Huskies Head to Big Ten Tourney With Survivor Seven

Entering the Big Ten Tournament, the University of Washington basketball team has just three days to try and get over its schizophrenic outing at Oregon, where the Huskies erased a 21-point deficit, led by three in the closing seconds and lost by five.

Yet this team's problems are far more physical than mental.

Unless something dramatically changes between now and Wednesday's tourney opener in Chicago against USC, Danny Sprinkle's team once again will show up with just seven scholarship players.

Five starters and two subs.

No room for foul trouble.

Definitely no tolerance for any further injuries.

Yet among this Survivor Seven, almost everyone heads to the Windy City seemingly carrying extra baggage, including a pair of veteran Husky guards.

Wesley Yates III has hit just 3 of his past 27 3-point shots. | Dave Sizer photo

Like a golfer with the yips, sophomore guard Wesley Yates III is in the midst of a serious shooting slump. It's in his eyes. It's in the box score. It's not pretty.

In his past three outings, Yates has connected on just 11 of 49 shots overall, and an even more tepid 3 for 27 from 3-point range. That's 22.4 percent and 11 percent, respectively. His confidence appears totally shot.

He came out early to shoot before the final home game against USC, his former team, and nothing would go down. It seems the only thing that will help him now is for the season to end and to start over.

Senior guard Quimari Peterson, one of just two Huskies to appear in every outing this season, has to overcome the major disappointment of fouling at the end of the Oregon game to enable a four-point play and the Ducks to rescue a game they had all but lost.

Lathan Sommerville, the 6-foot-10 sophomore forward, has never looked quite right since suffering a December knee injury, yet the UW has been forced to start him lately because the roster is so thin.

Courtland Muldrew and Hannes Steinbach share a basketball moment. | Dave Sizer photo

Freshman guard Courtland Muldrew, asked to do a lot more in recent weeks, just set or tied eight career highs in the 85-79 loss at Oregon, most notably his season-high 26 minutes.

Similarly, freshman forward Nikola Dzepina pulled nearly 19 minutes of game time against the Ducks and continues to make the occasional high-arcing 3-pointer as he gets more and more comfortable.

The indefatigable Zoom Diallo continues to press on and show up for every game, yet he looks tired with no one to spell him.

Then there's Hannes Steinbach. Outside of first-half foul trouble at Oregon, he's been sensational, as if he's already auditioning for the NBA and trying to elevate his draft selection in June. His numbers on Saturday night were 22 points and 12 rebounds -- in the second half alone.

So here comes this motley crew to the Big Ten Tournament, maybe staying no longer than one game, maybe getting in two at the max.

With all of them probably dreaming of the day they get to play on a team again with more than seven players.