Inside The Huskies

Huskies Can't Hang With Unbeaten Huskers

Pryce Sandfort burns UW for second time in two years with different team.
Dan Raley|
Pryce Sandfort (21) of Nebraska shoots a 3-pointer over the UW's Bryson Tucker.
Pryce Sandfort (21) of Nebraska shoots a 3-pointer over the UW's Bryson Tucker. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

The last time the University of Washington basketball team encountered Pryce Sandfort, he played for Iowa, wore No. 20 and went off for 27 points.

Eleven months later, his hoop address and jersey have changed to Nebraska and 21, but the 6-foot-7 junior forward from Waukee, Iowa, still proves to be an unstoppable outside shooter wherever he turns up in the Midwest.

On Wednesday night, Sandfort dropped in a game-high 23 points to keep the the seventh-ranked and Big Ten-leading Cornhuskers unbeaten in 19 games with a 76-66 victory over a beat-up Husky team that simply doesn't have the manpower anymore to hang with the conference's better teams very long.

Zoom Diallo lobs one over Nebraska forward Rienk Mast (51) in Wednesday night's game.
Zoom Diallo lobs one over Nebraska forward Rienk Mast (51) in Wednesday night's game. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

It was 6-foot-11 freshman Hannes Steinbach and sophomore guard Zoom Diallo for the UW and not much else. The young German came up with his league-leading 11th double-double outing with 21 points and 12 rebounds, while Diallo finished with 18 points.

Sophomore guard Wesley Yates III was unavailable once more with an injury, with the Huskies (10-9 overall, 2-6 Big Ten) down five players for this match-up while losing for the fifth time in their past six outings.

The UW went with 6-foot-8 forward Jacob Ognacevic in the opening lineup, with the Lipscomb transfer and the 2025 Atlantic Sun Player of the Year recipient becoming the10th different UW starter this season while playing in just his third game since returning from a foot surgery.

There was nothing wrong with Sandfort, who had 13 points for Nebraska (19-0, 8-0) by halftime after hitting 4 of 8 shots, including 3 of 6 from 3-point range, as he made his way around the perimeter with no one getting in his face.

Sandfort finished at 8 for 13 and 4 for 7, respectively, for the night as his new team is off to its greatest start in school history.

The Huskies were trailing just 23-19 when Sandfort hit 3-pointers on two of the Cornhuskers' next trips down the floor. All of a sudden, it was 32-19 with 6:40 left before the break and Danny Sprinkle's team once again was left to play catch-up.

The guys in the purple shirts trailed 41-28 at halftime and went down by 18 just five minutes into the next half.

Pryce Sandfort (21) looks for someone to pass to against Huskies JJ Mandaquit (23) and Quimari Peterson (0).
Pryce Sandfort (21) looks for someone to pass to against Huskies JJ Mandaquit (23) and Quimari Peterson (0). | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

With less firepower to work with, the Huskies saw Nebraska make a real effort early to go after Steinbach and get physical with him. He often couldn't get a shot off without getting bumped and was even knocked to the floor with no call.

Welcome to the Big Ten, Middle of America style, and home to Pryce Sandfort.

The UW now returns home to face an uncharacteristically inept Oregon team (8-11, 1-7), which is unusual for the Ducks in the Dana Altman era, on Sunday with a noon tipoff in a game preceding the NFL playoff game across town.

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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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