Freshman Hannes Steinbach scored 24 points and grabbed 16 rebounds as Washington improved its chances of a first-round bye in the Big Ten Conference tournament with a 79-72 victory against Rutgers on Tuesday in Piscataway, N.J.
Wesley Yates III added 19 points and seven assists and Zoom Diallo and Quimari Peterson scored 10 apiece for the Huskies (14-14, 6-11 Big Ten).
Injury-riddled Washington played without starting center Franck Kepnang for the first time this season with a lower-body injury. Lathan Sommerville, a transfer from Rutgers, filled in and scored eight points in 28 minutes before fouling out.
Lino Mark scored 18 points, Darren Buchanan Jr. added 17 and Tariq Francis scored 14 for the Scarlet Knights (11-17, 4-13).
Washington shot 50% from the field (28 of 56) while limiting Rutgers to 39.7% (23 of 58). Thanks to Steinbach, the Huskies had a 40-24 edge in points in the paint.
Yates made a pair of 3-pointers to extend Washington’s lead to 63-45 with 9:17 remaining.
Then the Scarlet Knights made a late run.
Mark scored five points in a two-second span — two free throws, then a steal that turned into a three-point play — to close the gap to 69-64 with 2:29 left.
That was as close as Rutgers would get, as the Huskies made 6 of 8 free throws down the stretch.
The Huskies led by as many as 14 points in the first half before settling for a 36-29 edge at intermission.
Leading 11-9, the Huskies went on a 10-0 run with Steinbach slamming down a dunk off an offensive rebound and adding two free throws while Peterson and Courtland Muldrew drained 3-pointers.
A layup by Yates extended the advantage to 31-17 and the Huskies later took a 36-22 lead on Nikola Dzepina’s 3-pointer.
Rutgers scored the final seven points of the half, with Buchanan making a 3-pointer and later a free throw, to cut the lead in half.
The Scarlet Knights trimmed their deficit to five on a pair of occasions early in the second half before the Huskies went on an 8-0 run sparked by Sommerville, who made two free throws and added a dunk.
