The Washington Huskies have made a habit this year of coming up short against good opponents due to limited offensive options. Zoom Diallo and Hannes Steinbach have been excellent, but haven’t received enough support from the rest of the roster. On Wednesday night, Diallo and Steinbach were so good that they didn’t need much support. The pair combined for 48 points and 33 rebounds en route to a 91-72 win over a visiting USC team that has gone of the rails to an even greater degree than the Dawgs.
USC has been without leading scorer Rodney Rice for most of the season and lost second-leading scorer Chad Baker-Mazzara after their most recent game, as well. A team that once looked to have the inside track to an NCAA Tournament bid has gone in the opposite direction. Nonetheless, they came out aggressive and coherent at the start of the game at Hec-Ed. Seattle native Jacob Kofie had seven early points to stake the Trojans to a 14-12 lead. Steinbach asserted himself at that point with an and-one drive that put the Huskies ahead and sent Kofie to the bench with his third foul. Alijah Arenas and Jordan Marsh helped USC push the lead back to 34-26 while Wesley Yates struggled on the offensive end for the Huskies. Steinbach and Diallo continued to keep the Huskies within range and cut the lead to 43-40 going into the half.
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The game remained close in the opening minutes of the second half. The Dawgs swung the momentum with a fast-break lay-up by the struggling Yates with 13 minutes to play in the game. The play was not so impressive by itself, but it seemingly represented the last gasp of focus and tenacity that USC had in itself. Steinbach started to get every offensive rebound- an astonishing 12 on the game- and bench players Courtland Muldrew and Nikola Dzepina added some timely baskets. The two reserves provided most of the minutes off the bench in the game and added 14 points. Muldrew’s three-point play with three minutes left in the game fouled Kofie out and put the Huskies up by 15, functionally ending the game. BJ Roy, son of Brandon, put the cherry on the sundae with a garbage time three and the Huskies closed it out 91-72.
The win brings the Huskies to 15-15 overall and 7-12 in conference. In a what-if universe, flipping 2-3 Big 10 losses to wins (Penn St? Maryland? UCLA?) might have put the Huskies back on the NCAA Tournament bubble. In reality, they will head into their last conference game against Oregon with little to play for other than a chance at a winning record for the season. Nonetheless, there are visible green shoots. Muldrew has grown as the season has gone on and looks like a meaningful piece for next year if he remains in Seattle. The team has continued to play hard for Danny Sprinkle in spite of the disappointing results on the season. Above all, Hec-Ed was rocking as the Huskies pulled away, and it was a reminder that UW basketball can be fun. Let’s hope we see more of that next year.
