The Huskies pulled a tough game away from the Utes to go into Big Ten play with some momentum on their side
SEATTLE — The Washington Huskies men's basketball team wrapped up its tumultuous nonconference schedule with a 74-65 win against the Utah Utes on Dec. 29 at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle. The Dawgs improved to 9-4 on the season with the victory.
The Huskies entered Monday's game with a short bench due to injuries to sophomore guard Wesley Yates III and sophomore center Lathan Sommerville.
"Great 'Pac-12' battle from back in the day," Washington coach Danny Sprinkle said after the game. "It was a great win by our guys. I give our guys a lot of credit. You don't even know who's gonna play come game time and for guys to just keep stepping up and fill different roles, really proud of them. I could go down the list of guys."
Three players, freshman guard JJ Mandaquit, freshman forward Nikola Dzepina and sophomore guard Bryson Tucker were the only bench players to get minutes. Neither of the trio scored.
Freshman forward Hannes Steinbach (20 points), sophomore guard Zoom Diallo (24 points), senior guards Desmond Claude (21 points) and Quimari Peterson (five points) and senior center Franck Kepnang (four points) accounted for all 74 points.
The trio of 20-point scorers — Diallo, Claude and Steinbach — scored 12, eight and 12 points in the first-half, respectively. The three players accounted for 88.8% of the offensive output in the first half and 87.8% of the points scored in the entire game.
"We just got the shots and made them," Steinbach said after the game. "But on defense, Franck and Quimari played a really big part."
Despite the three's stellar nights, the Utes presented a tough challenge for the Huskies.
Utah junior guard Terrence Brown scored 17 of his team-high 21 points in the first half to help guide the Utes to a narrow 37-36 lead going into halftime.
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Washington made a key adjustment in the second half that might have been the key to victory.
The Huskies had Peterson, who started in place of Yates, guard Brown for almost all of the second half.
Peterson limited Brown to just four points in the final 20 minutes, which all came from the free-throw line.
"(Quimari's) a kid every coach wants on their team," Sprinkle said. "He never pouts, he doesn't care about shots. This is a player of the year in his conference (last year). This is one of the most highly-recruited point guards, combo guards in the country. And he's never said one thing about not getting shots. He's like 'Coach, what do you need me to do? You need me to guard for 40 minutes? I got you.' You notice all the loose balls and 50/50 plays. He's the guy who comes up with them. I need some of these other guys to come up with them, too."
Kepnang also played a major role in the second half. He had 10 rebounds and six blocks throughout the game. Three of those blocks came in the second half. He also got the crowd at Alaska Airlines Arena back into the game once Washington retook the lead.
"Having Hannes and Franck in the (paint), it makes (the guards) more comfortable pressuring the ball, trying to get deflections or being out there," Claude said after the game. "We trust them to have our backs if we need it. Franck had 10 rebounds and I think six blocks. And they were pretty big plays, too. We're just lucky to have (them)."
A jumper from Claude gave the Huskies a 38-37 lead with 19 minutes, 44 seconds left in the second half.
Washington never gave up the lead after Claude's first-minute bucket.
Utah cut its deficit down to three points with 3:07 left in the game but couldn't muster one last push to tie or retake the lead.
Diallo added three rebounds, seven assists and a steal to his game-high 24 points; Claude had a rebound and three assists and Steinbach added 11 boards, a steal and a block. It was Steinbach's eighth double-double in 10 games.
The Huskies will return to Big Ten action against the Indiana Hoosiers at 5 p.m. PT on Jan. 4 at Bloomington Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind.
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