UW men in danger of missing Big Ten tournament after loss to Iowa
The bubble might have burst for the Washington men’s basketball team.
The Huskies had a chance to move into a 15th place tie in the Big Ten standings — just above the cutoff for the league tournament — but Saturday’s 85-79 loss against Iowa dropped them to last place in the league with four games left.
Washington (13-14, 4-12 Big Ten) also dipped below .500 for the first time under first-year coach Danny Sprinkle, who described the matchup against the Hawkeyes as a must-win game.
In their previous seven outings, the Huskies alternated wins and losses and were due for a victory if the cadence held true on the final Saturday in February.
Junior guard Mekhi Mason sank a couple of perimeter shots in the opening minutes and led UW’s early three-point barrage that sparked a 21-9 lead after backup sharpshooter DJ Davis canned a shot behind the arc with 11:39 left before the break.
The Huskies were up 32-22 when they lost control of the game while the Hawkeyes finished the first half on an 11-2 run to cut UW’s lead to 34-33 at intermission.
In a bit of a quirk, fifth-year center Franck Kepnang provided the highlight of the game, which seemed to energize both teams.
He caught a pass near midcourt and dribbled once before taking two long strides and soaring over Riley Mulvey for poster dunk that sent the Hawkeye defender sprawling and created raucous celebration among UW players on the bench.
However, officials called Kepnang for an offensive foul and waived off the score, which swung the momentum toward the Hawkeyes.
Minutes later, Brock Harding hoisted a desperation three-pointer to beat the shot clock that tied it at 48-48 and sent the crowd of 10,393 at Hawkeye-Carver Arena into a frenzy.
Soon after, Hawkeyes guard Payton Sandfort knotted the score at 56-56 after banking in a wild three-pointer. On Iowa’s next possession, he drew a foul from Tyler Harris on a three-pointer and made three free throws to give the Hawkeyes’ their first lead at 59-56.
And Iowa canned another improbable three-pointer when Josh Dix canned a long jumper over Kepnang’s outstretched hands to go up 62-58.
Mason, who led UW with 19 points, tied it at 66-66 with a couple of free throws and Harris made two foul shots that cut Iowa’s lead to 70-68 with 3:29 left.
However, the Hawkeyes pulled away in the final minutes thanks to Sandfort, who finished with a game-high 27 points while Dix had 15.
Iowa (15-12, 6-10) also enjoyed a 36-20 bench scoring disparity.
Great Osobor finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds for Washington while Davis had 17, including 14 in the second half and Kepnang tallied 12 points and eight rebounds.
Washington ends its last extended Big Ten road trip at Wisconsin on Tuesday before returning to Seattle to host Indiana on March 1.