Danny Sprinkle, in the midst of his first year leading the Washington Huskies, is building a team that had some early success and seemed capable of winning a few games this season. And then UW ran into Big Ten play and hit a buzzsaw.
The Huskies have unfortunately lost six games in a row and, on the defensive side of things, things are pretty bleak at the moment, but there’s a chance that things could turn around this weekend when UW faces off against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Thankfully, for UW’s sake, the Golden Gophers aren’t all that great of a team either. Washington is 10-10 on the season and 1-8 against Big Ten foes while Minnesota is 11-10 and 3-7 vs. conference opponents. At least in theory, it seems like there’s a chance to snap that six-game losing streak and for UW to get a road win here.
But the Huskies will definitely need to play sharper basketball on the defensive side of things.
Will the Washington Huskies be able to have defensive success like earlier in the year when facing the Minnesota Golden Gophers?
Early on this season, Washington was limiting opponents to just 67.1 points per game. It’s not the best ever, but that’s a decent total that allows for the Huskies to win as long as the offense isn’t having an off night.
Unfortunately, in Big Ten play, Washington is giving up 77.7 points per game. That’s over 10 points per game difference here. UW is really struggling to adapt to the physical level of competition that the Big Ten has.
But, this game could give Washington a bit of redemption as the Golden Gophers are averaging just 68.9 points per game. IF, and this is a big if (thus the all caps there), Minnesota’s offense can get off to a slow start, then maybe the Huskies can find some success in this game. We’ll see.