Takeaways From Washington Huskies Exhibition Loss to Washington State Cougars

· Yahoo Sports

SEATTLE — The Washington Huskies men's basketball team was unable to earn a win in its final exhibition game before the beginning of the regular season.

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The Huskies fell 84-80 to the Washington State Cougars on Sunday at Alaska Airlines Arena.

Sunday was a closer-contested loss than the team's previous exhibition defeat, a 109-91 result against the Boise State Broncos on Oct. 17, but still was a disappointing result considering Washington had the lead in both first and second halves.

Here's several takeaways from the Huskies' loss to the Cougars.

3-point shooting issues persist

Washington's 3-point shooting was a consistent issue last year in Big Ten play, where it finished 12th in the conference with a 16-17 overall record. 

The Huskies finished 2025-26 14th in the conference in made 3-pointers (221) and 16th in 3-point percentage (31.5%).

UW looked to be in better position to handle things from beyond the arc against Boise State and posted a 40.7% (11-for-27) clip from 3-point range that game.

The perimeter shooting issues popped up against against Washington State.

Washington finished the game 6-for-23 (26.1%) from 3-point range.

"I liked our shots," Huskies head coach Danny Sprinke said in a postgame interview Sunday. " ... I thought there was probably three or four (3-pointers) that guys took too quick — a 3 or 3s off the dribble. We're not that team. There's a couple guys that can do that, but the guys that were shooting tonight were not those guys. And we shoot a very low percentage when we're doing that."

Small ball lineup shows mixed results

Sprinkle spoke in a news conference Thursday that there might be a chance the team goes with smaller lineups this season to maximize playmaking ability.

Washington sent out its first small-ball ineup Sunday: fifth-year guard Tayshawn Comer, fourth-year guard Wesley Yates III, eighth-year wing Steele Venters, fifth-year wing LeJuan Watts and third-year center Lathan Sommerville.

The five combined for 59 of the team's 80 points on a collective 17-for-38 clip from the floor (44.7%), including a 5-for-16 mark from 3-point range. Of those points scored from the starters, 28 of them came from Watts and 19 came from Sommerville.

Nikola Dzepina has best performance with UW

Last season, forward Nikola Dzepina joined the team as an international commitment out of Serbia. He didn't arrive in the Pacific Northwest until December and struggled to adjust to the playbook or the offense.

Dzepina looked much more familiar with the offense Sunday. He scored 16 of the team's 21 bench points and had 12 rebounds for the double-double. He also finished with four steals, three assists and a block.

The second-year forward is one of the few players on the team that can provide the Huskies with size on the interior while also being capable of spacing the floor, and that will provide critical for UW down the stretch, especially if it plans to maintain its small-ball lineups.

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