Offensive Trio, Kepnang’s Defense Fuels Huskies Men’s Basketball to Non-League win vs. Utah
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Washington Huskies forward Hannes Steinbach (6) looks to pass the ball while guarded by Utah Utes forward Keanu Dawes (8) during the first half at Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images [/caption]
The Washington Huskies men’s basketball team got a combined 65 points from freshman Hannes Steinbach, sophomore Zoom Diallo and senior Desmond Claude in a 74-65 victory over the Utah Utes on Monday, Dec. 29, at Alaska Airlines Arena.
It was a solid showing from the Huskies (9-4, 1-1 Big Ten) as they concluded their non-league schedule in preparation for a grueling Big Ten slate that will stretch into early March. However, even in a quality victory, some concerns emerged. Utah dropped to 8-5 on the season.
Here’s what we learned from the Huskies’ home win over the Utes.
Deadlocked first half
Utah took a narrow 37-36 lead into halftime. Each team led by at least five points at different points throughout the first half.
Steinbach and Diallo each knocked down 12 points for the Huskies in the opening period, while Claude added eight.
For the Utes, it was junior Terrence Brown who had 17 points to lead the team. However, the ball-dominant guard also had four turnovers in the first half alone. That was a significant reason the Utes turned the ball over nine times as a team during that period.
Huskies trio keeps up pace, Franck Kepnang dominates defensively
The recipe in the second half was simple for UW. Diallo (24 points), Claude (21) and Steinbach (20) kept their foot on the gas pedal, and the small-ball Utes lineup struggled to get stops. More impressively, the Huskies made just three 3-pointers and managed to keep the Utes at arm’s length.
Kepnang was critical to the effort on the opposite end of the court. The Utes came in averaging just over 82 points per game this season before falling well short of that figure. Kepnang was a huge reason why.
The senior center had just four points, but he totaled 10 rebounds and six blocks — matching his career-high in shot rejections. He was all over the floor, contesting seemingly every shot Utah put up. That led to a massive 11% shooting percentage difference between the two teams.
Brown, who dominated the first half for the Utes, had just four second-half points. Junior Keanu Dawes totaled 17 for Utah in the loss.
If the Huskies are going to be competitive in Big Ten play, they need Kepnang to keep stonewalling opponents. And they need the offensive trio to be consistently efficient.
UW shot 51% from the field in this one, which won’t happen every game. The defense is the most important factor.
The concerning figure
The Huskies lost the rebounding battle 36-32 to the Utes, who have the smallest lineup in the Big 12. That doesn’t bode well for the Huskies with much tougher games on the horizon.
UW got a combined 21 boards from their 6-foot-11 duo of Steinbach and Kepnang, but no other player had more than three. More effort from the entire lineup will be necessary to beat teams with significantly better rebounding.
It was an uncharacteristic night for the Huskies, who previously averaged 42.1 rebounds per game as a team in their first 12 games of the season — third-most in the Big Ten.
Wesley Yates III a big loss for Huskies
Yates, the Huskies’ second-leading scorer (14.9 points per game), was ruled out indefinitely on Monday after undergoing wrist surgery, per The Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman. The sophomore guard was also averaging the second-most minutes per game of any UW player (31.2 per game).
As a result, the Huskies relied heavily on their star offensive trio to produce points, but they fell below their season average of 83.3 points. Concerns were heightened further when Diallo went out with an apparent ankle injury in the second half, but he returned shortly after.
Outside of Steinbach, Diallo and Claude, the Huskies’ eight-player rotation scored just nine points. They will need more production heading into the conference schedule with Yates out.
Big games on the horizon
The Huskies begin their 18-game Big Ten schedule at 5 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 4, when they travel to Indiana (10-3, 1-1 Big Ten).
UW will be playing more frequently and against a difficult conference that includes Michigan, Nebraska, Michigan State and Purdue, which already have 12 wins each and two in the conference.
If the Huskies can’t shake the injury bug, it could be a long season. But they’ve shown enough to be a bit of a dark horse in a competitive landscape.
