Huskies Regroup to Dismantle Dismal Ducks

Seattle is a football town, simple as that.

That's why Alaska Airlines Arena was just half full at tipoff for Sunday's Washington-Oregon basketball game with a noon tipoff, with stragglers showing up as it went on.

Yes, it didn't help that the Huskies had lost five of six games coming in and the Ducks were losers of five consecutive outings.

Yet hours before the Seahawks and Rams kicked off across town with a Super Bowl on the line and drew all of Seattle's sporting attention, the UW was able to sneak in two halves of inartistic but effective enough basketball to send its long-time rival to a sound 72-57 defeat.

Danny Sprinkle's team uniquely had two players finish with double-double performances: former Ducks big man Franck Kepnang supplied 10 points and a career-best 14 rebounds while freshman Hannes Steinbach provided 10 points and 13 rebounds.

They didn't even lead the Huskies in scoring. That honor went to Quimari Peterson, Zoom Diallo and Jacob Ongacevic, who each finished with 12 points. Oregon's Sean Stewart topped all scorers with 15.

"We came out just ready to go," said Ognacevic, who hit 4 of 5 3-pointers. "We set the tone early."

As has been the case all season for this Husky basketball team (11-9 overall, 3-6 Big Ten), nothing comes easy or the least bit predictable at all.

Wesley Yates, after missing five of the previous six games , returned to the UW starting lineup. | Dave Sizer photo

Sprinkle trotted out still another different lineup by opening with freshman point guard JJ Mandaquit, who started for the first time since the first five games of the season; and sophomore guard Wesley Yates III, who had missed five of the previous six games with assorted injuries.

That put Diallo, the Huskies' second-leading scorer, and Peterson on the bench to begin the early afternoon encounter.

The coach said Diallo was late for a flim session, hence he didn't get on the floor until nearly three minutes had been played.

Hannes Steinbach reaches for a loose ball against Oregon. | Dave Sizer photo

And so it went for this UW team, which jumped out to a 14-2 lead while the Ducks (8-12, 1-8), missing a pair of starters, missed nine of their first 10 shots.

"I don't have any sympathy for anyone," Sprinkle said of Oregon being short-handed for this one. "We've had more injuries than anyone."

The Huskies never trailed in this one and gradually pulled out in front by 17 points at 32-15 for its largest lead of the half when Mandaquit knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 1:35 left.

Bryson Tucker gets in a defensive stance against Oregon. | Dave Sizer photo

Play was so ragged at times, players dove on the floor and flew over the top of each other while trying to dig the ball out like it was a rugby game.

The teams headed for the locker room at intermission with the Huskies comfortably on top 34-19.

Here's how weird this game was: in the opening half, the UW shot 38.7 percent (12-31) from the floor overall, but a much more hopeful 46.2 percent (6 for 13) from 3-point range.

As for Oregon, it was just, bad, bad, bad shooting throughout -- the Ducks' stat sheet at the break showed a miserable 28 percent marksmanship from the field and 1-for-9 shooting behind the line.

Meantime, both coaches kept substituting in bunches trying to find someone who could get a hot hand, with both teams coming off rugged schedules in losing to the highly ranked Michigan, Michigan State and Nebraska.

"I'm really happy our team got rewarded with a win," Sprinkle said.

Play was so uneven for everyone in uniform that neither team had a double-figure scorer Ognacevic dropped in a corner trey for a 59-40 lead with 7:33 remaining -- giving him his 12 points at that moment. His 3-point accuracy gave his team a big boost.

"It's what we've been missing all year," Sprinkle said. "Any time you can shoot the 3, it opens up everything."

The Huskies, beating Oregon for the first time in five tries, led by as many as 20 at 56-36. They won the rebound battle in dominating fashion, 45-23.

The UW doesn't play again until Thursday when it travels to No. 11 Illinois (17-3, 8-1) for a 6 p.m. PT tipoff.

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