Inside The Huskies

Amazing Steinbach Continues to Show New Facets to His Game

The freshman from Germany receives Big Ten Freshman of the Week award for his efforts against the LA schools.
Dan Raley|
Hannes Steinbach grabs one of his 10 rebounds against UCLA.
Hannes Steinbach grabs one of his 10 rebounds against UCLA. | Dave Sizer photo

As if Hannes Steinbach wasn't enough of a challenge for opposing teams to defend, the University of Washington freshman forward let fly with three 3-point shots and hit two of them against USC on Saturday in Los Angeles.

Both makes were pivotal shots that enabled his team to rush back from an 18-point halftime deficit to upend the unbeaten Trojans 84-76.

In his previous five games, Steinbach had the same 2-for-3 stats from behind the line, but he hadn't shown an inclination to take his game outside.

Yet as USC, the Big Ten and the rest of college basketball are finding out about this multi-talented 6-foot-11player from Würzburg, Gemany, he's got a full complement of basketball skills.

On Monday, Steinbach, even with his the Huskies splitting games against the Los Angeles schools, was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week after averaging 26.5 points, 13 rebounds and 3 assists per outing.

And he did this while returning from a severe ankle sprain that made him miss three prior games for the UW (6-3 overall, 1-1 Big Ten).

"He's really hard to take out of a game," UW coach Danny Sprinkle said. "He's hard to double. He can handle the ball on the perimeter."

In the USC game, Steinbach's outside shooting was like a knockout punch. Each trey was like a statement shot. Certainly pivotal to the outcome.

With the Huskies conducting a furious second-half rally after falling behind 48-30 at the half, he hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give his team the lead for good at 71-68 with 4:05 left in the game.

Earlier in the half, Steinbach got the ball deep in the corner, with the shot-clock running down, and launched a high-arcing shot that swished through to cap a 13-0 run and bring the Huskies within 48-43.

His coach said it's just a matter or priorities with how he chooses to do things on offense.

"He capable of shooting it, but he's death man when he catches that ball on the roll or in transition," Sprinkle said. "He's so good at creating off the dribble, a lot of times he's not looking to catch and shoot. That's something he got to continue to evolve. We need him to be aggressive with his pick and pop shots."

Steinbach had 29 points and 10 rebounds in an 82-80 loss to UCLA, while he finished iwth 24 points and 16 rebounds against USC, giving him five consecutive double-double outings.

While his points fluctuate some and his shots vary in range, he's the same rebounder every time out as the LA schools learned inside.

"He's literally like Dennis Rodman," Sprinkle said. "He kmows where the ball's coming off. He makes the effort every time."

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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