Washington men doomed by slow start against No. 5 Purdue

Percy Allen, The Seattle Times on Jan 7, 2026

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When the Big Ten announced the 2025-26 men’s basketball schedule last summer, Danny Sprinkle felt a sense of déjà vu and knew January was going to be a difficult month for the Washington Huskies.

“We’re going to be tested early,” the UW coach said at Big Ten Media Day. “The league didn’t do us any favor. It’s going to be tough. No different than last (season).”

During the 2024-25 season, Washington faced five ranked teams while posting a 1-6 record in January.

Once again, UW is scheduled to play five ranked teams in January — an arduous stretch that began with an 81-73 loss to No. 5 Purdue on Wednesday night.

It was the second straight defeat for the Huskies, who lost, 90-80, at Indiana on Sunday.

Last year, Washington led Purdue 30-22 at halftime before being outscored 47-28 in the second half and falling 69-58.

In front of a sellout crowd of 14,876 at Mackey Arena, the Huskies fell behind 9-0 in the opening minutes and provided very little resistance while the Boilermakers shot 67.9% on field goals in the first half and built a 45-28 halftime lead.

At the break, Washington shot 33.3% from the field, including 3 of 13 on 3-pointers. The Huskies also had more turnovers (10) than field goals (nine).

The Boilermakers trio of 6-foot-11 center Oscar Cluff, 6-9 forward Trey Kaufman-Renn and 7-4 backup center Daniel Jacobsen were the first this season to neutralize UW freshman star forward Hannes Steinbach, who had three points in the first half and finished with 17 on 7-for-11 shooting.

“It’s Purdue being Purdue,” Sprinkle said. “They’re a big physical team and they can throw Cluff and Jacobsen and Kaufman-Renn. Their guards were coming down and raking at the ball. They made it really hard.

“I thought we had some decent looks at the rim in the first half that we didn’t finish. You’re not ging to get wide open layups against Purdue. You got to score against some friction and some contact, but those are plays that you have to make if you want to win.”

While Steinbach and UW perimeter shooters struggled, the Huskies’ attack sputtered and relied on guard Zoom Diallo (14 points and eight assists) and center Franck Kepnang (10 points and 10 rebounds), who both fouled out.

Down 64-42, Quimari Peterson drilled a couple of 3s while the short-handed and undersized Huskies used an 11-2 run to trim their deficit to 66-53 with 7:42 left.

“They just played hard,” Sprinkle said during a postgame radio interview. “That’s half the battle. They were competing. There’s no agenda. They’re out there just playing their butt off. … We competed. We didn’t just try to play hard, we competed in that second half.”

Peterson continued to make clutch shots, including 3-pointer that pulled Washington to 73-64 with 3:10 remaining. He finished with 15 points, including a season-high five 3s.

Purdue answered with four straight points to hold on for its sixth straight win.

Despite first-half foul trouble, guard Braden Smith finished with a game-high 23 points and seven assists while Trey Kaufman-Renn had 14 points and 14 rebounds for Boilermakers, who improved to 14-1, 4-0 in Big Ten.

“I was proud of our guys,” said Sprinkle, who noted UW outscored Purdue 45-36 in the second half. “I still felt like we left a lot of points on the (floor). But we only had three turnovers in the second half. We had 11 assists in the second half.

“Hopefully we can build on that second half.”

Washington (9-6, 1-3) returns for a three-game homestand that starts Sunday against Ohio State and includes No. 2 Michigan and No. 12 Michigan State.

The Huskies also play No. 10 Nebraska and No. 16 Illinois this month.

“We need an environment like this,” Sprinkle said. “Those are the games that you have to get over the hump and that crowd has got to bring you energy. This place was electric tonight. They didn’t even have their students and it was sold out.

“We need Alaska Airlines Arena like that all three games next week. And we need to compete like we did in the second half tonight.”

Note

— Washington was without Wesley Yates III (wrist) and backup center Lathan Sommerville (knee) who both missed their third straight game due to injuries. Backup guard Jasir Rencher also sat out for the first time due to an undisclosed injury.