Thursday, March 28, 2024
46.0°F

NIC MEN’S BASKETBALL: Honoring a Pryor commitment .. NIC guard sticks with Huskies after re-opening recruitment last month

by JASON ELLIOTT
Sports Writer | April 1, 2020 1:13 AM

NIC guard sticks with Huskies after re-opening recruitment last month

At the end of the day, getting to live out a childhood dream was too much for Nate Pryor to turn down.

Pryor, who played the last two years at North Idaho College, will continue his playing career at Washington, the 6-foot-4 guard from West Seattle High announced on Twitter on Tuesday.

“Growing up on that side of the state, they’re all UW fans,” NIC men’s basketball coach Corey Symons said. “He’s always dreamt of being a Husky, and it was too much to pass up. He fits what they need and I think he can go in and help them right away.”

Pryor committed to Washington after high school, but did not qualify academically. Pryor reopened his recruitment on March 15, before opting to remain with the Huskies.

“He wasn’t 100% sure what he was going to do,” Symons said. “He was still highly interested in Washington, committed to Washington and was going to go there the entire time. But he wanted to make sure it was the right place for him.”

Before committing to Washington in high school, Pryor was committed to play at Seattle University for coach Cameron Dollar. Dollar was fired in 2017, then joined Mike Hopkins’ coaching staff later that year at Washington.

“Both Mike and Cameron have been recruiting him really hard,” Symons said.

Pryor started 22 of 24 games for NIC as a sophomore, averaging 16.8 points per game with 99 assists and 46 steals.

He joins teammates Emmit Taylor III (Idaho State), Yusuf Mohamed (Tennessee State) and James Carlson (Idaho State) as commits at the four-year level. NIC finished the season 28-1 in 2019-20 and went 31-2 in 2018-19, and won its second straight Northwest Athletic Conference tournament.

Because of sanctions handed down by the NWAC, the Cardinals were ineligible for postseason play this season, and will be for the next two.