Washington travels back to the Pacific Northwest fresh off a victory after downing Rutgers 79-72, splitting the East Coast road trip 1-1, and advancing to 14-14 (5-11 Big Ten) on the year.
Anyone who has ever coached, played, or watched a basketball game knows the phrase: “It’s a game of runs.”
There were several instances throughout both halves when it felt like Washington was on the verge of turning the game into a blowout on the road, but Rutgers made runs and kept the Huskies from feeling overly comfortable. The opening half was an indicator of that. The Huskies were dominant, leading by double digits for most of the 20 minutes. The Scarlet Knights were suffocated by a defense that was without shot-blocking big man Franck Kepnang, and the Huskies were piling on points on the other end of the floor. It took roughly seven minutes of game action for UW to build a 21-9 lead.
“It’s a game of runs.”
Rutgers went on a furious one.
Washington led 36-22 with 3:08 left in the opening half. By the 1:49 mark, Rutgers trailed 36-29. Momentum stalled, and an invisible lid sat atop both baskets, keeping that score stagnant throughout the remainder of the half.
The lead shrank rapidly, and in what felt like an instant, Lino Marks was knocking down a free throw to convert the and-one, trimming UW’s lead to 69-64. Danny Sprinkle’s squad found its composure, but Rutgers wasn’t going away.
UW led 73-68 when Hannes Steinbach took matters into his own hands and pushed the advantage to 75-68. On the next trip down the floor, Wesley Yates III drove in for a layup; Washington led 77-68 with 42 seconds left. Dagger.
When the final buzzer blared through the arena, Washington was celebrating a 79-72 win over its foe from Piscataway.
Steinbach led the way with 24 points and 16 rebounds, Yates added 19 points, while Quimari Peterson and Diallo both added 10 apiece.
Washington’s regular-season finale is at home on Saturday against Wisconsin (19-8). After that, the Huskies will play in their first Big Ten Tournament, as all 18 teams in the conference will qualify under the new format.
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To call it jockeying for position wouldn’t quite be accurate, considering UW never lost its lead, but the second half saw both teams going on mini-runs. The Huskies would build a cushion. Rutgers would respond by drawing closer. It continued throughout the first ten minutes until Washington seized control and began to build a sizable lead, going up by as many as 17 with just over nine minutes remaining.
Then another furious run from Rutgers woke Jersey Mike’s Arena up. The Scarlet Knights had slowly fought their way back to a close game, but UW refused to give up any ground. After Zoom Diallo sank two free throws to take a 69-55 lead with 3:57 remaining, Rutgers made its charge, playing at a tempo only a trailing team embraces.
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