News
for CougGroup 2/16/2018
Three WSU
Women’s Basketball Cougar starters reinstated to women's basketball team
Nike
McClure, Louise Brown, Caila Hailey will play this weekend
By Dylan
Haugh – Cougfan.com
PULLMAN –
Three Cougar starters -- Louise Brown, Caila Hailey and Nike McClure – have
been reinstated from their suspensions heading into the final road trip of the
regular season, interim head coach Mike Daugherty said.
“They’re
back (practicing) and they’ll play this weekend -- they won’t start but they
will play,” said Daugherty. “I think they understand now that your actions have
consequences.”
Brown,
Hailey and McClure, along with Krystle McKenzie (medically retired) had been
suspended this past Friday after an unspecified violation of team rules.
The trio
missed the games against No. 15 Oregon State and No. 9 Oregon. Despite the absence of the trio, Washington
State (10-16, 3-11 Pac-12) took OSU to
overtime in a 63-61 loss and falling 90-79 to the Ducks.
Senior
guard point guard Pinelopi Pavlopoulou said she’s seen a difference in practice
from the players since returning.
“They’re
definitely a lot more serious in practice,” said Pavlopoulou. “They want to
stay focused ... they’re 100 percent focused on the task and I feel like these
last few practices have been some of their best.”
Starting
point guard Chanelle Molina agreed with Pavlopoulou.
“In
practice (Tuesday) I saw it, It was actually one of our best practices of the
season,” said Molina. “We were scrimmaging between crimson and gray and we were
just going at it. I think from that we learned we’ve got to give it all we got
every time we step on the court.”
Washington
State plays at Utah (15-10, 6-8) on Friday at 6 p.m. on the Pac-12
Network. The Cougars travel to Colorado
(12-13, 3-11) to wrap up the road trip Sunday at (11 am, Pac-12 Network).
WSU and
Colorado are tied for ninth place in the conference standings. Only four games
remain in the regular season before the start of the Pac-12 tournament.
Head coach
June Daugherty has been on medical leave since Jan. 24. Mike Daugherty said
after the loss to Oregon State there is no timetable on when she will
return.
Hailey, a
senior, had started all 24 games leading up to OSU. She is averaging 5.4 points,
2.4 rebounds and 22 minutes per game.
Brown, a
fourth-year junior, has started 23 of the Cougars’ 24 games. She’s averaging
6.3 ppg, leads the Cougs in rebounding (6.3 rpg) and is fifth on the team in
3-pointers with 24.
McClure
had seven starts and had played in 24 games before Oregon State. She is second
on the team in rebounds per game with 5.5 and is the Cougars’ best rim
protector with a team-leading 55 blocks.
McKenzie
medically retired last summer. She was voted one of the Cougars’ three captains
for the 2016-17 season.
/////////////////
From WSU
Sports Info about
COLORADO
AT WASHINGTON STATE men’s basketball
THURSDAY,
FEB. 15, 2018 – 8 P.M. PT– BEASLEY COLISEUM (PULLMAN, WASH.)
FINAL
SCORE: WSU 73, COLO 69
POSTGAME
NOTES
Sophomore
Malachi Flynn had a career-high 30 points…his previous high was 27 against Utah
Valley, Nov. 30, 2016.
It marked
his second-straight game scoring in double figures and fourth time in the last
five games.
Flynn had
his sixth 20-point game of the season and eighth of his career, it marked his
first 30-point game of his career.
Flynn
added 5 rebounds and 3 steals, and for the first time this season he did not
have an assist.
Junior
Davante Cooper scored a career-high 8 points…his previous high was 7 done at
Oregon in WSU’s last game, Feb. 11.
Cooper had
6 points in the first half and fouled out with 11:08 to play in the game.
Junior
Viont’e Daniels tied his career high with 4 assists…he’s accomplished that
seven other times, including WSU’s last game at Oregon, Feb. 11.
Daniels
added 10 points and 5 rebounds, 1 shy of his career high.
Daniels
fouled out with 52 seconds to go, his first career foul out.
Junior
Robert Franks returned to the Cougar lineup after missing the Feb. 11 game with
a knee injury…he finished with 14 points, 10 of them in the second half.
Franks has
scored in double figures in each of the last six games he’s played in.
Sophomore
Carter Skaggs did not score for just the fourth time this season and first
since Jan. 11 against Stanford.
WSU led at
halftime, 30-29, marking its first halftime lead since leading Cal 30-25, Jan.
13…the Cougars are 6-3 when leading at the half this season.
Each of
the last three WSU home games against Colorado have been decided by 5 points or
less.
The
Cougars snapped their seven-game losing streak and three-game losing streak to
Colorado.
WSU shot a
season-low .241 (7-for-29) from 3-point range…its previous low was .250
(6-for-24) at Washington, Jan. 28.
WSU’s 7
turnovers are its fewest since turning the ball over 7 times against Arizona,
Jan. 31, ties for fewest turnovers in a game this season.
Colorado
becomes just the second WSU opponent to be held under 70 points in Pac-12 play
this season, as California had 53 points, Jan. 13.
The
Cougars remain home to take on Utah, Saturday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. at Beasley
Coliseum.
///////////////
Flynn
takes flight
Standout
guard erupts for 30 points as Wazzu takes down visiting Colorado
By Joshua
Grissom, Lewiston Trib
PULLMAN —
Sophomore point guard Malachi Flynn tallied a career-high 30 points for
Washington State in Thursday night’s Pac-12 meeting with Colorado, but the most
important one was his last.
With 2,249
spectators at Beasley Coliseum cheering him on, Flynn swished a free throw with
five seconds left to put the finishing touches on a 73-69 victory and snap a
seven-game losing streak for the Cougars.
“Just stay
confident and knock them down,” Flynn said when asked about his pivotal trip to
the charity stripe. “First one came off a little long, but I knew the second
one was going in.”
The shot
completed a second-half rally after Washington State (10-15 overall, 2-11
Pac-12) trailed by eight midway through the period. Flynn scored seven points
in the final 1:47 of play, using a combination of short-range jumpers and hard
drives to earn several trips to the line.
“Each game
is somebody else’s night, tonight it was mine,” Flynn said. “Robo (Franks) was
struggling a little bit, but he didn’t give up. Everybody played a great role,
but I just tried to stay aggressive throughout the whole game.”
Flynn’s
free throw may have sealed the deal, but Franks provided a pivotal defensive
moment when he intercepted a pass in the key with 28 seconds left before the
buzzer. The junior forward then earned a foul and sank both attempts from the
line to extend his team’s lead to three points.
“Everybody
had their moments in the game — mine was late with the steal,” Franks said.
“That got us the win.”
Flynn led
all scorers with his 30-point effort, but Franks and Viont’e Daniels also
sparked the Cougars with 14 and 10 points respectively. Franks hauled down
eight rebounds while Daniels dished out four assists.
“I think
my teammates helped me get in a rhythm,” Flynn said. “V found me early in the
first half, got me going a little bit. They set great screens and I just
attacked off them and got good looks.”
Dallas
Walton and McKinley Wright led the way for Colorado (15-11 overall, 7-7 Pac-12)
with a combined 32 points on the night. Walton often created foul trouble with
his physical play in the paint, as the freshman center finished with a perfect
8-of-8 showing from the line.
“He’s an
active big that can get a body on you,” Washington State coach Ernie Kent said.
“He’s got a great jump hook and we wanted to front him. We went to where we
were switching all over the floor, and he would have a little guy on him inside
at times. For that amount of points and what we did, I’m happy with that.”
COOPER’S
CONTRIBUTION — Junior Davante Cooper recorded a career-high eight points on
4-of-5 shooting before fouling out with 11:08 left to play. Despite starting at
forward, Cooper failed to record a single rebound on the night.
“When he’s
able to listen, understand, comprehend and do, he’s only going to get better,”
Kent said. “I’m happy for him because he’s getting better every trip down the
floor.”
SHOOTING
WOES — The normally sharpshooting Cougars were held to 24.1 percent from beyond
the arc, with marksman Carter Skaggs ending his night with an 0-for-6
performance from 3-point range. Franks also finished 1-of-6 from the perimeter.
“Carter
was an 0-for in 29 minutes, I don’t think we’ll see that ever again,” Kent
said. “He had just outstanding looks, both of those guys had outstanding looks.
I hope we don’t see that again. To their credit, they found another way to win
outside of the 3-point shot.”
UP NEXT —
Washington State returns to Beasley Coliseum on Saturday to play host to Utah (16-9 overall, 8-6
Pac-12) in a 7 p.m. matchup.
COLORADO
(15-11)
Walton 4-6
8-8 16, King 2-8 4-4 9, M.Wright 5-10 6-7 16, Nikolic 0-4 0-0 0, Bey 3-5 0-0 6,
Siewert 2-4 1-1 6, Collier 0-5 4-9 4, N.Wright 4-9 3-6 12, Schwartz 0-0 0-0 0.
Totals 20-51 26-35 69.
WASHINGTON
ST. (10-15)
Cooper 4-5
0-0 8, Franks 4-12 5-8 14, Flynn 11-19 5-6 30, Skaggs 0-6 0-0 0, Daniels 2-7
4-5 10, Pollard 0-0 0-0 0, Chidom 0-0 0-0 0, Bernstine 2-5 1-2 5, Acquaah 1-3
0-0 3, Shpreyregin 0-2 0-0 0, Hinson 1-3 1-2 3. Totals 25-62 16-23 73.
Halftime—Washington
St. 30-29. 3-Point Goals—Colorado 3-18 (Siewert 1-2, N.Wright 1-4, King 1-4,
M.Wright 0-2, Collier 0-3, Nikolic 0-3), Washington St. 7-29 (Flynn 3-8,
Daniels 2-6, Acquaah 1-1, Franks 1-6, Shpreyregin 0-1, Hinson 0-1, Skaggs 0-6).
Fouled Out—Cooper, Daniels, Collier. Rebounds—Colorado 36 (King 11), Washington
St. 28 (Franks 8). Assists—Colorado 10 (M.Wright 6), Washington St. 9 (Daniels
4). Total Fouls—Colorado 18, Washington St. 24.
A—2,249
(11,671).
:::::::::::::::::
Men’s
basketball
Slump-breaker:
Washington State gets tough in 73-69 Pac-12 win over Colorado
UPDATED:
Thu., Feb. 15, 2018, 11:12 p.m.
By Theo
Lawson Lewiston Trib
NCAA
BASKETBALL
At Beasley
Coliseum, Pullman
COUGARS73
BUFFALOES69
BOX SCORE
»
➤
Saturday, Feb. 17: Utah Runnin’ Utes at Washington State Cougars, 7 p.m. PT TV:
ESPN2
PULLMAN –
Throughout Washington State’s prolonged slump, Ernie Kent has begged and
pleaded for a tougher, more resilient group of Cougars.
The
Cougars finally delivered on their coach’s wish, fighting, scrapping and
clawing their way to the finish line in a 73-69 win over the Colorado Buffaloes
Thursday night at Beasley Coliseum.
And boy
was it a sigh of relief…
“So that’s
what that feels like,” Kent said afterward. “Sheesh.”
The
victory breaks a seven-game skid and pushes the Cougars into 11th place in the
conference standings. WSU had previously lost 15 of its last 18 games –
including the last two by a whopping 59 points – but demonstrated urgency and
maturity Kent hadn’t seen since the Cougars made their run through the Wooden
Legacy tournament.
Toughness,
too.
“I’ve said
this often that we’ve not made a lot of tough plays,” Kent said. “Well tonight
in this game we made multiple tough plays – per possession at times. …
Everybody was just alert an involved. Normally we’ve made one tough play and
then we’ve broken down. … This is a good sign for this team to just hang in
there. I’m really happy for them because they’ve been through a lot.”
Malachi
Flynn scored a career-high 30 points on 11-of-19 shooting from the field and
3-of-8 from distance. For a majority of the game, the sophomore point guard was
the only offensive bright spot for the Cougars, who lost Davante Cooper to foul
trouble with about 11 minutes to go after the junior forward started the game
an efficient 4-of-5 from the field with eight points.
Flynn
closed strong, jamming 21 of his 30 points into the second half and 16 of those
into the final 10 minutes.
“I think
my teammates helped me get in a rhythm,” Flynn said. “They found me early in
the first half, got me going a little bit. They set great screens and I
attacked off of them, got good looks.”
WSU
trailed by as many as eight points in the second half, but the Cougars surged
ahead in the closing minutes when Viont’e Daniels canned a 3-pointer to make it
63-62. The Buffaloes grabbed a 69-68 lead with 51 seconds left, but Robert
Franks, on a slow scoring night by his lofty standards, came up with a crucial
defensive play when he picked off Dom Collier’s pass on CU’s final possession.
Franks drained two free throws on the other end to seal the victory.
He shot
just 4-of-12 from the field and 1-of-6 from three-point range, but Franks, who
missed Sunday’s game against Oregon with a knee injury, still found his way to
14 points and chipped in three assists, two steals and two blocked shots.
“I thought
every shot I shot was good. It’s a team game, it’s not an individual game,”
Franks said. “I can’t sit there and be a Debbie downer because I’m not making shots.
… Everybody had their moments in the game.”
CU lost –
and dropped to 1-8 away from home – despite getting 35 tries at the foul line.
The Buffaloes made 26 of those, but clanked a few key free throws in the final
minutes. WSU was far from perfect from the charity stripe, making just 16-of-23
free throws, and the conference’s top three-point shooting team managed just
7-of-29 from beyond the arc.
For a
stretch of the second half, it looked like the Cougars would be doomed by the
24 fouls they wound up committing. Those amounted to plenty of free CU points
and disrupted WSU’s pace and flow on the offensive end of the floor.
“The fouls
were the fouls, they were there,” Kent said. “They made the game kind of herky
jerky, but you didn’t lose your composure. You toughen up at crunch time, you
closed out a game and you had tremendous play from your point guard.”
McKinley
Wright and Dallas Walton each had 16 points for the Buffaloes. Wright also
added seven rebounds and six assists.
The
victory vaults the Cougars (10-15, 2-11) to 11th place in the Pac-12 standings.
Cal also possesses a 2-11 record, but the Golden Bears represent WSU’s only
other conference win, therefore giving the Cougars the head-to-head tiebreaker.
///
Twitter
makes plain, Leach has one more very big hire to make
New
strength & conditioning coach to replace Loscalzo has big shoes to fill
By Dylan
Haugh – Cougfan.com
PULLMAN --
Mike Leach's on-field assistant coach hires are complete. But based on Cougar
player's tweets, Washington State's head man has one very big hire left to
make.
INCYMI
yesterday, WSU strength coach Jason Loscalzo, the man Wazzu players and coaches
call “Loco,” is leaving Washington State after six years with Leach.
Four WSU
assistant coaches have departed this offseason but in college football, no
coach spends as much time with the players over the course of a year as does
the strength and conditioning coach.
When the team meeting was called to break the news to the players that
Tyler Hilinski had died, Leach wasn't in town so Loscalzo “was kind of the
obvious choice” to lead the meeting and “stepped up in a major way,” one person
told CF.C last month.
Loscalzo,
who oversaw all aspects of the Cougars’ football strength and conditioning
program, was both highly respected and well liked, as these tweets illustrate.
Jahad
Woods
JWoods
@JW13__
Very
thankful to have experienced coach Loco. Lifting weights and conditioning
weren’t nearly as important to him as developing us into grown ass men... set a
standard here that’ll never go away and also led us through a very difficult
time recently.. Much deserved 💯
https://twitter.com/cougcenter/status/963951130152665088 …
7:21 PM -
Feb 14, 2018
1 1 Reply
21 21 Retweets 113 113 likes
Twitter
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Abraham
Lucas
Abraham
Lucas/BigAbe
@XBigAbeX
Wasnt with
him for very long but I'm really glad that I had the opportunity to be coached
by someone like coach lascalzo. In June I was a little boy shaking in my boots,
now I'm continuing to learn what it means to be a grown man and I'm forever
grateful for what he's taught me.
https://twitter.com/CougCenter/status/963951130152665088 …
7:42 PM -
Feb 14, 2018
1 1 Reply
6 6 Retweets 56 56 likes
Twitter
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Travell
Harris
Travell
Harris
@_THarris1
Smh Smh
Smh 🤦🏾♂️
6:17 PM -
Feb 14, 2018 · Pullman, WA
Replies
Retweets 4 4 likes
Twitter
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Deone
Bucannon, former Cougar safety and Arizona Cardinal ‘backer, also sung
Loscalzo's praises:
Deone
Bucannon
✔
@deonebucannon20
Nothing
but the utmost respect for this man right here ! Learned so much from you !
Much deserved gonna kill it out there 💯
https://twitter.com/cougcenter/status/963951130152665088 …
6:59 PM -
Feb 14, 2018
2 2 Replies
4 4 Retweets 152 152 likes
Twitter
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Bucannon
wasn’t the only former Cougar player either.
Teondray Caldwell left the WSU program back in 2014. But years later, he still holds Loscalzo in
high esteem.
“My first
year there, we were working outside on the field and I didn’t have any gloves
on and it was snowing,’ Caldwell told Cougfan.com. “My hands were numb and I
asked Coach Loscalzo if i could please go inside: I don’t think I can finish
this workout -- my hands, I’m about to cry. And that’s when he first called me
Goldfish. He said, ‘Nah Goldfish, you’re going to have to finish this.’ Right
then and there I knew he was the real deal … ‘OK, I like this dude.’”
Strength
coaches have gained newfound attention in recent years due to their importance
to the overall success of a team – many a head coach has been quoted on how a
successful season is first built in the offseason.
Leach completed
his on-field coaching staff hires just yesterday, with the last of his 10
assistant coaches coming on board for 2018.
But a
final staff hire yet to come, the strength & conditioning post, the “11th
assistant,” promises to have a monster impact indeed.
///
D was
difference, Kent says after win and Flynn’s career night
Cougar
sophomore guard scores career-high 30 points
By Dylan
Haugh – Cougfan.com
PULLMAN -
Something was off with Robert Franks against Colorado. He had two easy lay-ins
rim out, the 3-pointers weren’t falling and he missed three free throws. But
Franks said he didn’t let a 4 of 12 shooting night take away from the rest of
his game. Indeed, he secured Washington State’s 73-69 victory over Colorado
with a late play on defense. And on a
night when Malachi Flynn scored a career-high 30 points, it was WSU’s D most of
all that led to the win that ended a seven-game losing streak.
Besides
Flynn filling up the basket, the two biggest stories on the night for the
Cougars: defense and lack of turnovers.
“I thought
our defense made the difference in the game,” said Ernie Kent. “We were
outstanding on a night where we did not shoot the ball well, did not shoot
free-throws well. But our defense was really, really good.”
Franks’
interception of a cross court pass with 28 seconds remaining led to a late
three-point lead for Washington State (10-15, 2-11 Pac-12). It was a huge
defensive play in a game full of them.
“First
off, I felt like I was never frustrated,” said Franks. “I felt like every shot
was good ... I just had to stick with it. It’s a team game, it’s not an
individual game. I can’t just sit there and be a Debby Downer because I’m not
making shots. Malachi played a big role today.”
Did he
ever.
Flynn
finished with a career-high 30 points on 11-of-19 shooting, including two
circus shots inside the paint over the final two minutes to keep the Cougars
one possession ahead.
“I think
my teammates helped me get in a rhythm,” said Flynn. “V (Viont’e Daniels) found
me early in the first half, that got me going a little bit. They set great
screens and I just attacked off of them and got good looks.”
WSU HELD
COLORADO to 39 percent shooting from the field and 16 percent from beyond the
arc. The Cougs committed just seven
turnovers – they came in averaging 14.1 per game. Wazzu also tallied eight steals -- Flynn had
three -- and five blocks.
A turning
point came in the final six minutes of the first half. Up by four points, WSU
hit a rut and Colorado used an 8-0 run to take a 29-25 lead. So many times
before this season, WSU has been unable to stop the bleeding in similar
situations and suddenly found itself trailing by double digits. But the Cougar
defense dug their heels in for the final three minutes vs. Colorado, turning in
nine-straight stops. At the half, instead of a deficit, WSU held a 30-29 lead.
On a night
3-point specialist Carter Skaggs went scoreless (0-of-6 from deep) he had his
best game of the season on defense -- sticking to his rotations, contesting
shots and diving on the floor for loose balls.
“I’ve said
this often that we’ve not made a lot of tough plays,” Kent said. “Well, tonight
in this game, we made multiple tough plays per possession at times. A great
example was that last one where we had to stop them three or four times before
we dug out the rebound ... everybody was just alert and involved.”
Daniels
(6-2, 175) is one of the smaller 2-guards in the Pac-12 but he played like
chiseled tree-topper on defense Thursday. Daniels marked Colorado 2-guard
George King (6-6, 225) and held him to nine points on 2-of-8 shooting.
“For his
body size and having to play a guy as physical as King and some of the bigger
guards … he does a good job of neutralizing them because he is very, very
composed and he’s very competitive. He doesn’t have a lot of breakdowns on the
floor ... he’s not going to beat himself.”
UP NEXT:
Saturday vs. Utah (16-9, 8-6) at 7 p.m. in Beasley (TV: ESPN2).
QUOTABLE:
Ernie Kent
on what the win means going forward
“This is a
good sign for this team to just hang in there. I’m happy, really happy for them
because they’ve been through a lot. It’s hard for young people to go through
that type of adversity and still hang in there and fight through it. And to
their credit, they’ve done that.”
NOTABLE
NOTES:
+ Colorado
becomes just the second WSU opponent to be held under 70 points in Pac-12 play
this season, comprising WSU’s two conference wins (Cal, 53 points).
+ Flynn
had his sixth 20-point game of the season and eighth of his career.
+ Junior
Davante Cooper scored a career-high 8 points before fouling out.
+ Daniels
tied his career high with 4 assists, adding 10 points and 5 rebounds.
+ Franks
finished with 14 points, 10 in the second half.
+ WSU’s
halftime lead was its first since leading Cal 30-25 on Jan. 13.
+ Each of
the last three WSU home games against Colorado have been decided by 5 points or
less.
+ The
Cougars snapped a three-game losing streak to Colorado.
+ WSU shot
a season-low .241 (7-for-29) from 3-point range.
+ WSU’s 7
turnovers tied its mark for fewest turnovers in a game this season (Arizona,
Jan. 31).
////
Kenmore
(Wash.) Inglemoor tight end Quentin Moore picked up his first offer last week.
Nevada
jumped on board first for the 6-6, 240-pounder.
More
schools have been showing interest in the three-star too.
"Cal,
Wyoming, Arizona, Oregon and Oregon State mostly," said Moore.
The two
in-state schools also have his attention.
"I
definitely have interest in Washington and Washington State," said Moore.
"I went to the Apple Cup at Husky Stadium."
Moore's
season was an up-and-down one for he and his team. While he emerged as a
legitimate FBS prospect, Inglemoor scuffled to a 1-9 record.
"We
didn't have the best football season but we're working hard to turn it
around," said Moore. "I'm going to be doing as many camps as I can to
get on the map too."
Moore also
plays some defense, but tight end is where his future lies.
"Offense
is where my heart is at too," said Moore.
Moore did
grow up with one dream school.
"My
dream school is Oklahoma State," said Moore. "My dad played
there."
Moore's
father is former Cowboy safety Mark Moore, who is in the Cowboys' Hall of Honor
and was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks.
#
