Saturday night marked the unofficial start of the Washington Huskies' 2026-27 season as third-year coach Danny Sprinkle's team fell 109-91 to Boise State at Idaho Central Arena.
The Huskies fell behind by as many as 18 points just five minutes into the second half before the team started to slowly and steadily chip away at the Broncos' lead. A trio of made 3-pointers by fourth-year guard Parker Friedrichsen, second-year forward Jasir Rencher, and first-year forward Wini Braga sparked a 13-0 scoring run for Sprinkle's team to regain its footing in the contest midway through the second half, but it wasn't enough to come away from the Idaho capital with a win.
From the jump, the Broncos held the edge on defense. The hosts turned that into an early
23-8 lead with 12 minutes left in the first half, and the margin only continued to grow throughout the first 20 minutes in the City of Trees.
UW managed to convert four of its first 10 shot attempts against BSU, and there wasn't a reprieve as the Mountain West school led by as many as 21 points at the 1:57 mark of the first half before the Huskies used a pair of 3-pointers by Friedrichsen and former Nevada starting guard Tayshawn Comer to send the two teams into the break with the Broncos ahead 52-39.
Texas Tech transfer LeJuan Watts and ex-Nevada guard Tayshawn Comer each scored 16 points to lead the Huskies in scoring before both players fouled out in the second half. Friedrichsen, a transfer addition from Davidson this past offseason, added 15 points off the bench, while returning guard Wesley Yates III finished with 11, and third-year post Lathan Sommerville scored 10.
Demari Wheeler-Thomas hits the 3. Boise State has a 20-7 lead on Washington with 12:20 left in the first half. pic.twitter.com/0YwCJyb9Vu
— B.J. Rains (@BJRains) October 18, 2026
UW's first starting five featured two returning players, second-year forward Nikola Dzepina and Sommerville at center, along with three new additions, Steele Venters and the aforementioned Watts and Comer, a mix-and-match group of players who could be featured in the starting group next month.
Sommerville, who led the Huskies with 10 points at halftime, fouled out of the game with just over 17 minutes remaining after being assessed with a Class A Technical Foul on Boise State third-year guard Julian Bowie. The ex-Rutgers transfer made all three of his shots from the floor and all four free throws to go along with 5 rebounds and an assist, but he also had 3 turnovers in his 16 minutes of action Saturday night.
Dzepina departed the game less than a minute later with an offensive foul being his fifth and final foul after putting up just 3 points and 3 boards in 17 minutes against the Broncos. The Serbian national contributed two of the Huskies' 16 turnovers on the night, one of four UW players with multiple turnovers in the 18-point preseason defeat.
Former Gonzaga and Eastern Washington wing Steele Venters joined the two UW starters on the bench when the eighth-year reserve picked up his fifth foul of the game with under four minutes to go. Venters scored 6 points on 2-of-6 shooting, both of which came from behind the arc in the second half, and added one rebound and one assist before leaving the game with the Huskies down 99-86.
Of the 14 scholarship players listed on UW's official 2026-27 roster, two did not appear in the first exhibition game before the start of the regular season on November 2. Australian first-year guard Tristan Devers and fourth-year guard Ryan Beasley did not play, while walk-on second-year guard BJ Roy also didn't log a single minute of game action Saturday night against the Broncos.
First-year Brazilian forward Wini Braga, one of the Huskies' top international additions this offseason, scored his first points in purple and gold when he knocked down a 3-pointer to bring the Huskies within five points with just over 12 minutes to go in the second half.
UW returns home to Alaska Airlines Arena to wrap up preseason play with the second exhibition game against cross-state rival Washington State on October 25. The Huskies open the 2026-27 season against Colgate on November 2.
This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Washington Basketball's Offense Struggles in Exhibition Loss at BSU
