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Sprinkle highlights defensive concerns in Washington Huskies dominant exhibition win

By Ethan Lee

Mar 21, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Utah State Aggies head coach Danny Sprinkle is seen during the NCAA tournament practice day at Gainbridge FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Robert Goddin-Imagn Images
Mar 21, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Utah State Aggies head coach Danny Sprinkle is seen during the NCAA tournament practice day at Gainbridge FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Robert Goddin-Imagn Images / Robert Goddin-Imagn Images
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While the first basketball game of the Danny Sprinkle era ended up being an incredibly lopsided win for the Washington Huskies men’s basketball team, the exhibition game apparently taught Sprinkle a few things about how the Huskies need to improve as they move forward. 

No team is ever going to be perfect with everything that it attempts to do and that’s especially true in your first competition as a team in the beginning stages of a long term rebuild project under a brand new head coach. And while the exhibition win over Western Oregon was incredibly lopsided thanks to a remarkable offensive effort, Sprinkle still believes the Huskies have room to improve.

Especially on the defensive side of things.

"I thought, defensively, I didn’t think we were great,” Sprinkle explained in his postgame press conference. “I thought, you know, our energy and intensity wasn't on the level it needs to be. Next Tuesday it needs to be on a whole nother level."

And he’s not entirely wrong. The Huskies gave up 68 points to Western Oregon, which isn’t exactly the most comforting thing ever given the talent differential that exists between these two programs. And whil;e the Huskies’ had a very tangible size advantage in this win, they still struggled at times defensively.

Washington Huskies get dominant exhibition win, but Danny Sprinkle identifies opportunities for improvement

“Even when they had you know a small lineup in and we had a big lineup having to guard on the perimeter, you still got to have that energy,” Sprinkle said.

The head coach of the Huskies went on to discuss how Western Oregon was able to launch a pretty astonishing number of three pointers in this game. Washington’s defense really shouldn’t be allowing a team of that caliber to put up 38 attempts from beyond the arc.

"We shouldn't be giving up 38 three-point attempts, and if they are, they should be at the end of the shot clock," Sprinkle continued. 

But, the Huskies were able to do a few things well defensively. They dominated the rebounding battle, limited fast break points to a grand total of seven, kept second chance points down to 10, scored 23 points off of turnovers, and held Western Oregon to just 18 points in the paint. 

All things considered, that’s not too bad. You just want to see those numbers inflated up a little bit more, especially in this sort of game.

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