Inside The Huskies

When Needed, Huskies Can Change A Twenty

Danny Sprinkle's team has a multitude of players who can put up a big scoring number.
Dan Raley|
Zoom Diallo launches one of his custom floaters against Oregon.
Zoom Diallo launches one of his custom floaters against Oregon. | Dave Sizer photo

One thing certain about this current University of Washington basketball team is it has a lot of guys who can score a big number.

For the second time this season, the Huskies had three players finish with 20 points or more in the same game when forward Hannes Steinbach and guard Zoom Diallo each provided 22 and guard Wesley Yates III put up 21 in their 76-62 victory over Northwestern over the weekend.

Earlier in a 74-65 win over Utah in December, Diallo went for 24 points, the now idle guard Desmond Claude chipped in 21 and Steinbach had 20.

If only these Huskies (12-10 overall, 4-7 Big Ten) could have avoided the spate of season-long injuries that has dulled what otherwise could have been a far better season.

Wesley Yates III lets go of a 3-pointer against Southern.
Wesley Yates III lets go of a 3-pointer against Southern. | Dave Sizer photo

This Danny Sprinkle team seems to share the ball in an unselfish manner and readily recognize who's got the hot hand.

Against Northwestern, Yates was the go-to shooter early on, picking up 15 first-half points, while Steinbach was a workhorse during the middle of the game and Diallo was the closer with 13 of his team's final 17 points.

It was poetry in point-producing motion.

"We made 3s," Sprinkle said. "It was something we haven't done in probably 85 percent of our games this year, is knock down those open shots. But in the last three or four games, we've started to shoot the ball with a lot more confidence."

This season, the Huskies have had players reach the 20-point mark on 21 occasions, with Steinbach leading the way with nine of them. The 6-foot-11 freshman from Wurzburg, Germany, similarly has the UW's high game of 29 points against UCLA.

Hannes Steinbach dunks on Michigan.
Hannes Steinbach dunks on Michigan. | Dave Sizer photo

Diallo, Yates and Claude each have scored 20 points or more on four occasions. Yates' best outing has been 26 against Washington State, while Diallo topped out with 24 against Utah and Claude supplied 24 against Seattle U.

Naturally, the spigot hasn't always been on, with the UW going nine games without a 20-point scorer.

A player who has sacrificed his game the most to support the others is guard Quimari Peterson, the East Tennessee State transfer and reigning Southland Player of the Year. His best scoring night for the UW has been 18 points against Colorado.

A year ago, Peterson had 15 games of 20 points or more, with two outings of 30 or more and a high game of 31 while averaging 19.5 points per outing.

Lipscomb transfer Jacob Ognacevic, the reigning Atlantic Sun Player of the Year, missed the first 16 games this season with a foot injury, which negated his ability to score in bunches right away. There's still time.

A year ago, he had 19 games of 20 points or more, including four of 30 or more, while averaging an even 20 points per outing.

For the Huskies, Ognacevic has appeared in the last six games since getting cleared to play again and has come up with a high game of 12 points in a 72-57 victory over Oregon.

The way things are going with this team, 20 can't be too far off for him.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Published
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.

Home/Basketball