Women’s
Basketball
The
Cougars take on OSU Beavers at 7 p.m. Friday at Beasley Coliseum. The game will
be live on Pac-12 Networks.
///////////////////////////////
Men’s
basketball
Beavers
blast Cougs in Pac-12 meeting
Oregon
State snaps four-game losing streak
Lewiston
Trib/AP Feb 9, 2018
CORVALLIS,
Ore. — Robert Franks powered the Washington State men’s basketball team with 17
points, but the effort was not enough as the Cougars dropped their sixth
straight conference game by a score of 94-62 in a road meeting with Oregon
State.
Tres
Tinkle led all scorers with 20 points and teammate Alfred Hollins added another
19 as the Beavers snapped a four-game skid.
“Our backs
were against the wall, and this was a must win,” Oregon State coach Wayne
Tinkle said. “Our guys knew it. And the neat thing is they ignored all the
negativity that came from all over the place this week.”
Carter
Skaggs was the only other player to finish in double figures for Washington
State (9-14 overall, 1-10 Pac-12), but the spot-up shooter injured his left leg
in the second half.
With the
game tied at 24-all, Oregon State went on a 20-0 run spanning the last four
minutes of the first half and the first two minutes of the second half.
“There was
turnover, turnover, missed shot, bad shot, turnover, and it was a 13-0 run (at
the end of the first half) even with taking timeouts,” Washington State coach
Ernie Kent said. “There was the game right there.”
Oregon
State shot 57 percent, compared to 38 percent for the Cougars.
Oregon
State led early, and Franks had Washington State’s first eight points. The rest
of his team started the game shooting 0 for 8 and didn’t score until a Viont’e
Daniels 3-pointer at the 9:41 mark trimmed the Beavers’ lead to 14-11.
The
Beavers surged ahead and led 37-24 at the half, with Stephen Thompson Jr. scoring
on a reverse lay-in with two seconds left.
Oregon
State led by as many as 33 in the second half.
Coming
into Thursday, Washington State was winless on the road in the Pac-12 and had
lost those games by an average of nearly 15 points. The Cougars have a chance
to rebound Sunday when the program hits the road for a conference matchup with
Oregon.
Franks
blossoming
Franks
wasn’t highly recruited out of high school, but the junior forward’s name is at
the top of opponents’ scouting reports lately.
“He’s
having a wonderful season,” Kent said. You can see his game just blossoming
now.”
WASHINGTON
ST. (9-14)
Franks
6-13 5-5 17, Pollard 2-2 0-0 4, Daniels 2-6 0-1 6, Skaggs 4-9 0-0 11, Flynn 2-6
4-4 8, Bernstine 0-0 0-0 0, Chidom 1-4 0-0 3, Cooper 1-2 0-0 2, Hinson 1-10 1-2
3, Shpreyregin 3-6 0-0 8, Ergas 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-58 10-12 62.
OREGON ST.
(12-11)
Eubanks
7-10 4-4 18, Tinkle 5-10 7-8 20, Hollins 7-9 3-4 19, E.Thompson 3-9 4-4 10,
S.Thompson 7-11 1-2 16, Kone 0-0 0-0 0, Rakocevic 2-4 2-3 6, Sanders 0-1 0-0 0,
Reichle 1-2 0-0 3, Manuel 0-1 0-0 0, Stacy 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 1-1 0-0 2. Totals
33-58 21-25 94.
Halftime—Oregon
St. 37-24. 3-Point Goals—Washington St. 8-31 (Skaggs 3-8, Shpreyregin 2-5,
Daniels 2-6, Chidom 1-3, Franks 0-2, Flynn 0-3, Hinson 0-4), Oregon St. 7-16
(Tinkle 3-5, Hollins 2-3, Reichle 1-2, S.Thompson 1-2, Sanders 0-1, Manuel 0-1,
E.Thompson 0-2). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Washington St. 25 (Franks 6), Oregon
St. 33 (Eubanks 10). Assists—Washington St. 14 (Flynn 5), Oregon St. 21
(E.Thompson 6). Total Fouls—Washington St. 21, Oregon St. 17. A—4,235 (9,604).
//////
Grip on
Sports: The miles may not be all that many but WSU and Gonzaga’s basketball
programs are a world apart right now
Fri., Feb.
9, 2018, 8:30 a.m.
By Vince
Grippi Spokane S-R
A GRIP ON
SPORTS • If you wanted the starkest contrast possibly between the two most
high-profile college basketball programs in the region, you found it last
night. Read on.
•
Washington State and Gonzaga both played on the road in a conference game
Thursday night.
The latter
wasn’t on the top of its game but toughed out a win against a well-motivated
opponent in a decently raucous gym.
The former
wasn’t on the top of its game either, but it folded, losing by 32 against an
average-to-poor opponent in front of a sleepy crowd.
Toughness
versus, well, whatever you want to label the mental attitude the Cougars are
displaying right now. Just don’t use any synonym of toughness though.
WSU is
1-10 in conference play, on its way to either 2-16 – if it can win at California
in a couple weeks or one of its four remaining home games – or 1-17. That’s
Paul Graham-bad territory.
But the
record is one thing. Bad teams happen. Somebody has to be the cellar-dweller in
each conference. However, when bad teams quit competing, that’s when conference
records like what the Cougars have occur.
One thing
is obvious. When Ernie Kent has the type of player he needs, he is a pretty
good college basketball coach. He showed that at Oregon.
Problem
is, he hasn’t been able to attract that type of player to Pullman. It’s more
like the scene in The Untouchables where Sean Connery complains about someone
bringing a knife to a gunfight. Then gets gunned down.
The
Cougars have the wrong weapons. This group was never going to be able to play
the way Kent wants, up-tempo, constantly putting pressure on opponents with
quickness and speed. Without the right fit, it’s a losing battle in the Pac-12.
So he’s
tried to adjust, tried to play differently. But the Cougars just aren’t built
to play that way, to compete in the trenches every possession. The game begins
to spiral away and they fold. Sometimes early (like last night), more often
late. Again and again. There is no faith what they are doing will work.
As a
result, Washington State fans have lost faith in Kent’s program.
Contrast
that with how GU won last night. When the offense floated away for stretches,
the Zags dug deep on the defensive end, got stops and held the Tigers at bay.
With shots
not falling, they outworked – or out-toughed, if you prefer – Pacific on the
glass for a few much-needed second-chance points.
It’s what
teams do that expect to win. They put their faith in their system. It’s proved
itself over and over again. Each team begets the next, each win begets another,
each possession another chance to show their resilience.
When Mark
Few began at Gonzaga two decades ago, he knew he couldn’t attract the four- or
five-star recruit to Spokane. So he recruited tough-minded, smart guys who
could play the way he wanted – then. As success came, the type of player GU
could attract changed – and Few evolved. Now the Zags can play with anyone in
the country.
Kent came
into Pullman professing he could recruit the type of player he always had. That
the way he won in Eugene would translate to Washington State. He couldn’t and
it hasn’t. And in his fourth year, the Cougars have taken steps backward.
Even if
WSU wins out this season – raise your hand if you think that’s going to happen
– the Cougars will still end up 8-10 in conference, under .500 in an
average-to-poor Pac-12. Actually, under .500 again. Kent’s Cougars have never
broken even in conference play, and have endured the dreaded 1-17 record
already. That level of ineptitude is still in play this season.
Forget
winning the way the team up the road wins. There’s no chance of that. The goal
now should be to compete the same way. But even that looks to be far, far away.
WSU:
Before we get to the basketball game, the Cougars announced their spring
football practice dates. Theo Lawson has that story. … Not only do we have the
AP story we ran this morning, we also have coverage of the 94-62 loss from the
Oregon newspapers. It includes photos. … Maybe all you care about is the spring
football coverage. After all, Washington State is a football school these days.
Elsewhere
in the Pac-12 from Thursday, the biggest game – we know because Bill Walton was
on the coverage – was in Tucson, where UCLA handed Arizona another upset loss.
The Wildcats are not defending well again. … USC fell apart late again and lost
at Arizona State on a last-second shot. … Utah just bulled its way past
Stanford. The Cardinal are struggling. … Washington’s winning streak was
snapped by an Oregon team that looked woeful its last time out. … Colorado has
to improve quickly.
…………………………………….
Football:
Washington
State to hold 15 spring practices, April 21 Crimson and Gray game in Spokane
UPDATED:
Thu., Feb. 8, 2018, 9:20 p.m.
By Theo
Lawson of the S-R of Spokane/Inland Empire
PULLMAN –
The Cougars will hold 15 practices throughout March and April to sharpen and
hone their skills, and Spokane residents who missed out on Washington State’s
spring game the last few years will have an opportunity to see the Cougars
scrimmage at Joe Albi Stadium, the school announced Thursday.
The
Crimson and Gray game will be held in Spokane at 1 p.m. on April 21 – the
second-to-last official spring practice for the Cougars, who close three days
later with a 3:30 p.m. workout in Pullman.
The
seventh spring camp under coach Mike Leach begins at 3:30 p.m. on March 22 in
Pullman.
Times
haven’t been determined for four of the 15 practices, but the full spring slate
is as follows:
March 22,
3:30 p.m.; March 24, TBA; March 27, 3:30 p.m.; March 29, 3:30 p.m.; March 31,
TBA; April 3, 3:30 p.m.; April 5, 3:30 p.m.; April 7, TBA; April 10, 3:30 p.m.;
April 12, 3:30 p.m.; April 14, TBA; April 17, 3:30 p.m.; April 19, 3:30 p.m.;
April 21, Crimson and Gray Game, 1 p.m.; April 24, 3:30 p.m.
/////
California
linebacker Uluaki Katoanga gives verbal commitment to Washington State
Tue., Feb.
6, 2018, 4:04 p.m.
By Theo
Lawson Spokesman Spokane
PULLMAN –
Uluaki Katoanga, a three-star linebacker from California, has verbally
committed to Washington State less than 24 hours before National Signing Day.
The
Cougars signed 20 players during the early signing period and will round out
their 2018 recruiting class on Wednesday. Six additional prospects are expect
to ink letters of intent with WSU.
Katoanga,
at 6-2, 205 pounds, should give the good unique size at the linebacker position
and the El Camino High product has the versatility to play either on the inside
or outside.
Though WSU
was the only Pac-12 offer for Katoanga, a number of Mountain West schools were
interested, including Boise State, Nevada, Hawaii, San Jose State, New Mexico
and UNLV.
///////////
Men’s
Basketball
Cougars
offer little resistance as Oregon State rolls 94-62
UPDATED:
Thu., Feb. 8, 2018, 10:50 p.m.
At Gill
Coliseum, Corvallis
BEAVERS94 COUGARS62
➤ Sunday, Feb. 11:
Washington State Cougars at Oregon Ducks,
5 p.m. PT
TV: ESPNU
CORVALLIS
– Tres Tinkle had 20 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals as
Oregon State cruised past Washington State 94-62 on Thursday night.
Drew
Eubanks added 18 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks and Alfred Hollins had a
career-high 19 points and four steals for the Beavers (12-11, 4-7).
Robert
Franks had 17 points and six rebounds and Carter Skaggs had 11 points off the
bench for the Cougars (9-14, 1-10), who have lost six in a row.
With the
game tied at 24-all, Oregon State went on a 20-0 run spanning the last 4
minutes of the first half and the first 2 minutes of the second half.
Oregon
State shot 57 percent for the game, compared to 38 percent for the Cougars.
Oregon
State led early, and Franks had Washington State’s first eight points. The rest
of his team started the game shooting 0 for 8 and didn’t score until a Viont’e
Daniels 3-pointer at the 9:41 mark trimmed the Beavers’ lead to 14-11.
The
Beavers surged ahead and led 37-24 at the half, with Stephen Thompson Jr.
scoring on a reverse layin with two seconds left.
Oregon
State led by as many as 33 in the second half.
Stephen
Thompson Jr. finished with 16 points and six rebounds for Oregon State, while
younger brother Ethan Thompson added 10 points, five rebounds and six assists.
Big
picture
Washington
State: Coming into Thursday, Washington State was winless on the road in the
Pac-12 and had lost those games by an average of nearly 15 points.
Oregon
State: Seth Berger, who had started 17 straight games, missed Thursday’s game
due to concussion protocol. He was injured in a practice this week. Hollins, a
freshman, replaced Berger in the starting lineup. Eubanks became the 41st
Oregon State player to get to the 1,000 point mark. He has 1,001 career points.
////////
From
Moscow Pullman Daily News on/about 2/9/2018
Washington
State University Vice President of Marketing and Communication Phil Weiler said
WSU administrators emailed student protest groups in October with a final draft
of a statement of support requested by student group leaders. He said
administrators did not hear back from student leaders on the draft. A story on
Page 1A incorrectly implied the email exchanges were regarding a policy rewrite
draft, due to a Daily News error.
//////////////////////////////
FRIDAY 9,
FEBRUARY 2018
A WSU
quarterback’s suicide and the change it could bring
by Rick
Anderson, crosscut.com
(Rick Anderson, author of Seattle Vice, is a former
columnist for the Seattle Times and the P-I, and reports regularly for the Los
Angeles Times.)
Tyler
Hilinski’s mission was to keep everyone guessing. Was the Washington State
University quarterback rolling out to pass, run, or handoff on a reverse? Was
he bootlegging? Wait. Did he even have the ball? On the field, deception ruled,
and he was good at it.
Off the
field, too, it turns out.
The
21-year-old junior’s long-sought dream was about to come true as he worked out
daily in anticipation of Spring football practice in March. That’s when
Hilinski would step on the field as heir-apparent to Cougars record-setting
quarterback Luke Falk, the Pac-12 conference’s all-time pass leader who is
graduating and going pro.
A solidly
built, perpetually smiling 6-4, 215 pounder, Hilinski was seen by family,
friends and teammates as the epitome of the happy warrior. An unselfish and
caring student-athlete, he loved football and seemed determined to join the
pantheon of memorable Cougar QBs, including Jack Thompson, the 3rd pick in the
1979 NFL draft, Ryan Leaf, taken 2nd in the ’98 draft, and Drew Bledsoe, the
top pick of the ’93 draft.
Hilinski’s
most memorable game was last year against Boise State, stepping in for Falk
after halftime. The Cougs trailed by as many as three touchdowns, then tied the
game at the end of regulation. Hilinski and Wazzu went on to a jaw-dropping,
triple-overtime, 47-44 comeback win. Having completed 25 of 33 passes that day
for 240 yards and three touchdowns, Hilinski took it all in stride. “Shoot, I
was just playing football out there,” he said afterwards.
He came
from a close family in Claremont, east of Los Angeles near Pomona, where
quarterbacking was part of the Hilinski DNA. His older brother Kelly 23, had
quarterbacked teams at Weber State and younger brother Ryan is a standout
high-school quarterback being wooed by a dozen universities including Utah,
South Carolina, Northwestern and WSU. Ryan and Tyler, who talked on the phone
almost daily, liked the novelty idea of a second Cougar QB named Hilinski
arriving on the heels of Tyler’s departure, but Ryan still has a year to
decide.
Tyler,
said WSU Coach Mike Leach, “was one of those guys that would always come
bouncing into the room and make everyone happy.” Honestly, Leach added, “he was a very steady
guy. Hadn’t really had any issues . . . [just the] ups and downs of a college
student.”
Moving
into a new apartment last month was an upper, or so it seemed to friends. After
Hilinski dropped a buddy off at class early on Tuesday, Jan. 16 in Pullman, he
went for a spirited run and then called some teammates to make plans to join
them later in the day for lunch and a football workout.
Just another
jam-packed day for the QB-in-waiting. Certainly, the last thing anyone
suspected Tyler Hilinski might do that Tuesday is, say, pull out a gun and kill
himself. But that is what he did.
After his
run, he drove to his old apartment, which he was still in the process of moving
from, and set a gun up in front of him. Days earlier he had taken, without
permission, an assault-style rifle from a friend’s place.
He
positioned himself directly in front of the gun, then, stretching to reach the
trigger, fired a .233-caliber round into his head. A suicide note was nearby.
Its contents have not been released.
Hilinski
left behind a confounded and heartbroken crowd of admirers. Even the teammates
who discovered him later that day didn’t believe what they saw. Suicide? Tyler?
Within days, his name would come up at a public hearing in Olympia, used as an
example of why more legislation and resources are needed for suicide prevention
among teens and college students.
Among
those in the dark about his mental health were friends who knew him best and
even lived with him. “Man,” wrote a buddy early the next morning as the news
broke and mourners flooded social media outlets, “first off I love you like a
brother dude…you were always so happy go lucky and so much fun to be around.
I’ll never forget the memories we made being roommates and experiences we
had…you made me smile every day.”
There were
many similar remembrances, effectively asking who Tyler really was and why 21
years was long enough for a life. No one — relatives, pals, teammates, parents
Mark and Kym Hilinski — would say they saw any worrisome signs of depression.
It was just the opposite, in fact.
“Everyone’s
got some dark space that they work through I’m sure, but nobody really saw
anything like that,” said coach Leach in a conference call with reporters. “He
didn’t have signs of depression, he didn’t have periods where he was moping
around or anything like that.”
Did his
suicide note reveal a dark secret, perhaps? Apparently not. Pullman Police
Chief Gary Jenkins said the note was among the evidence his officers collected
in an attempt to determine a motive. But neither the note nor the rest of the
death investigation failed to provide an answer, Jenkins said.
At
Hilinski’s crowded La Verne, Calif. funeral Saturday, Jan. 27, about 1,000
attendees listened from chairs and bleachers in the gym of Damien High School –
his father’s alma mater- as The Rev. Charles Ramirez tried to explain the
inexplicable. In part, Ramirez said, Hilinski, who could muster sincere
sympathy for others, had none for himself.
Whatever
his demons, he didn’t talk about them. “The only thing that makes sense to us
is Tyler was not well,” his aunt, Christine Hilinski, told the crowd, according
to news reports. “He wasn’t able to make the choice [of seeking help]. He never
would have deliberately hurt us.”
Jill Osur,
a Cougar Family leader and mother of a WSU lineman, agreed. ”Tyler did not
commit suicide. He died of suicide,” she said to the gathering. It wasn’t up to
him. “The stigma of mental health has to be removed so we can help people get
through this,” the media quoted her.
Ex-WSU
quarterback Falk was also among the attendees. He had spent the week practicing
for that Saturday’s Senior Bowl, a showcase for college players seeking NFL
contracts. Falk was stunned by his backup’s suicide and planned to wear
Hilinski’s number, 3, during the game. Then he had second thoughts — which really
mattered, his friend’s funeral or a football game? The next day he joined
almost 300 athletes, students and coaches who flew to Southern California on
WSU’s tab.
“At times,
we feel like we can’t express our emotions because we’re in a masculine sport,”
Falk said at a press conference before leaving Alabama. “Him being the
quarterback, people look up to you as a leader and so he felt, probably, that
he really couldn’t talk to anybody. So we’ve gotta change some of that stuff.
We’ve gotta have resources and not have any more stigma about people going to
them.”
Falk
added: “He needs to be remembered. He was an amazing person, an amazing soul.
This guy was one of the most outgoing, bubbly [people]… Just a guy you really
want to be around, and people need to know it.”
Actually,
to help students, parents and others to learn more about depression and
suicidal signals, Hilinski’s death may have a positive effect. It’s the second
leading cause of death for Washington teens 15 to 19 years old, based on the
2016 Washington Healthy Youth Survey.
The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, among others,
provides resources and support through its School Safety Center.
Actually,
to help students, parents and others to deal with depression prevent suicides,
Hilinski’s death may have a positive effect. Memorial events have been held at
WSU, University of Washington and other schools where students burned candles
and talked openly about the threat. At Oregon State, a student moved by
Hilinski’s death set up a table in the gymnasium and invited basketball fans to
sit down and chat about suicide. In the following weeks, social media users
continued to debate what family and friends should look for, and do, if they
sense a friend or loved one is on the edge.
Hilinski’s
death could also affect legislation in Olympia, where suicide-related bills are
pending in the House and Senate. Proposals include developing a statewide
behavioral health and suicide prevention program for the state’s post-secondary
institutions, including the state’s 34 community and technical colleges, and
enhancing services for students who are military veterans. Senate Bill 6514
notes that “almost half of military veterans who are enrolled in college have
contemplated suicide at some point and twenty percent have planned to kill
themselves.”
Kristi
Haynes, a Tri-Cities suicide-prevention specialist who testified over the phone
at a Jan. 30 public hearing by the Senate Education and Workforce Development
committee, said Hilinski’s death was one of the reasons she called to support
the bill.
“It got me
thinking, ‘What if?’” she said. What if Hilinski’s teammates had been trained
how to recognize suicide warning signs, what if Hilinski knew how to obtain
mental-health services on campus, what if he felt secure enough to take an
advantage of them?
“What if
the university had a culture where students felt like they could reach out for
help,” and help others. All are lessons we can learn, she added. “There’s such
a great need for it.”
Coach
Leach, chatting with the media a few days after the suicide, said his last
conversation with Hilinski was a phone call after the Cougars’ Holiday Bowl
loss Dec. 30 to Michigan State. Hilinski, who completed 35 of 50 passes for two
touchdowns, went home to Claremont, looking forward to his starting role next
season.
“He was
back with his family,” Leach said. “They ended up taking a trip to Cabo. [He]
just generally [chatted] about moving forward and having a great off-season;
building and developing for next year.” He presumably did not know he’d just
played his last game.
#
