Washington Huskies men rebound from loss to Seattle U, hammer San Diego

The Washington men’s basketball team had a few days to stew over an upset loss in its previous outing and could ill afford another setback during a challenging slate of nonconference games.

Despite the holiday season, the Huskies were in no mood to give anything to the visiting Toreros and, in fact, UW perfectly played the role of the Grinch while holding San Diego to a season low in points and cruising to an 86-56 victory.

“That loss is still sore,” sophomore guard Zoom Diallo said of Friday’s 70-66 defeat to crosstown rival Seattle U. “It’s one of those losses that you really can’t do nothing about it. You got to learn from it and move on. We have 20-plus games. We can’t dwell about one game.

“So, the emphasis as a team has been, ‘Hey, we got to move on. We play San Diego, which was today.’ That was our main focus and I’ve been just trying to (tell) the guys we got to come in here and dominate. And I feel like we just did that.”

Monday’s blowout win was in stark contrast to UW’s last outing, particularly on the defensive end.

In front of 7,953 at Alaska Airlines Arena, the Huskies dismantled San Diego, which shot 36.8% from the field and went scoreless during a decisive seven-minute stretch in the first half when Washington took control for good.

“We challenged our guys to be consistent defensively for 40 minutes,” UW coach Danny Sprinkle said. “I didn’t care what happened offensively. We haven’t been playing great offensively, but we’d have some lapses defensively the last three, four games. So, we really challenged our guys to win the wars.

“I’m proud of our guys for their intent tonight and playing the right way.”

Diallo, who finished with 17 points on 8-for-13 shooting and four assists, got things started with a step-back jumper on the first offensive trip and Washington began the game with seven unanswered points.

However, San Diego recovered and tied it at 10.

The Toreros put up a fight for a few minutes before the Huskies regained control with a momentum-swinging spurt highlighted by stingy defense and opportunistic offense.

Leading 16-14 with 11:31 left before halftime, standout freshman forward Hannes Steinbach made a layup that sparked a 20-0 run.

San Diego missed seven straight shots while six UW players scored during the decisive spurt, capped by freshman guard JJ Mandaquit, who hit a couple of free throws to go up 36-14 with 4:32 remaining. Mandaquit had nine points, four assists, two rebounds and two steals.

“Once we got that lead going up pretty high, it was one of those, not to be disrespectful, but you want to put your foot on their neck and just keep going,” Diallo said. “So, that was their mindset coming in.”

Washington led 46-26 at halftime and San Diego never got closer than 19 points in the second half.

Steinbach converted 6 of 13 shots for a game-high 21 points. He also collected 14 rebounds for his seventh double-double, along with three steals and two blocked shots.

“He has a motor,” Sprinkle said. “He gets double-doubles because he goes and rebounds. He doesn’t wait for the rebound. He goes every time (and) makes the effort. Some guys don’t have the motor to go every time. He does.

“He just has a knack to know where the ball’s going and really use his body as leverage. And he’s got great hands. I’m proud of the 21 (points), but he’s got to get 28, 29. He has to continue to be aggressive.”

Desmond Claude added 13 points for Washington (8-4, 1-1 Big Ten), which outrebounded San Diego 46-28.

Despite the stellar defense against the Toreros (5-7), who had 15 points each from Adrian McIntyre and Juanse Gorosito, it wasn’t a perfect night for the Huskies.

Sprinkle bristled over UW’s 12 turnovers and said, “That’s not good enough at this level.”

Washington also shot 5 of 21 on three-pointers following 1-for-15 shooting behind the arc against Seattle U.

And the injury bug bit the Huskies once again.

Sophomore guard and second-leading scorer Wesley Yates III injured his right hand on Friday and backup center Lathan Sommerville hurt his knee during Saturday’s practice.

Sprinkle said it’s uncertain how long they will be out.

Washington hosts Utah on Dec. 29 in its final nonconference game.

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