MEN’S BASKETBALL
FINAL SCORE: UW 70, WSU 65
WASHINGTON AT
WASHINGTON STATE
SATURDAY, JAN. 6, 2018, 1 P.M.– BEASLEY COLISEUM (PULLMAN,
WASH.)
POSTGAME NOTES from WSU Sports Info
Junior Robert Franks led WSU with 22 points and 12 rebounds,
marking his third double-double of the season.
Franks was 7-for-7 from the free throw line and tied his
season high with 3 blocked shots.
Franks had his seventh 20-point game of the season.
Junior Viont’e Daniels finished with 13 points, his most
since scoring 15 against IUPIU, Dec. 16…he scored a combined 3 points in WSU’s
first two Pac-12 games at UCLA and USC.
He was 3-for-6 from 3-point range, adding 3 assists.
Graduate transfer Drick Bernstine finished with 10 points
and 7 rebounds before fouling out for the second time this season.
Sophomore Carter Skaggs had his streak of consecutive games
in double figures snapped at four as he finished with 6 points on 2-for-7 from
3-point range…he had a career-high 3 assists.
Skaggs got his second start of the season and first since
Dec. 6.
Washington State’s 0-3 Pac-12 start marks the first time it
hasn’t won one of its first three conference games since the 2013-14 season…the
Cougars won their fourth game of the Pac-12 season that year.
WSU grabbed a season-high 17 offensive rebounds, previous
high was 15 done in the season opener against Texas Southern, Nov. 12.
WSU tied its season low with 7 made 3-pointers…came in
leading the nation with 12.1 made 3’s per game.
The Cougars had a season-high 23 turnovers…previous high was
18 against Bethune-Cookman, Dec. 22.
Washington shot a WSU-opponent season-high for a half .739
(17-23) from the field in the second half.
The Cougars remain home to host Stanford, Thursday, Jan. 11
at 6 p.m. and California, Saturday, Jan. 13 at 1 p.m.
………………….
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Analysis: Washington State lacks closing touch in loss to
Washington
UPDATED: Sat., Jan. 6, 2018, 5:56 p.m.
By Theo Lawson Spokane S-R
David Crisp’s bucket leads to 70-65 Washington win over
Washington State
NCAA BASKETBALL
At Beasley Coliseum, Pullman
HUSKIES 70
COUGARS 65
➤ Thursday, Jan. 11: Stanford Cardinal at Washington
Huskies, 6 p.m. PT TV: ESPNU
PULLMAN – Washington State students were still filing back
onto campus from holiday vacations when the Cougars and Huskies tipped off at
Beasley Coliseum Saturday afternoon to renew a basketball rivalry that lately
has been much less one-sided than the one that’s played on football turf in
late November.
For large portions of Saturday’s game, the Evergreen State
nemeses also looked like they’d just returned from extended breaks away from their
craft.
Washington committed 17 turnovers and made just 2-of-12
3-pointers, but the Huskies managed the damage control better than the Cougars,
who turned it over a whopping 23 times and, both literally and figuratively,
came up just short in a 70-65 loss played in front of the largest Beasley crowd
(3,477) this season.
Robert Franks short-armed a close-range jumper with 51
seconds left, Jaylen Nowell converted a floater on the other end and Franks
watched a potential game-tying 3-pointer clank off the front lip of the rim
with 10 seconds left, burying WSU’s chances.
“There came a point in time in the game where we needed to
dig our heels in and make plays,” coach Ernie Kent said. “Tough plays.
Defensive stops. And we were not able to get it done.”
The Cougars (8-7, 0-3) didn’t make the tough plays and they
were especially faulty when it seemed like the Huskies (12-4, 2-1) were handing
the game over. Redshirt freshman guard Milan Acquaah missed consecutive free
throws with 1:24 left when sinking both would’ve meant a 67-66 lead.
And there wasn’t a defender within arms’ reach when Franks,
a 17.6 point-per-game scorer, uncorked his final shots.
“Today we were lucky,” first-year UW coach Mike Hopkins
said. “They got a good look at the end, but for the most part I thought our
defense was incredible.”
WSU, which has now lost seven of nine games since winning
the Wooden Legacy tournament, held a 10-point lead with 14:56 to play. The
Huskies did the Cougars another favor when center Noah Dickerson picked up his
third, fourth and fifth fouls in a two-minute span later in the half. UW played
the final 8:09 without its high-scoring big man.
“There were just a couple of times on that floor where it
was just too easy,” Kent said. “How easy they got to the bucket on us and took
that lead, took the momentum, took the toughness away from us in the game.”
Kent would also contend the Cougars never should’ve been in
so many dire moments late in the game.
He’d point to his team’s 14 first-half turnovers – most of
which were unforced errors that caused the Cougars to go into halftime leading
by only three points.
“It would’ve been nice,” Kent said, “for 10 of them to be
shots instead of turning the ball over like we did.”
The Cougars compensated by pounding the offensive boards –
they won that column handily (17-4) – and sprawling onto the floor to snap up
loose balls. Most of the game, they were able to match UW on the offensive end
despite sinking just four 3’s – nine below their season average.
“We gave all the effort, this is a rivalry game,” guard
Viont’e Daniels said. “We were up 10 and I think once we got up, that effort
slipped which is why the lead slipped. So we’ve just got to continue working on
doing it for 40 minutes instead of just in spurts.”
But effort didn’t translate to execution. After holding the
Huskies to 12-of-32 from the field in the first half, WSU sputtered on defense
much of the second, and a variety of Huskies found it easy to slash through the
lane and finish easy layups at the rim.
“We give up a 10-point lead and it’s like layup city at the
basket,” Kent said. “We go zone, it’s still layups.”
UW shot 17-of-23 from the field, or 73.9 percent, in the
second half.
“They didn’t shoot any 3’s really,” Daniels noted. “… When
you’re shooting shots a few feet from the bucket, you’re going to shoot a high
percentage.”
Five Huskies finished in double figures: Matisse Thybulle
(17 points), Nowell (15), David Crisp (15), Dickerson (11) and Carlos Johnson
(10).
Franks led all scorers with 22 points and chipped in three
blocked shots. Daniels scored 13 and Drick Bernstine, before fouling out, had
another 10.
….
Looking for More, WSU to Host Utah Sunday for Cougs Have
Heart
1/6/2018 | Cougar Women's Basketball info from WSU Sports
Info
UTAH (11-3, 2-1) vs WASHINGTON ST. (8-7, 1-2)
11 a.m. | Sunday | Jan. 7, 2018
Pullman, Wash. | Beasley Coliseum (11,671)
MATCHUP NOTES
The Cougs finish off their home weekend with a tilt against
Utah Sunday afternoon. The game is WSU's annual Cougs Have Heart game as WSU
plays to bring awareness to heart health. Last season, the Cougs split Utah
with both teams winning on the road. At home in the loss the Cougs struggled to
get their offense going despite 19 points out of Alexys Swedlund. Swedlund had
13 at Utah in the Cougs win. Utah holds the 14-6 advantage and has won three of
the last four meetings between the two teams.
LAST TIME OUT
From beginning to end the night was owned by Borislava
Hristova as the redshirt-sophomore poured in a career-best 36 points to lead
Washington State (8-7, 1-2 Pac-12) to the convincing 89-75 win over Colorado
(10-4, 1-2 Pac-12) Friday night at Beasley Coliseum. Setting the tone early,
Hristova got the Cougs out and running as the third-year gunner scored WSU's
first 10 points of the game and 12 of the opening 20 to give the Cougs the
early lead. After a brief moment lapse that allowed Colorado to take its only
lead of the game to open the second quarter, Hristova and the Cougs began to
separate from the Buffaloes late in the half with a 4-0 finishing run. The six
point advantage at the break would swell to 13 just four minutes into the third
quarter when the Cougs put together a 1:16, 9-0, run thanks to their junior center,
Maria Kostourkova, who scored five of her eight in the quarter during the
onslaught. From there, Colorado would never get closer than two-possessions as
the Cougs used another 9-0 run to swell the lead to as much as 17 before
holding off the physical Buffaloes for their first Pac-12 win of the season.
ABOUT THE UTES
The Utes enter the game 11-3 on the year and 2-1 in Pac-12
play with wins over Arizona and most recently Washington. On Friday, Utah led
from start to finish at Washington, holding off a late charge by the Huskies to
win 74-65. In the win, Daneesha Provo scored 20 points while Erika Bean added
10. As a team, Utah shot 52.8% from the floor. Provo leads the team in scoring
for the season at 13.8 points per game while Megan Huff and Emily Potter
average 13.4 and 12.2 points per game, respectively.
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