Huskies Men’s Basketball Team Avoids Upset with OT Win Over Southern
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Huskies guard Wesley Yates III drives against Southern University’s DaMariee Jones in a game at Hec Edmundson Pavilion in Seattle, Washington on Nov. 18, 2025. (Photo courtesy of Washington Athletics) [/caption]
SEATTLE, Wash. — The Huskies needed a somewhat miraculous comeback to knock off Southern University 99-93 in double overtime Tuesday at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
To be clear, that wasn’t Southern Cal. Or Southern Mississippi. Not even Georgia Southern.
Just Southern, which entered Tuesday’s game with two wins over non-NCAA opponents Ecclesia College and Champion Christian College before facing a short-handed UW team with NCAA hopes.
Despite the light resume, Washington coach Danny Sprinkle saw things on video that concerned him going into the game.
“I told my staff — I told even people before, this game scared the hell out of me, because I saw on tape how good this team was,” said Sprinkle, whose team improved to 4-1. “I saw how physical their guards are, how organized they are defensively. Their bigs are quick out of pick-and-roll action. They defend you. They make you beat them, and that's a sign of a really well-coached team.”
Washington played without freshman phenom starter Hannes Steinback and sophomore forward Bryson Tucker. The Huskies benefited from the first game appearance of senior USC transfer guard Demond Claude, who played more than expected. Claude scored 20 points in 35 minutes to complement fellow USC transfer Wesley Yates’ team-high 23 points.
Both guards pulled down six rebounds, many of them coming late in the game when the Huskies finally took control of the boards. Though the outcome looked bleak at several points, the Huskies put it together to come away with the win.
“I would say it shows a lot about us as players, as a team,” Yates said. “We never stopped fighting, never held our heads. We just knew it was “next play mentality,” and that’s all coach preached to us. And we just never gave up.
The Huskies turned the ball over 16 times, though only six of them occurred across the second half and two 5-minute overtimes. The Huskies made four of six shots in the two overtimes and went 8-for-11 from the line as they got away from taking outside shots that weren’t falling for much of the night. Washington finished the game with a 40.8 shooting percentage after making just nine of 25 (36% in the first half) as the Huskies recorded more turnovers (10) than baskets.
“We really just tried to get to the free-throw line as much as possible,” Yates said.
Defensive Change Saves Huskies
Washington struggled to defend the pick-and-roll for most of regulation as the Jaguars (2-3) pulled ahead 51-39 with Terrance Dixon Jr.’s putback with 13:17 to go in the second half. Eventually, Sprinkle tried a 1-3-1 defense the team had only worked on briefly in practices. The Huskies used four guards and a center for the rest of the game, and slowly crawled back into contention. Prior to that change, UW couldn’t manage to put together a run.
“It wasn’t a fight, like we were getting our a** kicked,” Sprinkle said. “We were almost out. We just kind of kept getting back up and throwing one more punch, throwing one more punch, and thank God time ran out in that second overtime.”
Peterson Heroics
The end of regulation was tough for senior guard Quimari Peterson. He missed a layup with 19 seconds remaining that would have given the Huskies a lead, and then couldn’t quite put back Claude’s miss at the buzzer. Peterson, who played all 50 minutes of the game, pulled Washington out of a grim situation, trailing 85-81 with 15 seconds to go.
The 6-1 guard upfaked SU’s Michael Jacobs, then drew contact as he went up to get a chance a three free throws. He calmly sank them all to pull the Huskies within one. He quickly fouled Jacobs going the other way to stop the clock with seven ticks left. Jacobs, who scored a game-high 24 points, split a pair of free throws, and Huskies freshman guard Jasir Rencher pulled down a rebound and threw an outlet to Peterson. He went the length of the floor and made a driving layup with one second remaining.
Peterson struggled with his shot for much of the night, but finished with 15 points on 4-of-16 shooting.
“He's, analytically, one of the highest rated guards in the country last year, you know, the last 10 seconds of the clock,” Sprinkle said. “And, you know, he made a tremendous play.”
Sommerville’s Awakening
Lathan Sommervile, a 6-10 transfer from Rutgers, started the game but played just five minutes in the first half as the Huskies went to a small lineup. Pressed back into duty with sixth-year senior center Franck Kepnang (six points, game-high 12 rebounds) fouled out with 1:55 to go in the second overtime, Sommerville helped UW pull away.
His short jumper in the paint gave Washington a 95-90 lead with 1:32 to go, and he added a free throw and some improved defense in the closing 90 seconds.
“Really proud of him, because I challenged him the last couple days,” Sprinkle said. “Like, we need more from him, and he knows that. We need more rebounding. He needs to be the bully on the block.”
Putting the Pieces Together
The Huskies, banged up for several weeks, have also been without Jacob Ognacevic and Mady Traore. Rencher entered the game with seven total minutes on the court this season, but played 19 against Southern. Freshman Courland Muldrew saw his first college action on Tuesday, playing three minutes against Southern.
Desmond Claude, who averaged 15.8 points for USC last year, went in and out of the game as he worked through some cramping that came with not being able to play for the past six weeks.
“Just a matter of ramping up and getting my body back in game shape,” Claude said. “It’s kind of tough being out for this long and not being able to get up and down (the court) for a few weeks. But, I’m feeling good, and this was the right time to come back.”
