For nearly a decade, Kentucky guard signee Nolan Hickman Jr. and recruiting target TyTy Washington have been playing with and against each other at various camps, events and tournaments on the West Coast. Despite being separated by nearly 1,500 miles – Hickman is a Kent, Washington native, while Washington is from Tempe, Arizona – the two standout senior guards grew up on the basketball floor together.
“They’ve actually played together on the West Coast, against each other, since the fourth or fifth grade. They’ve been battling,” Hickman’s father, Nolan Hickman Sr., told KSR on Thursday. “Whenever we go to California, Arizona, we always play against those guys, so we’ve been watching their progression as much as they’ve been watching ours.