The Washington Huskies men's basketball team was able to keep the No. 9 Illinois Fighting Illini within striking distance the entirety of the contest between the two teams on Thursday at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Ill.

Alas, the Huskies were unable to make that one last push to find themselves in the win column and fell 75-66 to the Fighting Illini.

Washington dropped to 11-10 overall on the season and 3-7 in Big Ten play.

UW started the game out strong. It went on a 7-0 run to begin the first half. Illinois responded with a 10-0 run to take a 10-7 lead with 12 minutes, 30 seconds left in the first half.

The Fighting Illini went the rest of the game without giving up the lead but the Huskies refused to lead their ranked foes pull away.

Washington pulled within one possession of Illinois several times in the first half, but the home team was able to score three points in the final minutes-and-a-half of the first half to go into halftime leading 33-26.

Sophomore guard Wesley Yates III led the way for the Huskies in the first 20 minutes. He scored 10 of his 13 points in the first half. He put up his 13 points on 4-for-10 shooting, including a 3-for-5 mark from 3-point range, brought in five rebounds and added an assist and a block, respectively.

The second half proceeded similar to the first for Washington.

The Huskies cut their deficit to five points or less six separate times in the second half. Every time they made a push, the Fighting Illini had a response.

The last time Washington found itself within five points of Illinois was with 8:47 left in the game, when the Dawgs trailed 60-55.

The Fighting Illini outscored the Huskies 9-4 the following from that point to take a 69-59 lead with 4:23 left in the game.

After sophomore guard Zoom Diallo hit two free throws to bring Washington within eight points, and a two-plus-minute dry spell for both teams, Illinois hit back-to-back 3-pointers to bolster its advantage to 75-61 with 1:02 left in the game.

Diallo scored a layup and senior Huskies guard Quimari Peterson hit a 3-pointer to bring UW within nine points, which was the eventual final.

Diallo finished the game with a 12-point, 10-assist double-double. He also brought in seven boards, finishing three rebounds of a triple-double.

Freshman forward Hannes Steinbach scored 15 points on a 6-for-10 clip, had 12 rebounds, blocked four shots and had two steals.

Washington will next be in action against the Northwestern Wildcats at 5 p.m. PT on Jan. 31 at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill.

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