boyd and John Blackwell are light years better than Zoom Diallo and Wesley Yates
We can start simply with the wins. Washington went 7-13 in the conference and 16-16 overall. Wisconsin went 14-6 and 22-9. That alone should show some of the success of the two backcourts, but we can dive further into Diallo's statement.
Player | Points | Rebounds | Assists | FG % | 3pt % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Zoom Diallo | 15.3 | 3.8 | 4.2 | 49.2 | 31.3 |
Wesley Yates | 12.9 | 3.1 | 1.3 | 37.4 | 31.1 |
Nick Boyd | 20.1 | 3.7 | 4.0 | 48.0 | 35.4 |
John Blackwell | 18.3 | 4.8 | 2.3 | 41.2 | 38.0 |
As you can see, the two backcourts really aren't even that close. Especially considering effectiveness in games and the ability to win. But just stats alone show how much better the Badger backcourt is over the Husky backcourt. Let's look specifically at what Diallo said, though. His actual claim was that he gets downhill better than Boyd and that Yates shoots better than Blackwell.
There are two ways to look at this: one is points made, excluding the three-point shot, and the other is free throws (mostly come from getting fouled on drives to the bucket). Boyd has made 51 three-point shots this season, and he's made a total of 216 baskets. Take out his 51 threes, and he's at 165. Boyd also shot 173 free throws this season.
Diallo has 21 threes and has 179 field goals. His total output in or around the paint is approximately 158. Diallo has also shot 114 free throws. So the numbers are literally nowhere close. Boyd outpaces Diallo by a landslide.
It's not hard to see the numbers for Blackwell vs. Yates. Diallo said that Yates is the better shooter. Well, Blackwell has better field goal and three-point percentages. Welp, his statement is as ridiculous as it sounded.
Hopefully that's the bulletin board material Boyd and Blackwell need to put the Husky backcourt in their place in the next Big Ten Tournament game.