Gophers fall 69-57 at Washington with Jaylen Crocker-Johnson sidelined

Hannes Steinbach and the Washington Huskies wore down the short-handed Gophers men’s basketball team 69-57 on Saturday, Feb. 14, in Seattle.

Steinbach, a 6-foot-11 freshman from Germany, scored 26 points to lead the Huskies (13-13, 5-10 Big 10), who ended a three-game losing streak. Steinbach was 12-of-17 from the field as the Huskies outscored the Gophers 44-26 in the paint.

The Huskies shot 63 percent (29-of-46) from the field for the game after making 16 of their 24 field-goal attempts (67 percent) in the first half.

Senior Cade Tyson scored 22 points to lead the Gophers (11-14, 4-10), who played without starting forward Jaylen Crocker-Johnson, who was sidelined with a foot injury. Junior forward Bobby Durkin scored 13 points and sophomore guard Isaac Asuma added 11 for the Gophers.

The Gophers led 26-25 with less than five minutes to play in the first half, but the Huskies proceeded to go on a 14-0 run to lead 39-26 at the break.

“We did a pretty good job of hanging in there,” Gophers head coach Niko Medved told KFAN radio after the game, “[until] that run at the end of the first half. Once we got in foul trouble, we had to go small and it got tough. [Steinbach] is one of the best young freshmen in the country.”

BOXSCORE: Washington 69, Gophers 57

Steinbach, who entered Saturday averaging 17.6 points and 11.4 rebounds per game, scored 15 points in the second half as the Huskies eventually built a 20-point lead.

A dunk by Steinbach gave the Huskies a 69-49 lead with three minutes remaining.

The Gophers finished with 13 turnovers and shot 43 percent from the field (21-of-49) and 25 percent from three-point range (7-of-28).

Redshirt freshman forward Grayson Grove, the Gophers’ lone post player, was limited to 27 minutes because of four fouls. He finished with four points and three rebounds.

“We had a poor shooting night and we had too many live ball turnovers,” Medved said. “We have high character guys. We just have to regroup. This is what life throws at you. We have to respond.”