SEATTLE — The Washington Huskies men's basketball team had a disappointing result in its first Big Ten game of the season Wednesday.

Despite being down by 16 with less than five minutes to go, the Huskies mounted a valiant comeback against the UCLA Bruins and pulled within one point. The comeback ultimately failed and Washington lost to UCLA 82-80.

The loss dropped the Huskies to 5-3 on the season and 0-1 in Big Ten competition.

It was the second-straight loss for Washington. The Dawgs dropped the championship game of the Acrisure Holiday Classic 68-81 to the Colorado Buffaloes on Nov. 28.

In all three of the Huskies' losses, they found themselves down big before launching a comeback and getting to within striking distance of their opponents.

Washington's players after the game are aware of this and, after the loss against UCLA, openly discussed needing to maintain that over an entire game.

A reason for the Huskies' inconsistent form over the season has been various injuries.

Since the season began, Washington hasn't played at full strength.

Senior guard Desmond Claude missed the first four games of the season with an ankle sprain and had to play past a minutes restriction in his first game back — a 99-93, double-overtime win against Southern University on Nov. 18.

Freshman forward Hannes Steinbach missed three of the team's last four games with his own ankle sprain and returned against the Bruins (where he had a 29-point, 10-rebound double-doube) and sophomore forward Bryson Tucker has missed the last five games games with an ankle sprain.

"Of course (it's hard to deal with that). But nobody cares," sophomore guard Zoom Diallo said after the game Wednesday. "I'm going to be honest with you. Everybody's banged up, everybody's got injuries. We all signed up to be part of (the Big Ten) with ultimate competitors and elite players. It does suck, for sure, but we got to handle what we got. Coach (Danny Sprinkle) always tells us, even when we had the guys injured, he's going to find five guys no matter what. Him having that spirit, I feel like that just kept our fight going and we just got to keep that going. No matter if one person goes down — three, five — we're just gonna find the five to compete."

It's refreshing to hear that Diallo and, presumably, the rest of the roster not using the injuries as an excuse for losses.

But the Huskies still are yet to play at full strength and at their full capabilities. That's not nothing. Steinbach is the team's leading scorer (17.4 points per game) and rebounder (12.2 rebounds per game). Tucker is the team's sixth-leading scorer (9.7 points per game), second-leading rebounder (7.3 rebounds per game) and leads the team in 3-point percentage at 41.7% (aside from Steinbach, who's attempted three triples and has made two).

"The good thing is, we're not even close to playing our best basketball," Sprinkle said in a postgame interview Wednesday. "Our guys are still learning each other, we've had funky lineups. I give our guys credit for coming and competing tonight and almost pulling it off, but almost isn't good enough."

There's another level Washington can reach even without its full roster, as proven by the final four minutes against UCLA. If the Huskies can find that level over a full 40 minutes and sustain it until they get healthy, they can be true competition in the Big Ten.

RELATED HUSKIES STORIES

WASHINGTON FALLS TO UCLA 82-80 IN BIG TEN OPENER: The Huskies dropped their first Big Ten game of the season despite an inspired second-half performance. CLICK HERE

WASHINGTON SIGNS HIGHEST-RATED RECRUITING CLASS IN PROGRAM HISTORY: The Huskies cemented one of the best recruiting classes in the country on National Signing Day on Wednesday. CLICK HERE

WASHINGTON FLIPS 4-STAR RECEIVER: The Huskies earned another big recruiting win and received a commitment from Jordan Clay. CLICK HERE

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!