> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Despite Hannes Steinbach’s 29 points, Washington Men Fall Short Against UCLA - URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/washington-men-fall-short-against-ucla/ - Published: 2025-12-04T09:37:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-08T06:16:59.000Z - Author: Aaron Coe - Tags: Huskies, Washington Men's Basketball, Danny Sprinkle, Zoom Diallo, Hannes Steinbach, Quimari Peterson [Embed from Getty Images](https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/2249224780?ref=emeraldcityspectrum.com) SEATTLE, Wash. — The Washington men’s basketball team saw the return of frosh phenom Hannes Steinbach on Tuesday, but the German forward’s 29 points and a late comeback attempt were not enough to keep UW from losing its seventh straight conference season opener. Down double digits for much of the second half, the Huskies battled back to have a shot to win it at the end. Zoom Diallo’s off-balance three from well beyond the 3-point arc was off the mark, and Washington (5-3 overall, 0-1 Big Ten) fell 82-80 to UCLA (6-2, 1-0) at Hec Edmundson Pavilion for its 12th loss in its last 13 tries against the Bruins. Though glad to see his team fight until the final horn, UW's second-year head coach made it clear he expects more. “Not close enough,” Sprinkle said when asked how close the team was to breaking through with a signature win. “We’re two seconds away, but it when it comes down to it, we just shot ourselves in the foot. and you’re not going to beat these elite teams when you do that.” “I give our guys a lot of credit for coming back and making some big shots and some big plays, getting the ball to the rim and giving our selvees a chance to have a shot to win it at the end. But, you know, it comes down to the little things.” Washington’s deficit reached 16 points, 73-57, when UCLA’s Tyler Bilodeau — who scored 20 of his 21 points in the second half — hit a pair of free throws with 6:11 to go. UW finally got UCLA’s lead into single digits when Wesley Yates hit 3 with 2:31 remaining for the first points by a guard in nearly 3 1/2 minutes. UW trailed by one with 37 seconds to go after five straight points from guard Quimari Peterson. But Diallo got called for a foul on Skyy Clark’s 3-point attempt, and the Bruins guard scored the final three of his team-high 25 points. Diallo’s 3-point play with eight seconds to go closed it to a one-point deficit again to eventually give him a long shot at a game-winner. “We’re a second-half team, but I don’t think we should keep approaching it like that,” Diallo said. “We just kept telling each other, ‘Keep fighting. It ain’t over until triple zeroes.’ And we got fighters on our team. So that was really the mindset.” > Danny Sprinkle talks about a big night from [#Huskies](https://twitter.com/hashtag/Huskies?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=emeraldcityspectrum.com) freshman Hannes Steinbach in a losing effort to UCLA on Wednesday. [pic.twitter.com/pn7i9e9aw9](https://t.co/pn7i9e9aw9?ref=emeraldcityspectrum.com)— Aaron Coe (@Coe\_Aaron) [December 4, 2025](https://twitter.com/Coe%5FAaron/status/1996472902636757200?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=emeraldcityspectrum.com) ### Steinbach’s Emphatic Return The 6-11 freshman showed no ill effects from an ankle injury that kept him out of the past three games, contributing game highs of 29 points on 11-of-12 shooting and 10 rebounds. “I practiced the last three days, and just wanted to get my rhythm back,” said Steinbach, who recorded his fourth double-double in five games. “And then early in the game, my team found me.” Sprinkle was not surprised to see Steinbach dominate in his return. “He’s just a damn good basketball player,” said Sprinkle, whose team will play at USC on Saturday. “You can see how much we missed him the last three games. His IQ and passing ability is elite. Yeah, he was 11 for 12, but the way he makes teams defend us, and changes everything, and get everybody shots is why he’s one of the best players in the country.” ### Guard Inconsistencies Diallo, playing the point for most of his 34 minutes, added 19 points and four assists to complement Steinbach’s outburst. Quimari Peterson and Yates each scored 12 and were a part of the Huskies’ late comeback bid. However, the Huskies guards combined for 11 turnovers. Desmond Claude played 20 minutes off the bench, and turned it over a team-high four times while shooting 2-for-6 on his way to five points. Freshman point guard JJ Mandaquit, who started early in the season, played just seven minutes off the bench and did not score. “They did a good job going to their zone (defense), which they don’t go to very much”, Sprinkle said. “Though we were playing really well offensively early. They went to the zone and we just got stagnant. We’ve been pretty good zone team so far this year, but for whatever reason, we had no ball movement, no body movement.” ### Injuries Hamper Huskies Washington saw the return of Steinbach, but missed starting forward Bryson Tucker for the fourth straight game. The Huskies, who have been unable to have full 5-on-5 scrimmages at times without pulling in assistant coaches, expect sharp-shooting forward Jacob Ognacevic back sometime next month. Diallo had no interest in accepting the injury reasoning. “Nobody cares, I’ll be honest with you,” he said flatly. “Everybody’s banged up. Everybody has injuries. We all signed up to be a part of this league with ultimate competitors and elite players. It does suck, for sure, but we got to handle what we got.”