Huskies Men’s Basketball Erases 21-Point Deficit, Still Falls to Oregon in Regular Season Finale
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Washington forward Hannes Steinbach, center, goes up for a shot as the Oregon Ducks host the Washington Huskies on March 7, 2026, at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Oregon. Credit: Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images [/caption]
Hannes Steinbach’s 20-point double-double in the second half alone helped erase a 21-point Oregon lead, but the Ducks’ late-game heroics sealed the Huskies’ fate in an 85-79 loss in the final game of the regular season on Saturday, March 7, at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene.
The defeat sealed UW men’s basketball’s fate as the No. 12 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, setting them up for a game against No. 13 USC in the third round on Wednesday, March 11.
UW finished the regular season 15-16 overall (7-13 B10). The Huskies have shown their potential at times throughout the campaign, but have consistently fallen short of their ceiling amid injuries and defensive lapses.
Here’s what we learned from the Huskies’ Saturday night loss to the Ducks to conclude the regular season.
A nightmarish start
UW and Oregon began the game as complete opposites. The Huskies missed their first six shots, while the Ducks knocked down three straight triples to take a quick 9-0 lead.
Thankfully, at least initially, it didn’t spiral out of control defensively as it often has for UW this season. They hung around, but Steinbach picked up two fouls in just the first seven minutes. Steinbach had to sit, allowing Oregon to open up a 10-point lead.
That’s when the Huskies began to sink. Three turnovers early gave the Ducks extra possessions, and Oregon was shooting lights out from the start. Even once Steinbach returned, Oregon had pushed its run up to 16-0.
It was suddenly 29-8 after the Ducks sank their first seven 3-pointers.
Oregon moved the ball well, exploiting the Huskies’ zone defense. Head coach Danny Sprinkle was resistant to moving out of that set despite the UW resistance being far too slow to react to Oregon’s unselfish attack.
The Huskies brought the lead down a bit by halftime, trailing 44-30 at the break. Oregon has only averaged 70.7 points per game this season, which is third-worst in the Big Ten.
Zoom Diallo led UW with eight points in the first half, just one game after scoring a career-high 26 points against USC on Wednesday.
Takai Simpkins led the Ducks with 12, while Nate Bittle added 11. Dezdrick Lindsay knocked in three triples.
Huskies hang tough before disaster
The Huskies got the Ducks’ lead down to 12 with just under nine minutes remaining in the game. Steinbach began to take over in an attempt to will UW back into the game, scoring 14 points in just the first 12 minutes of the second half.
They continued to make it interesting down the stretch with a much more physical defensive approach. It’s obvious how good the Huskies can be when they actually maximize their effort on both sides of the court — something that has come and gone throughout the season.
Switching to a man-to-man defense made a huge difference in the Huskies’ approach, and suddenly the Ducks looked uncomfortable.
Offensively, UW shot the ball much better in the second half and managed to get out in transition after being too disjointed to do so in the first half.
The energy in the building and on the benches shifted. What looked like it was going to be a blowout upset became a tightly-contested battle to the finish.
Oregon led 74-70 with 2:37 remaining. Diallo made two free throws to make it a two-point game — the closest the Huskies had been since the opening tip.
The Huskies turned the Ducks over on their next possession, and Steinbach cleaned up a miss for a putback and-one. He converted the free throw to give UW its first lead of the game with just under two minutes remaining.
UW possessed a 79-76 lead in the waning seconds before Oregon’s Kwame Evans Jr. was fouled beyond the three-point line and sank it. He made the free throw, giving the Ducks a one-point lead with 11.6 seconds to play.
After a tough pass from Diallo, Steinbach was swarmed by Ducks players and turned it over. Sprinkle, irate that there was no foul called, was ejected. After a couple of Oregon free throws, it was Evans’ miraculous triple that sealed it.
Steinbach ended up with 24 points and 12 rebounds in just the second half. Diallo and Wesley Yates III each scored 14 for the Huskies.
Evans totaled a team-high 20 points for the Ducks, followed by 18 points from Simpkins.
On to the tournament
The Huskies held the tiebreaker over USC, which landed them the No. 12 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. Minnesota earned the No. 11 seed after beating Northwestern on Saturday.
That means UW will face USC (18-13, 7-13 B10) for the second time in three games after beating the Trojans twice in the regular season — most recently a 91-72 win on Wednesday, March 4.
Both teams will be familiar with one another, and the winner will go on to face No. 5 Wisconsin (22-9, 14-6 B10) in the third round at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 11.
The winner of that game heads to the quarterfinals to face No. 4 Illinois (23-7, 14-5 B10) at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, March 13, for a spot in the semifinals. UW will have to be much better than it was on Saturday if they hope to get that far.
