Inside The Huskies

Steinbach Helps Germans Advance to World Cup Finals With 16-Rebound Effort

The incoming Husky forward is averaging 14 caroms per outing in Switzerland.

Dan Raley

Hannes Steinbach does a postgame interview at the U19 World Cup.
Hannes Steinbach does a postgame interview at the U19 World Cup. / FIBA

Hannes Steinbach, picking up more basketball admirers with each FIBA U19 World Cup outing in Switzerland, helped steer Germany into the championship game on Saturday with a typical workmanlike 14-point, 16-rebound showing in an 84-72 victory over Slovenia.

For the University of Washington freshman forward, this performance marked the fourth time in six games that he's grabbed 16 rebounds or more.

The Germans (6-0) now await the winner of the United States-New Zealand semifinal game, which, if the Americans advance, will match Steinbach up against his soon-to-be Husky teammate in point guard JJ Mandaquit.

If it's even possible, Steinbach took a much less involved role offensively for Germany, launching just 4 shots and sinking all of them in his second appearance against Slovenia. For the tournament, he's been good on 38 of 56 attempts from the floor, or 68 percent. The teenager also chipped in 3 assists and a pair of blocked shots in the semifinal game.

With each basketball outing in Lausanne, more and more people are showing an interest and sizing up the talents of the UW's prized incoming player, with Terrence Oglesby of Hornets Live noting how Steinbach plays with a high level of physicality and seems to be taller than his listed 6-foot-9 height.

Certainly, Danny Sprinkle's promising European player has drawn a lot of attention to himself during the World Cup, with Steinbach drawing more clicks on his event profile page -- 12,800 -- than anyone else by nearly 1,000.

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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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