Diallo-Led Huskies Feast on Nevada in Palm Desert Tourney

Wearing orange sneakers, Zoom Diallo seemed to be in the Thanksgiving spirit of things when his University of Washington basketball team took the floor against Nevada for the Acrisure Holiday Classic.

In an otherwise raggedy game at Acrisure Arena, the 6-foot-4 Diallo set the table in the holiday encounter by scoring 10 of the Huskies’ first 14 points and finishing with 19 to lead his guys to a 83-66 victory on Thursday in Palm Desert, California.

Teammate Wesley Yates III warmed up to supply a game-best 25 points, hitting 11 of 13 free throws, while 6-foot-11 center Franck Kepnang got going in the second half to finish with 15 points and 4 blocks.

As a reward, the UW (5-1) came away with a Pac-12 reunion, moving into the title game against Colorado, which dispatched USF 79-69 in the opening game. The Huskies and the Buffaloes (6-0) will meet at 1:30 p.m. in a contest that will be televised by TruTV.

Danny Sprinkle’s team played without 6-foot-11 freshman forward Hannes Steinbach, recovering from an ankle sprain for the second consecutive game.

Next to him was Bryson Tucker, the 6-foot-7 sophomore forward and Indiana transfer, who missed his third UW outing in a row with his own ankle issue.

The Huskies, however, had Diallo to set the table on Thanksgiving.

While everyone played a little out of control and shot terribly early on, the man called Zoom came out and hit a pull-up jumper from mid range. He next confidently dropped in a long 3-pointer.

He gave his team a 12-11 lead when he raced in for a lay-in and was fouled, converting the three-point play at 11:46 of the opening half.

He provided another lay-in for a 14-11 advantage, and at that point he had 10 of the Huskies’ points. Everything went through Zoom.

Diallo settled for a team-high13 points at the break in helping the UW take a 34-28 lead. He hit 4 of 5 shots, while everyone else had an off half, with both teams shooting in the 30-percent-plus range.

This Nevada team just wasn’t anywhere as good as the Wolf Pack teams that had won six consecutive games over the UW dating back to 2010.

Steve Alford’s team couldn’t shoot. It hit just 2 of its first 15 field-goal attempts. It couldn’t take advantage of a six-point possession either.

Trailing 9-5, the Wolf Pack got a 3-pointer from Tyler Rollison. When the ball was in the air, the Huskies’ Kepnang shoved a sharp forearm into the chest of 6-foot-10 Joel Armotrading and was called for a flagrant foul. Big Franck got off easy there.

Rollison hit one of two free throws because Armotrading, who’s from England, couldn’t continue, and Ethan Croley dropped in a lay-in for an 11-9 lead.

Armotrading watched the second half while seated in a wheel chair.

The Huskies changed things up for this one by not starting freshman point guard JJ Mandaquit for the first time in six games. They opened with Quimari Peterson, Desmond Claude, Yates and Diallo in a four-guard lineup with Kepnang.

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