UW Men's Basketball Notebook: Last Place is Lonely

Week of February 24 - March 2: Danny Sprinkle's first year is a quite disappointing

Overall Record: 13-14

Big 10 Record: 4-12

Net Ranking: 95

Last Week’s Recap

Washington once again blew a game at home and Danny Sprinkle nearly had a stroke on the court. In a highly entertaining back and forth contest, the Huskies held a slim one point lead after forcing a turnover with 12 seconds on the clock. Unfortunately, freshman Zoom Diallo did not recognize he had a timeout and turned the ball over on an inbounds play. Rutgers’ Jeremiah Williams stole the ball and was fouled, making 1 of 2 free throws to send the game to overtime. (Also the Dawgs blew the free throw rebound and Rutgers actually had a baseline out of bounds to win the game). Despite the Washington late lead, projected top 5 pick Dylan Harper was a man among boys as he recorded 34 points and did whatever he wanted on offense. In fairness to Sprinkle and the team, the refs were awful. The Scarlet Knights shot 37 free throws to the Huskies 15. That’s stupid.

Speaking of stupid, the Dawgs blew another lead but this time they were on the road at Iowa. Despite holding a 32-22 lead in the first half, the Huskies were in a battle all second half with Iowa making plays when it mattered most. As Coach Sprinkle said to the Seattle Times: “They made some hustle plays. I got to give them credit. They got all the 50-50 balls and they made us pay.” Sadly, the loss means the Huskies are in last place again in the Big 10 and unlikely to even make the Big 10 tournament. Woof. Not the good kind of woof.

Player of the Week

Mekhi Mason - SeaTown Sports Player of the Week/Red Box Pictures

Recently the Huskies best player, Mekhi Mason had another great week and gave hope to Washington fans for next season. Mason was great against Rutgers with 20 points, three assists and four steals. The junior guard continued his successful scoring run with 19 points on the road against Iowa.

Stat of the Week

Husky opponents shot 58 free throws in two games this past week to Washington’s 37.

This Coming Week

Washington travels to Wisconsin on Tuesday, February 25th for a 6:00 pm tip (Big 10).

Wisconsin is really good this year, but they are good in a very non-Wisconsin way. Most of you, like me, think of the Badgers as a defensive minded, low scoring, tough team. Not this Wisconsin team. The 2024-25 Badgers squad is 4th in the Big 10 at 81.7 points per game while shooting the second most three pointers in the conference. John Tonje is the leading scorer in the conference at 19.7 points per game and will likely put up 30 on the Dawgs.

Washington returns home on Saturday, March 1st for a 3:00 pm tip against Indiana (white out game on Big 10).

Indiana might have the most frustrated fan base in America. Mike Woodson has already announced he is stepping down after the season while the Hoosiers sit at 7-9 in conference play and among the first four out in ESPN’s latest bracketology. This makes the UW game a must win for the Hoosiers. With wins over Michigan State and Purdue in the past 10 days, the Hoosiers look to be peaking and thus the Dawgs are in trouble. Indiana features a balanced attack with five players averaging 9.1 points or more per game.

National Games to Watch

Gonzaga at Santa Clara
Tuesday, February 25th at 8:00 pm on CBS Sports Network

#8 Michigan State at #16 Maryland
Wednesday, February 26th at 3:30 pm on Big 10 Network

#1 Auburn at #17 Kentucky
Saturday, March 1st at 10:00 am on ABC

#6 Alabama at #5 Tennessee
Saturday, March 1st at 1:00 pm on ESPN

#12 Texas A&M at #3 Florida
Saturday, March 1st at 5:30 pm on SEC Network

#22 Arizona at #9 Iowa State
Saturday, March 1st at 6:00 pm on ESPN

#11 Wisconsin at #8 Michigan State
Sunday, March 2nd at 10:30 am on CBS

Big 10 Standings

Big 10 record and net ranking in parentheses

1. Michigan (13-3, #21)

2. Michigan State (13-3, #14)

3. Maryland (11-5, #11)

4. Wisconsin (11-5, #13)

5. Purdue (11-6, #19)

6. UCLA (11-6, #25)

7. Illinois (9-8, #23)

8. Oregon (9-8, #32)

9. Indiana (7-9, #56)

10. Nebraska (7-10, #54)

11. Ohio State (7-10, #34)

12. Rutgers (7-10, #75)

13. USC (6-10, #71)

14. Iowa (6-10, #65)

15. Minnesota (6-10, #92)

16. Northwestern (5-11, #57)

17. Penn State (5-12, #69)

18. Washington (4-12, #95)

Recruiting Corner

Shout out to UW Hoops World on X for great updates on Husky recruits.

JJ Mandaquit of Utah Prep nearly put up a triple double this week with 20 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists.

And Mady Traore continues to do crazy things for a 7 footer.