Hudson makes most of rare opportunity
"You better not let me catch it — you better stop me," Hudson told him while entering Saturday's game against the Trojans with 1:52 left in the first half.
Farmer, who had a career-high 35 points against WSU two nights earlier, didn't pay much attention to the brash Husky who rarely plays.
"You better stop me because as soon as I catch it I'm going to shoot it," said Hudson, keeping up the chatter. "Then, it'll be too late."
Farmer, unimpressed, just continued to chase him around. But when Hudson did catch it, he shot it and it was too late. He knocked down a three-pointer, a part of the Huskies' remarkable comeback — from 21 points down — to pull out a 76-72 victory.
"That shot was as important of a shot as any we had. It helped us with our momentum," UW Coach Lorenzo Romar said. "David Hudson is able to contribute."
Those are words Hudson has been waiting to hear as the Huskies (1-1 in the Pac-10, 6-5 overall) prepare to take on Arizona State (1-1, 9-4) tonight. The invited walk-on from Rainier Beach wondered if he'd ever be a contributor to the program. So far this season, he is.
Hudson is a point-a-minute scorer, scoring 34 points in 33 minutes, hitting 11 of 18 three-point attempts. His 61.1 percent would lead the conference if he had enough attempts to qualify.
It was previous coach Bob Bender and his staff who recruited the 5-foot-10 guard in 2000, but Hudson was an academic non-qualifier. He also broke his foot that year so it allowed him to concentrate on academics and use an injury redshirt year. Last season, he played in seven games and a total of 19 minutes.
"He's not going to get four or five open looks now," Romar said. "They're going to be in his face. He'll be treated like one of the guys."
Romar added that when a player shows a fine outside touch it can make the opposition change from a zone to a man defense "and it stretches their defense. ... They believe he is a threat. He's not a fluke."
"The defense definitely has to shift and give him attention," said guard Will Conroy, Hudson's best friend on the team. "I've never seen a guy sit on the bench for 37 minutes then come in and immediately start hitting threes."
Hudson was a perimeter player growing up in Oakland. He prided himself then on his passing.
But his mother, Adrena Davis, and father, David Hudson Sr., were worried that basketball wasn't going to save him. He was hanging out with the wrong crowd in Oakland. In 1998, they arranged to have him live in Seattle with his uncle, Eric Goodwin, a sports agent who represents the Sonics' Gary Payton, among others.
"None of my friends were going to gyms or going to class," Hudson said. "If I had stayed, I probably wouldn't have finished high school. I've gone back there to visit and those guys are doing the same things. Three of my friends have been killed."
He played three years for Rainier Beach, his last two as captain. He averaged 15 points his senior year as his team finished third in the state.
Notes
• UW forward Jeffrey Day, who was ruled academically ineligible just before last Thursday's UCLA game, has regained his eligibility and will be available to play tonight. The decision came out of meetings this week with academic advisers, along with Day and Romar, who had no influence on the decision. It's expected that Day will be eligible for the entire quarter.