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# Washington Men’s Basketball Outclassed by No. 5 Purdue
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/washington-mens-basketball-outclassed-by-no-5-purdue/
- Published: 2026-01-08T05:00:38.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T06:16:28.000Z
- Author: Aaron Coe
- Tags: Huskies, Washington Men's Basketball, Danny Sprinkle, Zoom Diallo, Hannes Steinbach, Quimari Peterson, Franck Kepnang

\[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="2264"\]

![ Purdue’s Braden Smith defends Washington Huskies guard Zoom Diallo in a game at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Indiana on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2025. Credit: Washington Athletics ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1d/f2/1df2f77b-83dd-4bc0-a6d2-6d1bb5df89a3/content/images/2026/10/zoom-260107-jpeg-format-original.jpg)

Purdue’s Braden Smith defends Washington Huskies guard Zoom Diallo in a game at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Indiana on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2025\. Credit: Washington Athletics \[/caption\]

The No. 5 Purdue Boilermakers basketball team looked like a championship contender Wednesday night. 

The Huskies did not, as a late rally fell short in an 81-73 loss at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Indiana. 

Led by point guard Braden Smith (23 points, seven assists), the all-time Big Ten leader in assists, and bigs who finish at the basket, the Boilermakers showed the Huskies what a healthy, tournament-ready team looks like while winning their sixth straight to improve to 14-1 overall and 4-0 in conference play. 

Washington (9-6, 1-3) never led, and never truly threatened, though the Huskies trimmed a 22-point deficit with 10:15 remaining to single digits with 3:10 to go. But the final score was a close as UW would get. The state of Indiana was not kind to the Huskies, who lost 90-80 to the Hoosiers on Sunday. 

Washington will try to right the ship on Sunday when Ohio State visits. It’s a brutal stretch for the Huskies, who will host No. 2 Michigan and No. 12 Michigan State next week. 

“I thought we got some decent looks at the rim in the first half that we didn’t finish,” Washington head coach Danny Sprinkle said. “And you’re not going to get wide-open layups against Purdue. You’ve got to score against some friction and some contact.”

Four Huskies scored in double figures for Washington, including Hannes Steinbach (17 points, four rebounds), Quimari Peterson (15 points on 5-for-12 3-point shooting), Zoom Diallo (14 points, eight assists) and Franck Kepnang (10 points, 10 rebounds). 

It was the first double-double for Kepnang since Dec. 5, 2023 against Montana State. The 6-11, sixth-year senior fouled out with 9:14 to go. 

“Yeah, I thought his energy was great,” Sprinkle said. “During the first half, he had seven rebounds, and nobody else on our team had more than one. And that can’t happen, especially because they’re bigs put so much pressure on you going to the offensive glass.”

Despite Kepnang’s board work, Purdue outrebounded Washington 37-25\. Already missing forward Lathan Sommerville, UW played a smaller lineup for large stretches of the second half. Midseason addition Nikola Dzepina, a 6-10 forward, played 10 minutes but missed all five of his shots while collecting one rebound. 

Washington, missing starting guard Wesley Yates III and Sommerville, along with sharp-shooting forward Jacob Ognacevic, struggled on both ends from the start. 

The Huskies dug a big, 45-28 hole in the first half. Washington turned the ball over 10 times while shooting 33% (23% from 3-point range). Purdue took advantage of the miscues, shooting 68% and scoring 13 first-half points off UW turnovers. 

Washington’s offense looked functional in the second half as the Huskies made 53% of their shots, including five of 13 from behind the 3-point arc. UW turned it over just three times after halftime and handed out 13 of their 18 assists. 

Purdue extended its halftime lead, gaining a 64-42 advantage on Smith’s stepback jump shot with 10:15 remaining. Washington went on an 8-0 run from there to trim the deficit to 14\. 

“They had a better adjustment — we really wanted to keep them out of the paint,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “So we were trying to hedge as much as we could and get out there on ball screens. … In the second half, they started using that leverage against us.”

The Boilermakers placed plenty of defensive attention on Steinbach, using double teams to hold the freshman to three first-half points. Steinbach, the Big Ten’s rebounding leader entering Wednesday’s game, was held without a board until his putback with 6:04 to go. 

Peterson’s final points of the night, a 3-pointer with 3:10 to go, pulled UW within 73-64\. 

“We knew going into the second half that when they’ve been down, they’ve been willing to come back late and win games,” Smith told the Big Ten Network. “We knew they definitely have a second-half push, and we were just trying to take care of the ball, and just trying to make the simple play.”

But the Huskies would get no closer. JJ Mandaquit, who played just eight minutes, turned the ball over, and Washington missed two shots as Purdue increased its lead to 13 before Diallo’s jump shot with 1:13 left.