==In item
#2 below, see Jon Wilner write:
“The
Cougars should land in the top 12 of the selection committee’s final rankings,
thereby securing a spot in the at-large pool and a (likely) date in the Fiesta
Bowl.”==
…
Apple Cup
special edition (Washington wins the North, playoff door slams shut)
By JON
WILNER, Pac-12 Hotline, San Jose Mercury News
Nov 23,
2018 at 9:28 pm | UPDATED: Nov 23, 2018 at 10:02 pm
==1. Goodbye,
playoff.
Washington
State had a narrow path to the CFP, but with two weekends remaining, at least
the Cougars had a path.
They were
part of the conversation, albeit the outskirts of the conversation, and for
that the conference owes WSU, Mike Leach and Gardner Minshew a debt of
gratitude.
Had they
lost a second game along the way — to Stanford or Cal, for instance — the
Pac-12 would have been as much a part of the playoff discussion throughout
November as Conference USA.
But the
Cougars made the Pac-12 somewhat relevant, which is better than completely
irrelevant.
That said,
the Pac-12 title game (Washington vs. Utah) will be devoid of playoff
implications for the second consecutive year.
The
conference won’t be a part of the debate when attention peaks, in the week that
matters most.
That’s a
problem folks.
It’s a
problem because it contributes to the narrative that the Pac-12 has fallen
behind its Power Five peers — and perception is reality.
==2. Then
again, two bright spots for the conference (if you could call ’em that).
Weird
bright spot No. 1: Washington State’s loss gives the Pac-12 an excellent chance
to send two teams to the New Year’s Six.
The
Cougars should land in the top 12 of the selection committee’s final rankings,
thereby securing a spot in the at-large pool and a (likely) date in the Fiesta
Bowl.
That
at-large berth is worth $4 million to the conference, split 12 ways, and it
would allow everyone below the New Year’s Six to move up one rung in the bowl
ladder.
Weird
bright spot No. 2: Washington did the conference office a huge favor.
By handing
the Cougars a second loss, the Huskies remove the potential for WSU to finish
12-1 and miss the playoff — in other words, for the controversial loss at USC
(ThirdPartyGate/targeting no-calls) to be the game that kept the Cougars out of
the CFP.
That would
have been a nightmare narrative.
==3.
Completely different and yet exactly the same.
This was more
competitive than previous Apple Cups and deeply impacted by the weather, but
the end result, and the means to that end, were the same as the past four in
the Petersen v Leach era.
Washington’s
defense shut down the Air Raid, its running game produced the biggest play of
the game (and a few huge first downs in the final eight minutes), and WSU fell
far short of the turnover-free game it needed.
Yes, it
was a brilliant gameplan by UW co-defensive coordinators Jimmy Lake and Pete
Kwiatkowski, but it was also similar to their plan every week:
Deny chunk
plays, tackle soundly in the open field, and force the opponent to go 70 yards,
five at a time against a secondary stocked with future pros.
That’s
kryptonite for the Air Raid, especially in that weather.
We can’t
help but draw a connection between WSU’s low production against Cal’s stout
pass defense and the problems tonight.
When
facing the top-two pass defenses in the conference — and two of the top 20 in
the country — the Air Raid produced four combined touchdowns and 34 total
points.
That’s not
to suggest the Air Raid is anything but the perfect system for WSU.
It works
with the type of players the Cougars are best equipped to recruit; it makes
them different; and it gives them a chance to compete, and beat, the best teams
in the conference.
==4. The
circle comes full.
Through
all the ups and downs, the injuries and the benching, the angst and the
disappointment, the Huskies are exactly where we thought they would be:
Champions
of the North, favorites to win the conference title, and steaming toward their
first Rose Bowl in 18 years.
No doubt,
the defense was instrumental, but we couldn’t help but notice the impact of a
healthy trio of left tackle Trey Adams, tailback Myles Gaskin and tight end
Hunter Bryant.
September
and October didn’t go as the Huskies planned, but November couldn’t have been
scripted any better for UW:
The tough
win over Stanford, a desperately-needed bye, a blowout of Oregon State, the
return of key personnel, the Apple Cup win …
The
football gods taketh, and giveth back.
::::::::::::
Coug
VOLLEYBALL
Below
based on info from WSU Sports Info
POST
SEASON
The
Cougars will now look towards the post-season as WSU waits to see who will be
its' NCAA Championship Tournament first round matchup, and whether or not
Washington State will be hosting the first and second rounds of the tournament
as well. WSU will be hosting a Selection Show event, Sunday, Nov 25 from 5 p.m.
- 6:30 p.m. at Martin Stadium on the Club Level of the complex to watch and see
the tournament field released.
SATURDAY
NIGHT IN BOHLER GYM, WSU BEAT HUSKIES
WSU downs
No. 19 Washington inside Bohler Gym
PULLMAN,
Wash. – The No. 20 ranked Washington State Cougars (21-9, 12-8 Pac-12) defeated
rival No. 19 Washington (18-12, 10-10 Pac-12) in a five-set thriller inside
Bohler Gym Saturday evening.
Set scores
from the match were: 25-14, 16-25, 25-21, 18-25, and 15-10 in favor of the Cougars.
The second
round of the Apple Cup between these two volleyball rivals featured an intense
battle right out of the gate, seeing a pair of ties to open the match. The
Cougars soon broke the scoring margin open with a 5-0 scoring run, with some
help from a McKenna Woodford kill, an Ashley Brown ace, and a pair of blocks
from both Ella Lajos, and Claire Martin to hold the 12-5 advantage. Washington
State continued to pour on the scoring against the Huskies with an 8-2 run
after multiple kills from Jocelyn Urias gave the home squad the 22-11 lead. WSU
capped off the opening set with a kill from Woodford, as the Cougars took the
set 25-14.
Set number
two brought more of the same intensity as each program traded points early on
in this round of play. The Huskies however generated a 9-2 overall scoring run
to see the visitors with a 21-11 advantage. Washington State created a 3-0 run
of their own late in set two, with multiple kills from Woodford, and a service
ace from Urias, but Washington ultimately took the set at 25-16 to tie up the
match.
Washington
State continued to find momentum in this rivalry match, building an 8-2 scoring
run early in set three as WSU saw kills from Ella Lajos, Taylor Mims, Urias,
and Woodford in the offensive attack. The Huskies began chipping away at the
home lead, and a 4-1 run from Washington late cut the Cougar lead down to just
three at 19-16. WSU held strong and defended their home court in set three as
kills from both Jocelyn, and Taylor sealed the set victory at 25-21 overall.
Set number
four was a game of scoring runs to start out with the Cougars scoring three
straight points to open the round with a kill from Urias, The Huskies answered
back with a 3-0, and a 4-0 run of their own to hold down the early 8-6
advantage. Washington State continued to find answers to tie up the set, but as
quick as WSU knotted up the score, Washington found a way to generate a small
run to counter. The Huskies ultimately claimed set four with another 4-0 run to
tie up the match with a 25-18 set win.
The
intensity of this Apple Cup rivalry continued to heighten in the final set of
this match, until the Cougars surged ahead with a 6-1 run as crucial blocks
from Ashley Brown, Martin, and Woodford saw WSU gaining more and more momentum.
Washington State and the Huskies traded points down the stretch of this set,
until a pair of kills from senior Taylor Mims put the match away in favor of
the Cougars at 15-10 overall.
STAT OF
THE MATCH
Tonight's
stat of the match from the Apple Cup would be the defensive game of each squad
as both the Cougars and the Huskies totaled 14.5 blocks in the contest. Seniors
Ella Lajos, and Claire Martin anchored the blocking game for WSU with six
blocks each.
::::::::::::::
WSU
FOOTBALL
Buried in
the snow, Cougars uncover some perspective after disheartening Apple Cup loss
UPDATED:
Sat., Nov. 24, 2018, 9:12 p.m.
By Theo
Lawson
Spokane
S-R
PULLMAN –
Wherever this season ends for the Cougars, all 17 outgoing Washington State
seniors will lament the opportunity that passed them by Friday night under
snowy skies in Pullman.
No, they
won’t spend the rest of their lives deeply burdened by the fact they couldn’t
beat the University of Washington in the 111th Apple Cup – or any of those
prior – but it’ll probably be a while before they can flip on the annual
rivalry game without reflecting on a 28-15 loss to the Huskies at Martin
Stadium, signifying their sixth consecutive loss in the Apple Cup and another
squandered opportunity to capture a Pac-12 North crown.
For the
immediate future, the Cougars will ponder the individual plays that could have
swung the game the other way. In the previous three games against the Huskies,
WSU lost by 35, 28 and 27 points, so it was hard to point to one error – or
even a series of them – that would have made a substantial difference.
That
wasn’t the case Friday night. Just about every WSU starter on either side of
the ball probably felt he had one or two lapses in execution or effort that may
have helped the Cougars’ cause.
“Just a
few missed tackles,” senior nickel back Hunter Dale said, “that went for a few
big plays.”
“A few of
the throws, the slide on third down (in the first quarter),” graduate transfer
quarterback Gardner Minshew said afterward. “I thought I had (the first down)
and I didn’t. And just seeing some of the chances we had that we didn’t take
advantage of.”
All of
those smaller cuts led to a much larger wound for WSU’s accomplished senior
class.
“It’s very
frustrating, that’s four years in a row we had a chance to go to the Pac-12
championship and they’ve stopped us,” Dale said. “They’ve always been in our
way, and the same outcome this year. Couldn’t change it.”
But Mike
Leach has lauded this team all season for its poise, maturity and togetherness
– it isn’t always easy to extract this kind of praise from the WSU coach – so
it isn’t surprising that in the wake of a disheartening loss, the Cougars were
able to uncover some much-needed perspective.
“We have a
great opportunity,” running back James Williams said. “Loss aside, I’m super
proud of our team. We played for each other this year, we did a lot of great
things this year, and we’re just going to have to get better and play one play
at a time, have one practice at a time this next month. Hopefully, we get to a
good bowl game, and when we get to a bowl game, we need to make up for what we
didn’t do today.”
On Dec. 2,
WSU will learn where it’s headed for bowl season. For the Cougars, ranked No. 7
in the Associated Press Top 25 poll and No. 8 in the College Football Playoff
rankings heading into the weekend, the game itself and the opponent will be
more appealing than they’ve been under Leach, in his seventh season at the WSU
helm.
Four bowl
games seem to officially be in play for WSU – the Valero Alamo Bowl (Dec. 28),
the Redbox Bowl (Dec. 31), the Holiday Bowl (Dec. 31) and the Fiesta Bowl (Jan.
1). The prevailing theory is that if the Cougars don’t earn a trip to the
Fiesta Bowl, a coveted “New Year’s Six” game in Glendale, Arizona, they’ll be
snapped up by the Alamo Bowl, in San Antonio.
Either
would be a nice prize for a Cougars team that won more games (10) in a regular
season than had been done in Pullman for 15 years. An 11-win season would be
unprecedented for the program.
In the
offseason, and even in the early stages of the nonconference schedule, few
expected this WSU team would be arriving at the Apple Cup with a shot to win
the Pac-12 North. The most optimistic fan figured the Cougars would find seven
wins on this schedule, but the majority of the predictions had WSU in the
3-to-5-win range. Preseason Pac-12 media polls pegged the Cougars to finish
fifth in the North Division.
So, just
in case anyone needed a refresher …
“Virtually
every one of those times (against UW), nobody thought we were going to be there
in the first place,” Leach said. “I mean, I’m not sure that every one of those
years, they didn’t have us having a losing season. Most of them they did, and
we never did that. So if you want to view it that way, we’re more games over
the mark than everybody else. There’s various defining games and finish lines
and all that. The other fact of the matter is, we’ve won more conference games
in that period of time than anybody else.
“If that’s
so easy, then everybody would do it.”
::::::::::::::
Men’s
basketball:
Shabby
start, fine finish for Cougs
Cougars
stumble through first half, but turn it on after the break to hammer Delaware
St.
By Colton
Clark
Lewiston Tribune
Nov 25,
2018
PULLMAN —
The Hornets from Delaware State might have suffered four clobberings at the
hands of middle-to-rubbish-road groups in this young year. And they might be
ranked No. 353 — dead last — on Kenpom.com, the premier college basketball grading
system in the country.
The end
result Saturday night at Beasley Coliseum might have substantiated those facts,
but it wasn’t all glam and glitter for a Washington State men’s basketball team
that went toe to toe with DSU in the first half like the Hornets were some
commonplace Pac-12 squad.
The Cougs
(3-1) headed into the break clinging to a mere five-point lead. Groans and
grumbles circulated among the 1,203 in attendance. Of course, until the Power
Five home team decided to flip what seemed like every switch and do what it was
supposed to — roll out of the gates from every angle to an 80-52 win over the
MEAC troupe from Dover.
“We should
never look down on anybody, regardless of who the opponent is,” WSU guard Ahmed
Ali said. “We did that today — we let up a little bit.”
WSU didn’t
let up in the second half. That slim advantage accrued at the end of the first
began to expand with a complete lifting of any sort of momentum out from under
the Hornets. The Cougars began to ration out the shots, stopped settling for
stop-and-pop jumpers and owned the paint — they swapped hasty jumpers with
smoothly-finished inside dishes.
“I felt
like the group that started the second half really did a nice job of
controlling tempo, of controlling rhythm. They did it with their defense. They
shared the ball,” WSU coach Ernie Kent said. “It really got us playing well. It
was a great defensive game for us in the second half.”
DSU shot
under 30 percent overall, and only dropped 22 points in the second. The Cougs
didn’t have any formidable digits at the break, but by the final horn, four of
them were in double figures.
Star
forward Robert Franks again led the pack with 24 points on 53 percent shooting
and collected 11 rebounds, while Ali chipped in 17 points.
“If you
give the ball up in this system, it will find you,” Kent said. “They’ve gotta
learn how to play together like that (second half) all the time. We’ve done
that in spurts, more so than not. … For whatever reason, I didn’t think we were
very good offensively in the first half.”
Franks
said that Kent “put a fire under us” with a motivational halftime address.
Afterward, it showed. Ali canned a triple, CJ Elleby drove down the baseline
for a flip-in, and WSU was off. It proceeded to link together a myriad of
scoring rallies, including a dagger of a 22-5 run, which was punctuated by
quick-transition offense, back-to-back Viont’e Daniels triples — WSU went
11-of-30 in that regard — a Franks block or two and utter command down low.
“That was
just our sense of urgency in the second half,” Franks said on WSU’s elevated
post game. “We felt like we were a way better team than we showed in the first
half and we wanted to go out and prove to the fans that came out and supported
us what we’re capable of.”
For the
initial 20 minutes, it was a mixture of shabby shooting, decision-making and
ball movement on offense, and lackluster defense that permitted a lowly DSU
team to take an edge in every major statistical category at the break (except
score).
WSU
couldn’t hit its 3s, it couldn’t pile up buckets in transition — like it
practices daily — and it especially couldn’t give itself second chances on the
boards.
That, and
the Hornets (1-5) looked to be downright outhustling the Cougars. DSU had eight
more offensive rebounds and had put up 17 more shots. It wasn’t particularly
efficient, but it was winning that war of attrition.
“We were
really stuck in second gear,” Kent said. “A lot of that had to do with just too
much one-on-one basketball. We knocked ourselves out of rhythm offensively. I
don’t think we did a very good job defensively. We were not rebounding the
ball.”
Eventually,
Wazzu outrebounded DSU by four, looked sleek in quick-motion offense, got to
the line time and again with its post play and registered an expected blowout.
But there’s still a bit to work on.
“I believe
that once we get our chemistry right … (and make) the right play, we’ll be a
better team,” wing Marvin Cannon said.
DELAWARE
ST. (1-5)
Bennett
3-7 0-0 6, Jenneto 4-11 0-0 9, Wiley 1-9 0-0 3, Edwards 1-19 0-0 2, Mitchell
7-15 1-2 18, Lucas 1-1 0-0 2, Ryder 0-0 0-0 0, Larkin 1-7 1-2 3, Horsey 2-8 1-2
6, Carter 1-1 0-0 3, Bushrod 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-78 3-6 52.
WASHINGTON
ST. (3-1)
Pollard
0-2 0-0 0, Elleby 1-5 2-2 4, Franks 9-17 6-7 24, Daniels 3-6 2-2 11, Ali 7-13
0-1 17, Chidom 0-1 1-4 1, Kunc 1-2 0-1 2, Cooper 0-0 0-0 0, Cannon 3-5 2-3 10,
Robinson 1-2 1-2 4, Skaggs 2-6 1-2 7. Totals 27-59 15-24 80.
Halftime_Washington
St. 35-30. 3-Point Goals: Delaware St. 7-32 (Mitchell 3-8, Carter 1-1, Horsey 1-3,
Jenneto 1-5, Wiley 1-7, Bennett 0-1, Edwards 0-7), Washington St. 11-30
(Daniels 3-5, Ali 3-7, Cannon 2-3, Skaggs 2-6, Robinson 1-2, Chidom 0-1, Franks
0-6). Fouled Out_Horsey, Bennett. Rebounds: Delaware St. 40 (Edwards 8),
Washington St. 47 (Franks 11). Assists: Delaware St. 11 (Wiley 5), Washington
St. 15 (Daniels 4). Total Fouls: Delaware St. 23, Washington St. 12.
:::::::::::
WSU Men’s
Basketball: WSU 80, Delaware State 52
Information
below based on what was provided on Sat, Nov 24, 10:22 pm from WSU Sports Info
DELAWARE
AT WASHINGTON STATE
SATURDAY,
NOV. 24, 2018 – 7:30 P.M. PT– BEASLEY COLISEUM (PULLMAN, WASH.)
FINAL
SCORE: WSU 80, DSU 52
WSU POSTGAME
NOTES
Senior
Robert Franks had his second double-double of the season in just three games,
marking the fifth of his career…he finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds.
Franks has
scored at least 20 points in every game he’s played this season.
Franks was
0-for-6 from 3-point, marking his first game without a 3-pointer since Feb. 22,
2018 at California.
Junior
Ahmed Ali had a career-high 17 points…he added 3 assists and 3 rebounds.
Ali’s
previous high was 15 done in WSU’s last game (Nov. 19 vs. Cal Poly).
Senior
Viont’e Daniels tied his season-high with 11 points…he made a season-high 3
3-pointers and added 4 assists as he averages 4.0 assists per game.
Sophomore
Marvin Cannon had a career high in his young WSU career with 10 points…he came
in with just 3 points in three games this season.
Cannon
came into the game with 3 total rebounds in three games…he had a career-high 7
rebounds.
After
leading by just 5 at the half, WSU outscored DSU, 45-22 in the second half,
including a 7-0 run to start the half.
WSU’s
second-leading scorer on the season, junior Isaiah Wade, did not play.
WSU
concludes its three-game homestand as it hosts CSUN (Cal State Northridge),
Tuesday, Nov. 27 at 8 p.m.
:::::::::::::
Hot Start
Propels Washington State Past Jacksonville State
11/24/2018
| Women's Basketball WSU from WSU Sports Info
NORTHRIDGE,
Calif. - Behind a dominant defensive effort in the first half and a balanced
offensive attack late the Washington State women's basketball team (2-4) closed
out their first road win of the year, defeating Jacksonville State (2-3),
64-51, Friday at the Warner Center Marriot Thanksgiving Basketball Classic in
the Cal State Northridge Matadome
The
Cougars saw their stars come out to play as Borislava Hristova posted her
first-career double-double scoring 18 points and grabbing a career-best 11
rebounds while Chanelle Molina chipped in 10 points and grabbed a career-best
nine rebounds to go with six assists to lead the way.
Yet, while
the dynamic duo were finished the game off for the Cougars, it was senior
captain Alexys Swedlund that got her team out of their funk from the night
prior, shooting WSU to an early lead thanks to a quick eight point blitz out of
the gate. In addition to her shooting that netted the senior sharp-shooter 15
points in the game, Swedlund's defense sparked her team's early success as she
came up with three steals in the first half as the Cougars refocused and
clamped down defensively, allowing just three points over the final 8:30 of the
half to break open the game for good.
While WSU
allowed just seven points in the second quarter. Hristova took over on the
offensive end, netting 11 points in the quarter to push the Cougar advantage to
16 points at the break. The onslaught would continue in the third behind
another big run with four different Cougars getting into the action with the
lead swelling to its largest of 24 points at 51-27 with just under five to play
in the third quarter. The big lead would pay off as it allowed WSU to overcome
a tough shooting fourth quarter, holding off an attempted rally by the
Gamecocks to hold on for the double-digit victory.
WSU Coach
Ethridge quote:
"I
loved our first half. That was as good of a half as we've played, consistency,
effort-wise, and talking. You just saw some pride in our players that they
really wanted to be better and knew that they had to do certain things
energy-wise and competitive-wise and physical-wise to make us a team that can
compete. I thought we really dominated the game. We still have our spurts and
still have moments where we just struggle scoring the basketball, but at least
today we had a really great effort on the defensive end."
INFO:
The Cougs
won their first game away from Beasley in 2018-19 while picking up the win in
the first meeting between the Cougars and the Gamecocks.
WSU nearly
missed having three players record double-doubles in the win as Maria
Kostourkova fell one basket shy to post eight points and 10 rebounds in the
game alongside of Hristova and Molina.
Hristova
scored in double-figures for the sixth-straight game to start the year while
Molina posted her fifth-straight double-digit scoring effort.
The
Cougars went exceptionally young late in the third quarter as the team's
four-true freshmen were on the court together for nearly two minutes from the
3:06 mark until the 1:24 mark of the period. Shir Levy, the lone freshman
starter, scored a career-best seven points while grabbing one rebound and
dishing out one assist in 23 minutes.
WSU held
JSU to just 29.5% (18-of-61) shooting in the game while hitting 44.0%
(22-of-50) of their own shots.
JSU's
Destiney Elliot was the lone Gamecock in double-figures scoring 17 points on
5-of-14 shooting. Rayven Pearson added nine points to go with a game-best 12
rebounds.
WSU
returns home Thursday, Nov. 29 to face San Francisco at 7 p.m. at Beasley
Coliseum. The meeting marks the third-straight season the two teams have met in
the regular season and the ninth time overall. The Cougars are 6-2 all-time
against the Dons including winning the last six contest.
#
