Gonzaga's Josh Perkins has deep connection to West Virginia

SAN JOSE — Gonzaga guard Josh Perkins has the number “720” tattooed on his right shoulderblade and “303” on the left, representing the two area codes in Denver where he grew up. More interesting, though, is that the zeroes actually are inked in the shape of West Virginia, where Perkins spent his senior year of high school at Huntington Prep.

“That’s where I thought I grew up the most,” said Perkins, whose team plays West Virginia on Thursday night in the West Regional semifinals. “I came in as probably a cocky high school kid who thought I knew everything about the world, and senior year was on my own a little bit.”

Though Perkins’ time in West Virginia wasn’t long, the connection was deep. He still returns to the state every summer to visit the Hinchmans, the host family whose house he lived in that year, and vacations with them on the beach in South Carolina.

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“It’s not every day somebody lets you live in their house for a full year. Those people will always be my second family,” Perkins said. “Their last name is tatted on my ribs too. It went from them doing a favor to being an actual family. Thanks to them I found my place in the world and figured some things out.”

Huntington Prep has been one of the top basketball prep schools in the country with multiple future NBA players passing through including Andrew Wiggins and Gorgui Dieng. That opportunity is what drew Perkins across the country to a small town in West Virginia, even though he was already committed to Gonzaga.

“Just wanted a new opportunity, to play against better competition than high school,”  he said. “There are lot more trees (than Denver), a lot more one-ways and a lot of short roads and if you fall off, you might fall into the woods. It was weird at first but it’s a place I always remember and that’s why it’s tatted on my arms.”

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