SEATTLE — The Washington Huskies men's basketball team got back to its winning ways in a 72-57 result against the Oregon Ducks on Jan. 25 at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle.

It was a dominant and well-rounded win from the Huskies, who had five players score in double-digits against the Ducks.

Despite not being one of Washington's double-digit scorers, sophomore guard Wesley Yates III made his impact felt for his team.

The sophomore guard had a rough end to December and first half of January.

Yates broke a bone in his wrist in the team's loss against Seattle University on Dec. 18. He missed five games and returned for two games against No. 3 Michigan on Jan. 14 and No. 10 Michigan State on Jan. 17, both losses. Despite being on the court, Yates had limited minutes and mustered five total points against the pair of ranked opponents.

Yates then proceeded to miss the Huskies' game against No. 7 Nebraska on Jan. 21, which was another defeat for UW, after he tweaked his ankle in practice two days prior to the contest.

Washington's showdown against Oregon was Yates' first true full contest since he suffered his injury against Seattle U. He scored nine points on 3-for-5 shooting (3-for-4 from 3-point range), pulled in three rebounds, dished two assists and had a steal.

Despite his solid perimeter shooting and even better defense on the perimeter (he helped hold the Ducks to a 3-for-15 clip from beyond the arc), there was a brief moment where it looked like Yates' injury woes could continue.

With nine minutes, 10 seconds left in the first half, Yates exited the game and headed to the locker room after being dropped to the floor while guarding his defender.

Yates returned with 4:30 left in the first half and, in his first possession back on offense, attempted a reverse layup through contact. He didn't convert on the attempt but it was an impressive display of fearlessness from Yates and, in a macro point of view, the kind of mentality that could lead to the sophomore becoming a key player as UW looks to make a run to the NCAA Tournament.

"That's what he is," Huskies head coach Danny Sprinkle said in a postgame interview. "He's just a score. He just has that mentality. He's a dog, he really is. I was really proud of the job he does defensively on the basketball and competing to get through screens and boxing out and being physical and chesting up in the paint. That's what I love about him.

"He's always going to score the basketball. ... His first (3-point attempt) was in-and-out. There's going to be multiple games this year where he has four, five, six 3s and we're going to need him to continue shooting that ball at a high level."

This season, Yates has averaged 13 points per game on 37.9% shooting from the field. He's connected on 31.1% from 3-point range and is averaging 2.4 rebounds, 1.5 steals and an assist per game.

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