All-American freshman Mookie Cook makes his mark in season-debut in win at Washington

SEATTLE, Wash. — Highly touted freshman Mookie Cook made his Oregon debut Thursday night in Seattle as the Ducks defeated the Washington Huskies 76-74 in a back-and-forth rivalry game. He was dealing with an ankle injury going into the year, and Thursday is the first time he has played in an organized basketball game in eight months.

Despite not playing in the first half, he came in at the 17:10 mark of the second half and was immediately able to make an impact. With 15:44 left in the game, Jermaine Couisnard drove along the baseline to draw help defense before hitting Cook with a bounce pass in the opposite dunker’s spot, where he slammed it home for his first college points.

Two minutes later, after Couisnard stripped Sahvir Wheeler near the hoop, Cook leaked out for an outlet pass to get a wide-open dunk, putting the Ducks up 46-43.

Even though he only played six minutes, all in the second half, he finished the game as a +4, the fifth-best mark on the team, and the best of all bench players. Cook finished the night with four points, one rebound, and one steal, shooting 2-for-3 from the field and 0-for-1 from three.

“It’s a blessing,” Cook said postgame. “A lot of the time, you just take it for granted being out there, but it just feels amazing being back on that court with my brothers.”

"The second half, Mookie gave us a big lift,” said head coach, Dana Altman. “We were kind of stuck in the mud there, and he got us a couple buckets, and gave us a big lift, did a nice job defensively. I think he had a board, so he did a nice job for us.”

The Ducks trailed the Huskies 36-30 at halftime, shooting only 30 percent from the field, but outscored them 48-36 in the second half to secure the win.

Altman said the reason Cook didn’t play in the first half was that he “just didn’t think it was the right time.”

“He played three minutes, and he took himself out. He got that steal and the dunk, and he was pounding his chest; he could barely breathe.”

“I’m completely 100 percent healed,” Cook said. “Just, you know, conditioning. We can see that I haven’t played for eight months. Ain’t nothing related to game reps, so it’s just gotta continue just practicing, getting conditioned.”

Jermaine Couisnard finished the game with 16 points, including the game-winning layup with 12 seconds to go, but he was flanked by 17 points from Jackson Shelstad and 15 points from Kwame Evans Jr., both freshmen who have been making a big impact for this team.

“We’ve been talking about this all year,” Cook said of playing with Shelstad and Evans. “It’s something that we dreamed about; we’ve talked about this for a long time now, so it’s just great to be able to get it together.”

“Whatever I can do, just get rebounds, play hard, everything else is gonna come. That’s the best two things I try to focus on.”

Cook, an Oregon native, attended Compass Prep in Arizona, where he developed into a consensus four-star recruit and was named a McDonald’s All-American during his senior year of high school. He was ranked 40th best player in the country, the 8th best small forward, and second best player in the state of Arizona. Cook gained national attention this summer when he starred as a young LeBron James in the movie Shooting Stars.