As they enter the home stretch of the Big Ten season, Washington and Rutgers share the same goal: avoid the opening round of the conference tournament.
The Huskies (13-14, 5-11 Big Ten) and Scarlet Knights (11-16, 4-12), who meet Tuesday in Piscataway, N.J., are currently in 13th and 14th place, respectively, with the Nos. 15-18 teams having to play first-round games on March 10 in Chicago.
“I see a team that we’re on the verge,” Washington coach Danny Sprinkle said of his oft-injured roster. “It’s been a challenge for our team. You know, different guys are playing different lineups all the time. And like I said, at the end of the day, you can make all the excuses that you want. That’s our record.”
The Huskies are coming off a 64-60 loss Saturday at Maryland that dropped them to 0-5 in games decided by five points or less.
Zoom Diallo led Washington with 19 points. Freshman Hannes Steinbach added 14 points but grabbed a season-low three rebounds.
Rutgers had a two-game winning streak snapped with an 80-61 loss Saturday at Minnesota.
“Both ends of the floor hurt us — our offense hurt us, our defense hurt us,” Scarlet Knights coach Steve Pikiell said. “Coming off of two wins and had a chance to go on a little run here, I thought we were prepared, but obviously give them (Minnesota) credit.”
Freshman guard Lino Mark scored a career-high 16 points for Rutgers, hitting all three of his 3-point shots.
“He was the one guy who was in attack mode,” Pikiell said. “I thought these other guys were off tentatively and weren’t really in that mode of attacking the rim and going downhill. Lino keeps showing signs — we needed five of him.”
Tariq Francis, the Scarlet Knights’ leading scorer with 16.6 points per game, was limited to 10 by Minnesota on 4-for-12 shooting.
One Husky will be familiar with the surroundings, as backup center Lathan Sommerville returns after transferring to Washington following his freshman season at Rutgers. Sommerville is averaging 3.9 points and 2.8 rebounds in 13.0 minutes per game.
