Muldrew Makes Bad Situation Better for Huskies

With the season on the line against USC in the Big Ten Tournament, Zoom Diallo provided much-needed floor leadership, Hannes Steinbach his usual double-double. Quimari Peterson 3-point accuracy and Wesley Yates III whatever he could in and around his ongoing shooting slump.

The University of Washington basketball team still needed a little something more to pull out an 83-79 overtime victory over the Trojans.

Enter Courtland Muldrew.

Over the final 10 minutes of regulation play and into the extra session, the 6-foot-3 freshman guard from Springdale, Arkansas, made himself indispensable.

"He came up and stepped up big for us," Diallo said of Muldrew.

The Huskies (16-16 overall, 7-13 league) will need him once more when they face 23rd-ranked Wisconsin (22-9, 14-6) on Thursday in the tournament's third round, with tipoff around 11:30 a.m. PT at Chicago's United Center.

Against USC, he scored all 9 of his points after the Huskies had fallen behind by 13 in the second half, and grabbed a career-best 7 rebounds while playing a career-high 27 minutes.

With 11:24 left, Muldrew hit a 3-pointer to pull his team within 58-55.

"I thought Courtland's 3, when he hit it, was huge," UW coach Danny Sprinkle said.

Muldrew's left-handed layin put the Huskies on top 62-61 at the 6:58 mark.

With 5:01 remaining, he connected on two of three free throws to put the UW up 66-63.

𝙎𝙐𝙍𝙑𝙄𝙑𝙀 𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝘼𝘿𝙑𝘼𝙉𝘾𝙀‼️ pic.twitter.com/VfP47WG6RK
— Washington Men's Basketball (@UW_MBB) March 11, 2026

Finally, Muldrew scored on a put-back with 59 seconds left for the last points by either team in regulation play to tie the game at 71 and send it into the overtime.

"I've felt in the last few games he's been coming up and wanting to be part of the moment," Diallo said.

Huskies guard Courtland Muldrew (30) battles a couple of Trojans for a rebound in the Big Ten Tournament. | David Banks-Imagn Images

With the Huskies down to just seven available scholarship players, Muldrew has been one of the positives in a delicate situation.

He's had to play a lot when normally he might be drawing random minutes and waiting for his second season to get his big chance.

The Huskies set the tone in their first game of the of the #B1GMBBT. 👏 pic.twitter.com/9FFprbuOiz
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) March 11, 2026

With the roster on bare bones, Muldrew started for the first time in his Husky career previously against Wisconsin, a 90-73 loss, and played 24 minutes, hit 3 of 5 shots in scoring 7 points and dished out 3 assists.

Against USC in Seattle, he played 16 minutes and scored 9 points on 3-fot-5 shooting, dished out 4 assists and stole the ball 3 times in a 91-72 win over the Trojans.

Huskies guard Courtland Muldrew (30) drives to the basket against USC guard Jordan Marsh (7) in the Big Ten Tournament. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

Last weekend at Oregon, Muldrew pulled what was then a career-high 26 minutes, scored 9 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and dished out 4 assists in an 85-79 loss.

While he's appeared in just 19 of the 32 games, needing early on to earn the coaching staff's trust for playing time, he and fellow guards Quimari Peterson and Diallo are the only Huskies who have been healthy for every outing.

He's become reliable and productive.

"Being a freshman, it's him just owning the moment," Diallo said.