No. 4 Michigan Holds Off the Slow-Starting Washington Huskies, 82-72
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Washington Huskies guard Zoom Diallo (5) shoots in the first half of a game against No. 4 Michigan at Hec Edmundson Pavilion on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. Credit: Aaron Coe/Emerald City Spectrum. [/caption]
SEATTLE, Wash. — The Washington men’s basketball team hung with the No. 4 team in the country for the majority of Wednesday night’s game in front of an electric crowd at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
The Michigan Wolverines, though, proved to be too much for the Huskies down the stretch of an 82-72 win over UW.
It was another slow start for the Huskies, who kept the game within single digits for the majority of the evening. But they never led after Hannes Steinbach scored the game’s first three points. Steinbach, limited to 26 minutes with foul trouble, recorded his 10th double-double in 14 games, finishing with 11 points and 14 rebounds.
Freshman point guard JJ Mandaquit scored a career-high 15. Jacob Ognacevic hit two of four 3-point attempts in his first action as a Husky, finishing with 10 points. Zoom Diallo (12 points, six turnovers), and Quimari Peterson (13 points, four 3-point baskets) also scored in double figures for UW.
It just wasn’t quite enough against the Big Ten’s best.
“We didn’t play nearly close to our best basketball, and we were still in the game,” said Mandaquit, who played 20 minutes. “We had chances throughout the game with one of the best teams in the country, and for us, you know, this is a game we want to win. We’re not happy with this loss, but I think we got better, and there’s things that we can hold our head up high about.”
Then his attention turned to No. 13 Michigan State, which will visit UW this weekend.
“It’s just a matter of how we’re going to respond come Saturday.”
It was a dreadful shooting night for both teams early, as UW and the Wolverines combined to start 0-for-17 from behind the 3-point arc. Michigan muscled its way to a 17-9 lead midway through the first half, and held off the Huskies the rest of the way. Washington got as close as five points in the second half and trailed by just six after Mandaquit sank a pair of free throws with 6:57 to go.
Michigan, which got a game-high 20 points from 7-3 center Aday Mara, pulled away from there, bouncing back from its first loss of the season, 91-88 to Wisconsin, to improve to 15-1, 5-1.
“We had [the lead] cut to six plenty of times in that second half,” Sprinkle said. “I can think of two times, we missed open threes. Those are the back-breaking ones. They transition and get it back up to eight or nine.”
Michigan’s length proved too much for UW at times. UW held its own on the board, losing the rebounding battle 42-40. But Michigan’s size bothered Washington’s shooters as the Huskies made just 37.5% of their shots.
“Michigan will wear you down with their size and their speed,” Sprinkle said. “I thought our bigs did a good job. They’re hard to handle.”
In addition to Ognacevic’s debut, the Huskies saw the return of Wesley Yates, who played 14 minutes off the bench after missing five games after a hand injury suffered against Seattle U. Desmond Claude saw the court for eight minutes after being held out of Sunday’s win over Ohio State. Washington needed all the help it could get, as Steinbach was limited to 26 minutes because of foul calls that appeared to draw the ire of Sprinkle and his staff. Center Franck Kepnang (eight points, six rebounds, three blocked shots) was also limited to 27 minutes because of foul trouble.
“Don’t get me fined,” Sprinkle said. “I’m not even going to comment. I thought our guys did a great job chesting up, walling up and doing what you’re supposed to do at the Big Ten level — and doing what Michigan did.”
In the end, it was once again the beginning that cost Washington. UW committed nine of its 12 turnovers in the first half. The Huskies bounced back from an 0-for-12 start from 3, hitting nine of their final 21 attempts. Mandaquit made three of his four attempts, Peterson was 4-for-12, and Ognacevic made two of four as the three combined to sink nine of 20. The rest of the team misfired badly, going 0-for-18.
Washington rallied from deep deficits in losses at Indiana and Purdue, and Wednesday was a similar recipe for defeat. A slow start, highlighted by early shooting woes. Steinbach fired up the home crowd with a 3-point play to open the scoring, and got the fans on their feet again with a dunk to score Washington’s first five points. Unfortunately, 6 minutes, 15 seconds passed between those two events. Meanwhile, Michigan scored 12 points to take a 12-3 lead while the Huskies missed nine consecutive shots.
“We were getting good looks,” Peterson said. “Just keep going and going, and the shots will fall. They didn’t fall tonight, but they will.”
