1 of 2 | Washington guard Zoom Diallo scored a team-high 19 points and added five assists, but the Huskies lost 64-60 against Maryland Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, in College Park, Maryland. (Courtesy of UW Athletics)
Skip Ad
By
Percy Allen
Seattle Times staff reporter
They didn’t necessarily need a three-pointer, but Quimari Peterson and Wesley Yates III had a good look at a three in the final seconds and launched shots that would have given the Washington men’s basketball team the lead — and possibly a much-needed victory to save its postseason hopes.
However, their attempts rattled out of the rim, and the Huskies lost 64-60 against Maryland on Saturday afternoon while tying their fewest points of the season and falling below .500 for the second time.
“At the end, we had some looks and we didn’t knock them down,” coach Danny Sprinkle said during a postgame radio interview while lamenting UW’s 5-for-22 shooting on three-pointers. “We’ve got to shoot the ball better.”
In their first ever game at the Xfinity Center, the Huskies (13-14, 5-11 in Big Ten) also needed to rebound better than they did against the Terrapins, who controlled the glass with a 36-23 rebounding disparity, including 14-4 on offensive boards that allowed them to outscore UW 16-2 on second-chance points.
“They punked us on the boards,” Sprinkle said. “They’re physical and they’re athletic, but that’s Big Ten basketball. I didn’t think our guards did a great job of boxing guys out. It seemed like every long rebound they came up with.”
Despite shooting 53.8% from the field and holding Maryland to 40% in the first half, Washington trailed 34-32 at the break.
Zoom Diallo led the scoring attack early with 10 of his team-high 19 points on 5-for-8 shooting while Yates had seven points, and Maryland limited Hannes Steinbach, UW’s leading scorer, to six points and three shots.
Neither team led by more than five points in a seesaw second half that included eight lead changes and six ties.
Steinbach, who had 14 points on 7-for-8 shooting, drained a jumper in the paint that tied it at 60-60 with 1:26 left before Peterson fouled Andre Mills, who put Maryland up for good at 62-60 with 57 seconds remaining.
After a UW timeout, Peterson misfired on a contested three-pointer and following a scramble for the rebound, Washington maintained possession on a jump ball.
Sprinkle called another timeout and designed a three-point play for Yates, who misfired on a step-back shot behind the arc and finished with 12 points on 3-for-13 shooting.
Peterson collected the rebound, but Terps forward Solomon Washington blocked his putback attempt, which ignited a Maryland fast break that ended with a climatic alley-oop dunk from Mills, sending the crowd of 12,480 into a frenzy.
Advertising
Skip Ad
“I thought we did a better job taking care of the basketball in the second half,” Sprinkle said, noting UW’s six turnovers. “I don’t think we had a turnover, but we couldn’t score three straight possessions. … They made one more play than we did at the end.”
First-year Terrapins coach Buzz Williams reportedly held a 7 a.m. shoot-around workout Saturday and benched leading scorer David Coit at the start for undisclosed reasons. He finished with two points in six minutes.
Maryland (11-16, 4-12), which snapped a two-game skid, received 12 points from forward Elijah Saunders while Washington had 11 and former West Seattle High standout and Washington State transfer Isaiah Watts added five.
“It’s a tough one to swallow,” Sprinkle said.
Washington has four regular-season games remaining and concludes its road trip with Tuesday’s matchup at Rutgers (11-16, 4-12).
Note:
— Sophomore forward Bryson Tucker returned to the starting lineup following a one-game layoff due to a thumb injury. However, he logged 13 scoreless minutes on 0-for-2 shooting and did not play in the second half.
BOX SCORE
Percy Allen: pallen@seattletimes.com. Percy Allen is a sports reporter for The Seattle Times, where he writes about the University of Washington Huskies men’s and women’s basketball teams and the Seattle Storm.
