Washington’s Comeback Falls Short in Big Ten Tournament Exit
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Washington’s Quimari Peterson reaches for a high-five at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, where the Huskies faced Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday, March 12. Credit: Washington Athletics [/caption]
A valiant comeback by the Washington men’s basketball team fell just short, and the Huskies were eliminated from the Big Ten Tournament after an 85-82 loss to Wisconsin.
A year of promise turned into a regular season of limping came to an end Thursday. Trailing by 18 in the second half, the injury-riddled, 12th-seeded Huskies (16-17 overall) had a chance late, but Zoom Diallo’s game-tying 3-point attempt at the buzzer rattled out.
“Our mindset was that we were not out of it,” Diallo said. “Our whole mindset is that it’s not over until it’s triple zeroes. We just played a game yesterday when we were down 13, and you know, 18 is not that much. I would say when we started pressing them a little bit, we started to see that they were starting to get a little bit worried.”
Diallo willed Washington back into the game, scoring six straight points as the Washington outscored the Badgers 15-4 to cut its deficit to 81-80 with 1:07 remaining. John Blackwell (34 points) answered with a stepback jumpshot 18 seconds later. Diallo pulled UW back within one point on a tough layup with 17 seconds remaining, but Andrew Rohde hit a pair of free throws with eight seconds to go for the final margin to advance Wisconsin (23-9).
While the possibility of some sort of postseason play remains for the Huskies, it won’t be the NCAA Tournament. Diallo’s late flurry and another double-double from Hannes Steinbach, his 22nd, were not enough for the Huskies. The freshman forward, a potential NBA lottery pick possibility playing his last game at Washington, finished strong with 25 points, 16 rebounds and three blocked shots.
“It was a really fun season with the team,” Steinbach said. “We had such good chemistry, so I really enjoyed that part. Of course we all wanted a better result again, but the chemistry with this team, the trust that we have in general, was a really great experience — a lot of fun to play for Washington.”
Once again, however, Washington couldn’t hit enough 3s and could not stop the Badgers from draining them. Wisconsin, which made 17 3s against the Huskies in Seattle on Feb. 28, connected on 15 of 39 attempts from behind the arc on Thursday.
“When they're knocking down shots like that, whether it's man or whether it's zone or just making tough shots, there's not much you can do,” Sprinkle said.
Quimari Peterson made four of 10 3-point shots to finish with 14 points. The rest of the Huskies misfired on 10 of 13 attempts from behind the line.
Washington, needing to win five straight in the tournament to reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019, finished the season without winning two straight since December victories over San Diego and Utah.
Since then, Washington ended the season with as many players on the injury list as wins — seven. The Huskies fell behind by 13 on Wednesday against USC before mounting a comeback to reach the third round of the conference tournament. Washington outrebounded the Badgers 45-29 for an 18-9 edge in second-chance points, but never could solve Wisconsin’s longball success.
Wisconsin jumped out to an 8-2 lead as the Huskies continued a season-long theme of missing shots. Washington missed its first three shots from behind the arc and was one for six overall.
Washington finished the first half trailing 43-33 after making two of 11 3s and shooting 11 for 32 overall. Wisconsin picked up where it left off last time against the Huskies, sinking eight of 21 first-half 3 attempts. Nick Boyd, who finished with 23, made four of five 3-point attempts in the first half and five of six in the game.
Freshman Courtland Muldrew put together another well-rounded afternoon with eight points, six rebounds and five assists.
