The Washington Huskies ( 10-7, 2-4 Conference) fought the No. 4 Michigan Wolverines (15-1, 5-1 Conference)in game two of a three-game homestand at Alaska Airlines Arena. With a win over Ohio State on Sunday, Washington wanted to continue the momentum against Michigan. The Huskies effectively dominated the paint against the Buckeyes, scoring 40 points in the paint. The Wolverines came into the contest with the best defense in the nation.
Holding opponents to 39.5% on two-point field goal attempts (the lowest in the country). To pull the upset, Washington needed to exploit Michigan’s recent struggles at defending the three-point line. Wisconsin gave the Wolverines their first defeat of the season on Saturday, 91-88, by hitting a remarkable 15 threes. The Huskies came into the game shooting just (28%) from deep in their last three games and had to shoot better from distance to have a chance to win.
Washington and Michigan work through poor early shooting to find offense
The Huskies’ biggest highlight in the first minutes of action was a three-point play from Hannes Steinbach. Offense was a struggle for Washington, particularly from beyond the arc. The Huskies missed their first 10 shots from three before F Jacob Ognacevic ended the drought. Ognacevic, in his first action of the season, made his first three-pointer of the year. For the half, Washington shot just 35% for the field (12/34) and 21% from three (4/19). Quimari Peterson led all Husky scorers with nine first-half points, going 3/6 from deep.
Washington plays strong defense, but falls behind at the free-throw line
The Huskies held the Wolverines to just 36% (14/39) from the field in the first half and 19% from three (3/16). Although both teams had nearly identical shooting margins for the half, Michigan took the lead at the foul line. The Wolverines shot 10 free throws and made eight of those attempts. Washington shot just three foul shots and made two. After 20 minutes of play, Michigan led the Huskies 39-30 at halftime.
The Wolverines wear down the Huskies inside
In the second half, Michigan broke down Washington’s interior defense. Led by big men F Morez Johnson and F Aday Mora, the Wolverines punished the Huskies in the paint. Mora used all of his 7’4 size advantage to dominate Washington. Scoring 20 points for the game while going 10/11 from the field. Johnson also added 16 points and 16 rebounds in Michigan’s dominant effort in the paint.
Michigan outscored the Huskies 28-18 in the paint to close out the contest. The Wolverines finished the game with 50 points in the paint to Washington’s 28. After the game, Danny Sprinkle spoke about his team’s inability to guard the paint in the second half.
“Like, you know, Michigan will wear you down with their size and their speed. But I thought our bigs did a really good job. You know, like, they’re hard to handle, they score, you know, Mara is a big dude. And he’s, when he gets to his left shoulder, like, he’s really good, you know close to the rim. You know, I do think a couple of, a couple of his dunks, like we had some breakdown in our ball screen defense, and a couple of times, you know, Franck was coming over to block shots and he needed to stay with his guy because they were just pump faking and then they’d throw it up to him for a layup. And so, you know, they kind of caught us in that no man’s land a couple of times, which we’ll learn from that on film”, said Sprinkle.
Washington’s struggles from deep plague its upset bid
The Huskies found some rhythm early in the second half, hitting three of their first four threes. The rhythm was short-lived as Washington made just two of its next 10 three-point shots. The Huskies’ inability to consistently hit shots from the perimeter kept them from puttiing together a sustained comeback to overtake the Wolverines.
“I think we started the game 0/10, you know, then we picked it up a little bit from three, and that’s when we kind of made our run, you know, but I thought Michigan did a really good job, just kind of, just keeping that lead at six to eight, you know. We had it cut to six, you know, plenty of times in that second half. You know, I can think of two times that we, you know, missed open threes. You know, that those are the backbreaking ones, and then they transition and get it back up to eight or nine you know”, said Sprinkle.
Washington’s inconsistency from beyond the arc has been a recurring theme in recent games. The Huskies shot just 6/18 from three in their previous game against Ohio State. Tonight against Michigan, Washington made only 9/33 three-point attempts. The Huskies shooting woes kept them from making up the difference, as they lost 82-72 to the Wolverines.
What’s next for Washington
After a tough loss to one of the nation’s best teams, the Huskies dropped to (10-7 overall, and 2-3 in conference). Washington’s next game is on Saturday at home against No. 12 Michigan State to close out this homestand.
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