Mike Vorel: Are UW men ready for a relentless Big Ten stretch? 'It's coming.'

Mike Vorel, The Seattle Times on Jan 8, 2025

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SEATTLE — There are no shortcuts to calluses.

They are, by nature, not easily earned — formed through friction and blisters and blood. They can’t be bought or borrowed. They are tangible evidence of resistance and resolve, of axes swung and tunnels dug through miles of rock and mud. The calluses on your hands and feet are rigorous receipts.

They are also, in this case, a fitting metaphor.

Winning on the road in Big Ten play requires some calluses.

“That’s a great way to put it,” Husky men’s hoops coach Danny Sprinkle agreed Monday. “We’ve taken some lumps and been callused even through the nonconference. We won some close games early where it was really ugly, and we learned from those games. We took a tough loss to Seattle U; we learned from it. We’re a lot better now than we were back on Dec. 23 [when UW dropped a 79-70 stunner to Seattle U, the Huskies’ first loss in the series since 1976].

“But yeah, we’ll still have to get some calluses. They’re coming.”

Such is life in an uncompromising conference that sent seven teams to the NCAA tournament (if you include Oregon) in 2024. After the Huskies split home games against Maryland (a 75-69 win) and No. 13 Illinois (an 81-77 loss) in an encouraging week, don’t expect an exhale.

That’s because Washington’s Big Ten gauntlet is just beginning, with five consecutive ranked opponents — No. 16 Michigan State (12-0, 3-0 Big Ten), No. 24 Michigan (12-3, 3-0), No. 20 Purdue (11-4, 3-1), No. 15 Oregon (13-2, 2-2) and No. 22 UCLA (11-4, 2-2) — to close a merciless month.

This is the cross-country, inter-conference marathon UW and Sprinkle signed up for.

It’s time to dig the tunnel.

“It’s going to test you physically, but I think more mentally. Not just the travel, but going into some of these environments where you’re going to see a lot of adversity,” said Sprinkle, the Huskies’ first-year coach. “We’re going to have to be a mentally tough team. We’re going to have to be able to get to the next play, to the next game, to the next day. Because it’s too hard of a league not to.

“We have to coach our guys through that. Because it’s coming. It’s coming Thursday night, in one of the most hostile environments in the entire country.”

Indeed, it starts with Michigan State, a mainstay with 26 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances … and accompanying calluses. Tom Izzo’s team — winners of seven in a row — exemplifies the Big Ten’s bruising, blue-collar brand, gleefully grinding opponents into dust.

Specifically, the Spartans rank fifth in the nation in free-throw percentage (81.3%), eighth in average rebounding margin (+11.0), tied for ninth in free throws made per game (19.0), tied for 13 th in rebounds per game (41.4), 17th in assists per game (17.9) … and 340th out of 355 teams in 3-pointers per game (5.6).

“I love [Izzo’s] style. It’s three yards and a cloud of dust, is what it is,” a smiling Sprinkle said. “It is physical, and they’re going to test us. They’re going to test us early. When they screen you, they screen you. When they box you out, they’re hitting you. We’re going to have to respond to it. We’re going to have to play with that same edge that his teams always play with, because I imagine it’ll be our most physical game this year.”

Does UW have the mental and physical toughness to withstand both the Spartans and a sold-out Breslin Center? The former is an obvious issue, given that graduate student center Franck Kepnang — who has missed the past 13 games because of a knee injury — will likely not be back this week, Sprinkle said Monday. That places the load on forwards Great Osobor (14.3 points per game, 8.7 rebounds per game) and Wilhelm Breidenbach (4.7 PPG, 2.7 RPG) to match physicality in a vulnerable frontcourt.

(It would also help if senior guard DJ Davis, who exploded for seven 3s and 31 points against Illinois, can replicate that eruption.)

Then there are intangible issues — the matter of communicating in an arena that averages a sellout of 14,797, the temptation to let that environment corrode your confidence, the 2,300-mile flight to Michigan for a two-game road trip, the hotels and buses between airplanes, the need to chisel an identity and a rotation amid the mayhem, the challenge to wake up and do it again the next day.

One way or another, the calluses will come.

The question is whether Washington (10-5, 1-3 Big Ten) can steal some wins along the way.

“I think it’s going to make us a better team by the end of the year, and sometimes that adversity brings you closer together. You find out who doesn’t have two feet in,” Sprinkle said of the ranked opponents crowding their path. “I’m not worried about that with our team. There’s been times where, with so many new guys, there kind of has been [those questions of], ‘Man, what’s my role?’

“They’re starting to get defined a little more, and I feel like we’re coming a little bit closer together as a team every game, and hopefully that continues.”

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