With Hannes Steinbach and a host of other Huskies out, Tuesday night’s game against Southern presented a test of the Huskies’ depth. If the game against the SWAC’s Southern Jaguars was any indication, then this could be a difficult season, but it also was a tale of perseverance and toughness that the Dawgs were missing last year.
It was a tale of two teams in the first half. One (Southern) was the scrappier team, making seemingly every shot, not intimidated at all. The other (Washington) was sleepwalking, clearly in need of more defensive help and missing out on seemingly every rebound. As Eldridge Recasner repeatedly said on the broadcast “Southern just wants it more right now”!
And then the switch flipped.
There were signs of course. Desmond Claude, a transfer from USC, made his debut on a minutes restriction, checking in off the bench early in the first half, and immediately spraying home a three, followed by a mid range jumper a few minutes later. But, as previously stated, Southern was making everything, grabbing every rebound, and forcing a plethora of turnovers, as they went out to a 37-29 lead at the half. The Jaguars actually got out to a 12 point lead at multiple points in the second half, as they stayed hot, even with good defense on some of their shots. Then Desmond Claude, Franck Kepnang, and Wesley Yates turned it on, with the trio cutting into the deficit and giving UW the lead in the second half before Southern’s Michael Jacobs tied the game at 69 with a 3 with 52 seconds left in the first half, as part of a 24 point effort. Kepnang in particular played an excellent game, as although he only had 6 points, they were 6 angry points, with 2 dunks. Those 6 points played a pivotal role, along with 10 boards and 6 blocks, as his size and tenacity played large down the stretch. Wesley Yates continued his incredible run in the purple and gold with 23 points on 6-14 shooting and 9-14 from the free throw line. Though Quimari Petersen didn’t have his best game, he did finish with 15 points, including a tough layup with 1.9 seconds left in the first overtime period to send it to double OT.
From there, Desmond Claude, JJ Mandaquit, Lathan Somerville and company pushed the lead to 5, and held it to at least 2 possessions until the final horn, with the final score being 99-93. Claude in particular had an incredibly gutsy game, finishing with 20 points on 6/14 shooting and 7/8 from the free throw line in 34 minutes. All that while having to go to the locker room to deal with cramping between the first and second overtime.
For one half, it seemed as though the fortunes for the Huskies rested on the shoulders of Hannes Steinbach, and without him, there were glaring deficiencies. For one half these Huskies were outmuscled and outworked. But these Huskies showed that they have some fight, some determination, some grit, whatever term you would like to use, and in pulling out the win tonight, they showed that sometimes you have to win ugly! 16 turnovers and 27 total team fouls is ugly, in my opinion. But they won, and they won because of the determination of guys like Yates, Petersen, Claude and Kepnang!
The Huskies have 9 days to get healthy before a meeting with Nevada in the Acrisure Holiday Classic on Thanksgiving! Southern, meanwhile, has a road game against San Jose State on Friday.