• Powered by Roundtable
    Teren Kowatsch
    Dec 7, 2025, 02:36
    Updated at: Dec 8, 2025, 02:05

    The Huskies came back from 18 points down at halftime to earn their first Big Ten win of the season

    The Washington Huskies men's basketball team officially has its first Big Ten win of the season, and they did it in emphatic fashion.

    The Huskies beat the No. 24 Southern California (USC) Trojans 84-76 on Saturday at the Galen Center in Los Angeles. Washington came back from 18 points down at halftime to improve to 6-3 on the season and 1-1 in the Big Ten.

    Similar to the Huskies' other losses this season, including their Big Ten opener against UCLA on Dec. 3, Washington had to put together an elite second half after a disappointing first 20 minutes.

    Washington had a 5-3 lead with 16:33 left in the first half. USC proceeded to go on a 13-0 run to go up double-digits.

    A layup from Zoom Diallo pulled the Huskies back within six of the Trojans with 9:41 left before halftime.

    USC took another double-digit lead, 30-19, with 7:09 left in the first half and didn't allow Washington to pull back within single-digits for the rest of the first half. The Trojans outscored the Huskies 18-11 the last seven minutes of the first half to go into the break with a 48-30 advantage.

    Washington, with its back against the wall and facing down the barrel of a second consecutive Big Ten loss, came out the second half like a team possessed.

    The Huskies opened the second half with a 13-0 run to cut USC's lead down to 48-43 with 17:02 left in the game.

    Freshman forward Hannes Steinbach accounted for five of the team's 13 unanswered points to begin the second half.

    Steinbach finished the game with a double-double. He had a game-high 24 points on 7-for-12 shooting (2-for-3 from 3-point range and 8-for-10 from the free-throw line), pulled in 16 rebounds, dished three assists and had a steal.

    The Trojans still had life after Washington's 13-0 run.

    After the Huskies' spurt to begin the second half, USC outscored its opposition 13-6 to bolster its lead to 61-49 with 13:46 left in the game.

    The two sides continued to go back-and-forth for the next six minutes. Washington kept on cutting its deficit back to single-digits and the Trojans kept on responding and going back up by double-digits.

    With 7:13 left in the game, USC held a 68-58 advantage.

    The Huskies went on another 13-0 run after that point to take a 71-68 lead, it's first advantage since early in the first half.

    Steinbach accounted for seven points in that run and senior guard Desmond Claude had four.

    Claude, in his first game against his former team, the Trojans, since transferring before this season, scored 22 points on an 8-for-16 clip from the floor (5-for-5 from the charity stripe). Claude also had two rebounds, four assists and a steal.

    USC cut Washington's lead to one point with 3:35 left in the contest. The Huskies outscored the Trojans 13-6 the rest of the way to secure the eight-point win.

    Sophomore guard Wesley Yates III, who also played with the Trojans last season, joined Claude and Steinbach in double-digits.

    Yates scored 16 points on 6-for-16 shooting (2-for-8 from 3-point range) and had two rebounds and two steals.

    Washington will next be in action against Southern Utah at 3 p.m. PT on Dec. 13 at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle.

    JOIN THE CONVERSATION

    Remember to join our HUSKIES on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other Washington fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!