Huskies Avoid Big Ten Cellar with Hannes Steinbach’s Big Game at Rutgers

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Washington Huskies forward Hannes Steinbach drives to the basket in a game against Rutgers at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, NJ on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. Credit: Washington Athletics [/caption]

It’s “Celebrate the little wins” season for the Washington men’s basketball team.

Behind Hannes Steinbach’s 17th double-double, the Huskies put themselves in a strong position to earn a Big Ten Tournament bye heading into the final three games of a disappointing, injury-riddled season with a 79-72 win at Rutgers.

“Huge,” Washington head coach Danny Sprinkle said. “[Rutgers] would have jumped us in the standings. We both would have five wins, and they'd have a win over us. And not just that, I think we're back even with Minnesota. And we obviously beat them. So we have the tie breaker there.”

UW missed the 2025 conference tournament after placing last in Sprinkle’s first season. After evening their record at 14-14 overall, the Huskies (6-11 Big Ten) took firm hold of 13th place out of 18 teams with Tuesday’s win. The bottom four play March 10, with seeds 9-14 opening on March 11.

With an at-large Big Dance bid long gone, the banged-up Huskies’ only chance at their first NCAA Tournament bid since 2019 is a miraculous run to a conference tournament title.

Steinbach recovered from a rare off-night at Maryland (14 points, three rebounds), with his 17th double-double in 25 games played. The freshman forward finished with 25 points while matching his career best with 16 rebounds.

“He came out with a different intent, like you could tell he was playing with force from the jump,” Sprinkle said. “And when he does that, he's very, very hard to guard. He's very hard to keep off the boards.”

Wesley Yates III added 19 points and a career-high seven assists. Zoom Diallo contributed 10 points and joined the career-high party with seven rebounds.

The Huskies, outrebounded 36-23 while unable to close out Maryland on Saturday, finished with a 34-29 edge on the boards Tuesday.

“I thought our whole team played with a lot of force tonight, and we had intent behind what we were doing,” Sprinkle said. “I thought we defended at a different level than we did the other night. Our energy, our togetherness, how connected we were, everything was different tonight — and it showed.”

The Scarlet Knights (11-17, 4-13) trailed by double digits for much of the game, but never let UW fully pull away, trimming Washington’s lead to 73-68 with 1:59 to go. Steinbach answered as he did all night, hitting a jump shot 25 seconds later.

Washington held off the late charge to avoid another disappointing loss after yet another injury. UW center Franck Kepnang missed a game for the first time this season, leaving Zoom Diallo as the only player to participate in all 28 games this season.

Sprinkle rolled out his 11th different starting lineup, with Lathan Sommerville getting the start against his former team. Sommerville, booed by the Jersey Mike’s Arena crowd virtually every time he touched the ball, finished with eight points and a rebound in 25 minutes before fouling out.

“I'm proud of him, how he handled his emotions, and he played hard,” Sprinkle said. “He played through some adversity, some fouls and things like that. He knocked down two big free throws, had a big finish in the first half. Proud of him, and I'm proud of how our guys fought for him because they knew how important this game was to him.”

Washington, trying to avoid landing in the conference’s bottom four teams, jumped out to an early 21-9 lead. The Huskies held Rutgers scoreless for five minutes and used drives to the basket for an early double-digit advantage.

Rutgers closed the gap to 36-29 at the break, though, as UW suffered four of its 10 turnovers in the final 2:33 of the half.

Nikola Dzepina, who entered the game having played just six minutes since Jan. 11, hit his first three in six weeks but committed three fouls in five first-half minutes. Jacob Ognacevic played just three minutes, missing his one shot attempt.