Loss to Indiana eliminates UW men from Big Ten tourney contention

Well, that’s it — sort of.

The Washington men’s basketball team has two games left, but for all intents and purposes, its first season in the Big Ten ended following a 78-62 defeat against Indiana on Saturday afternoon.

The Huskies’ fourth straight loss coupled with wins by Minnesota and Northwestern officially eliminated UW from postseason contention. The top 15 teams in the 18-team Big Ten advance to the conference tournament.

Meanwhile, Washington (13-16) is last in the league at 4-14 and will finish with its first losing season since 2020-21.

Similar to Tuesday’s 88-62 loss at Wisconsin, this one got away from the Huskies early.

It took the Hoosiers fewer than seven minutes to build a double-digit lead and they went into halftime on top 44-30.

Freshman guard Vazoumana Diallo banked a three-pointer off the glass that beat the shot clock and cut the Huskies’ deficit to 44-37 early in the second half.

However, that’s as good as it got for UW.

Seven minutes later, Hoosier guard Anthony Leal stripped Diallo of the ball in the paint, which sparked a fast break that ended with forward Luke Goode’s three-pointer and 57-40 lead for Indiana.

Goode peppered Washington with four three-pointers for 15 points while forward Malik Reneau pummeled the Huskies inside with 22 points on 10-for-13 shooting.

Former Washington State guard Myles Rice added 10 points for Indiana (18-11, 9-9).

After forward Mackenzie Mgbako (10 points) drained a three-pointer that put the Hoosiers up 67-46 with 6:34 left, many Husky supporters in the ‘whiteout’ crowd of 7,851 at Alaska Airlines Arena began streaming for the exits while crimson-clad Hoosiers fans erupted in cheers.

Diallo scored a team-high 18 points while Mekhi Mason, Tyler Harris and Franck Kepnang each had 10 for Washington, which shot 36.2% from the field and 6 of 23 on three-pointers.

The Huskies travel to USC on Wednesday and hosts Oregon on March 9 in the season finale.