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Inside The Huskies

Huskies Had 20-20-20 Vision For First Time In Decade

The UW was top heavy in scoring in beating Utah 74-65 on Monday.
Dan Raley|
Hannes Steinbach goes to the basket against Utah.
Hannes Steinbach goes to the basket against Utah. | Dave Sizer photo

Wesley Yates III, the University of Washington basketball team's second-leading scorer, might be out for the season.

Jacob Ognacevic, one of the Huskies' better outside shooters, hasn't even played yet while dealing with a foot injury.

Yet Danny Sprinkle's team hasn't been shy of high-level point-producers, with three of his guys scoring 20 points or more in the same game against Utah, a 74-65 victory this past Monday at Alaska Airlines Arena.

Sophomore guard Zoom Diallo put up 24, backed by senior guard Desmond Claude's 21 and freshman forward Hannes Steinbach added 20, with these three responsible for all but nine of the Huskies' points.

With the others out, these guys have been entrusted with keeping the Huskies (9-4 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) together as they head into Big Ten play at Indiana (10-3 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) on Sunday at 5 p.m. PT.

Zoom Diallo drives to the basket against Utah.
Zoom Diallo drives to the basket against Utah. | Dave Sizer photo

When informed of this, Claude and Steinbach were a little dumbfounded and immediately began scanning the stat sheet.

This sort of top-happy performance hadn't happened for the UW in a decade, since guard Dejounte Murray went for 30, center Marquese Chriss provided 27 and guard Andrew Andrews dropped in 25 in the UW's 107-102 win over Long Beach State in the 2016 NIT.

"They're dynamic," UW coach Danny Sprinkle said of his guys. "Any time you put Zoom or Desmond in a ball screen, they're either going to draw two or they're getting the ball to the paint. They're going to collapse the defense and that's when you to have to make shots, or they're tremendous finishers."

As for the 6-foot-11 Steinbach, the coach thought he had an off game against the Utes, even while coming up with another double-double performance with his 20 points and 11 rebounds.

"It's nitpicky, but I don't think he played very good at all and he had 20 and 11," Sprinkle said. "I didn't. It looked like he was kind of stuck in mud."

Yet Steinbach is such a talent, he still puts a lot of points on the board even when he's not at his optimum best.

What was unique about these high-scoring trio of Huskies now and in 2016 is they did it both times without relying on the 3-point shot much at all.

Ten years ago, Murray, Chriss and Andrews each took one 3-point shot and only Andrews made his.

This time, Diallo, Claude and Steinbach shot 2-for-8 behind the line combined, with only Diallo sinking 2 of his 4 attempts, and one of them coming from 30 feet to beat the shot clock.

Desmond Claude brings the ball up the floor against Utah.
Desmond Claude brings the ball up the floor against Utah. | Dave Sizer photo

Sprinkle chose to credit center Franck Kepnang and Steinbach for continually getting the others open with their effective screens inside. They take up a lot of space. They facilitate a lot of points.

"Like Zoom and Dez, they had like three or four wide-open layups because Franck's doing his part, burying his guy under the basket to where they can't even be a factor to block the shot," the coach said.

Against Indiana, the Huskies will need all the points they can get out of their guys.

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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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