The University of Washington basketball team welcomed Mississippi Valley State in from the pouring rain and proceeded to throw a bucket of cold water in its face, winning 77-64 on Monday night with a record barrage of 3-pointers.
Shooting without any restraints, the UW launched 50 shots from behind the line, one shy of a Big Ten record, and made 17, which tied the previous school record set 16 seasons earlier.
This was nothing new for the Delta Devils (0-2), who arrived in town with the long-running distinction as America’s worst college basketball team.
For the three prior seasons, they finished 3-30, 3-28 and 1-30.
Last Friday, Mississippi Valley opened another long-odds season with an 84-57 loss at Oklahoma.
Over the past eight years, this Southwestern Athletic Conference entry has won just 19 of 210 games, counting this one.
Against the Huskies in a gym maybe a third full, the Delta Devils actually built an early 8-3 lead and looked like they wanted to shock Seattle.
However, the Huskies unleashed their imported long-range shooters and this one suddenly tilted in the favor of Danny Sprinkle’s team (2-0), which set records by launching 50 attempts from behind the line and connecting on 17.
Steele Venters, a Gonzaga transfer and starting guard, immediately drained a pair of treys from left of the basket to get it going.
Davidson transfer Parker Friedrichsen came off the bench and connected on 4 of 8 3-pointers while the UW went up by 10 in the opening half.
Friedrichsen would lead the Huskies in scoring with 17 points by connecting on 5-for-13 shots from behind the line.
Ryan Beasley finished with a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds, his his scoring coming from 4-of-9 3-point shooting.
Venters chipped in 15 points on 5-for-13 accuracy behind the line.
Over the course of the game, Sprinkle substituted liberally and used 12 players, 11 just a dozen minutes into the game.
Led by Friedrichsen’s 12 points, the Huskies headed for the locker room with a 43-33 lead at halftime.
Over those first 20 minutes, the Huskies 11 of 28, with Venters and Friedrichsen dropping in a combined 7 of 16 attempts. The 11 makes at the break were a UW high-water mark for at least 15 seasons.
After the break, the Delta Devils closed within 44-40, but the UW went on a 13-0 run to pull away with 13 minutes left to play, with Beasley capping the run by dropping in consecutive 3-pointers.
The Huskies return to action on Saturday against significantly tougher competition when they travel to Salt Lake City to face the University of Utah (2-0), the first of three Utah-based teams they’ll meet in non-conference outings.
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