Inside The Huskies

Huskies End USC Misery By Erasing 18-Point Halftime Deficit

Desmond Claude plays pivotal role in knocking off his former team in Los Angeles.
Dan Raley|
Wesley Yates III, in a lavender UW uniform, drives to the basket at USC.
Wesley Yates III, in a lavender UW uniform, drives to the basket at USC. | UW

Pulling on garish lavender game uniforms for the first time, the University of Washington basketball team just didn't look right in Los Angeles.

They didn't play well. Didn't seem confident. Appeared headed for a third consecutive defeat.

However, Danny Sprinkle's guys grew to like those neon-colored threads as they roared back from an 18-point halftime deficit to stun the unbeaten USC Trojans 84-76 at the Galer Center on Saturday afternoon.

In fact, it took a guy who used to wear USC colors, 6-foot-6 senior guard Desmond Claude, to pull the UW (6-3 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) into a tie at 68 with a high-banking shot with 4:40 left.

Desmond Claude does a Big Ten interview with Don McLean at USC.
Desmond Claude does a Big Ten interview with Don McLean at USC. | UW

Thirty-five seconds later, freshman Hannes Steinbach hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key for a 71-68 advantage and the lead for good.

The Huskies not only snapped a two-game losing streak overall, they ended a maddening 11-game losing streak to USC.

"That was the Des we wanted to see," Sprinkle said of his veteran leader. "He was playing with a little fire, a little chip, a little edge. And when he does that, he's one of the best players in the country."

Steinbach supplied his fifth consecutive double-double with a game-high 24 points and 16 rebounds.

Against his old team, Claude cashed in a season-high 22 points, scoring 10 of the UW's final 20 points. His former Trojans teammate and current UW running mate Wesley Yates III added 16 points to the comeback and class reunion.

Yes, these guys were dressed for success after their costume change not far from Hollywood.

In records that date back to 2003, this was the UW's biggest second-half comeback in school annals.

USC (8-1, 1-1) lost for the first time after building a 48-30 lead by halftime and threatening to run away with this one. Auburn transfer Chad Baker-Marara topped the home team with 21 points.

Everything that went right early on for the Trojans, who took control at the outset with a 13-0 run, went wrong after the break.

"I said fellahs, just compete," Sprinkle said. "Let the chips fall where they may, but if you just compete, they're going to let us back in the game. Because we're good enough and explosive enough on the offensive end."

After hitting just one of a dozen 3-pointers over the first 20 minutes, the UW dropped in three treys to open the next half.

The Huskies slashed the deficit from 18 to five with a 13-0 run. Zoom Diallo sank a 3-pointer 37 seconds into the half. Franck Kepnang next dropped in a short jumper. Steinbach hit a jumper from the key. Yates drained a 3 and Steinbach, with the shot clock on empty, tossed in a high-arcing 3-pointer.

At the 17:02 mark, the Trojans had seen their lead dwindle to 48-43 and it was a game again.

USC pushed back in front 67-56 with 7:26 left to play but the Huskies went on a furious 15-1 run to grab the lead and not let go.

Leading 76-73, Claude closed this one out with 1:21 remaining with a driving lay-in in which he got fouled and converted the three-point play, and it was a two-possession game the rest of the way.

The game before, in an 82-80 loss to UCLA, the Huskies had rushed back from a 17-point deficit to tie the game before falling back. This time, they got the payoff.

"It shows we're never out of the game," Sprinkle said. "We always have another run in us."

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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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