Women’s Basketball Cougars Jovana Subasic , Maria
Kostourkova, Alexys Swedlund earn All-Academic honors
3/14/2019 WSU Women's Basketball from WSU Sports Info
SAN
FRANCISCO - Redshirt-sophomore Jovana Subasic was named First Team Pac-12
Conference All-Academic as the headliner of three Cougs earning all-academic
honors as announced by the conference.
Joining
Subasic on the all-academic team were the Cougars' two seniors as Maria
Kostourkova was named to the second team while Alexys Swedlund took home
honorable mention honors. Both Kostourkova and Swedlund capped their careers at
WSU with three all-academic awards after the duo were named honorable mentions
in each of the last two seasons.
To be
eligible for selection to the academic teams, a student-athlete must be in
their redshirt-freshman season or above and have a minimum 3.0 overall
grade-point average, while participating in at least 50 percent of team
competitions.
Subasic
completed her third year at WSU with a 3.98 GPA in international business. On
the court, the redshirt-sophomore played in 29 of the Cougars' 30 games on the
year. She finished averaging 3.8 points and 1.7 rebounds per gam.
A double
major in digital technology and culture as well as foreign languages with a
focus in Spanish, Kostourkova posted a 3.71 GPA while preparing to graduate in
May. The Portugal native completed her final season averaging career bests with
6.7 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. She started all 29 games in which she
played while finishing her career tied for sixth all-time with 125 games
played, missing just one contest in four seasons due to injury. She etched her
name among the top rebounders in program history grabbing 631 career rebounds,
eighth most at WSU.
The
all-time leader in three-pointers and the 13th leading scorer in WSU history,
Swedlund posted a 3.35 GPA in Management Information Systems, a degree she will
graduate with in May. On the court, Swedlund finished her final season
averaging 11.0 points per game, doing the bulk of her damage behind the arc
where she hit 70 three-pointers, second most in single-season history only
behind her own record of 75. She ended her career with 227 three-pointers,
shattering the previous record by 46 three-pointers.
::::
MEN
BASKETBALL: It all falls apart for Cougs in tourney loss
Staff report Mar 14, 2019 , Lewiston Trib
LAS VEGAS
— A few aims were outlined for Washington State in hopes of a resurgence during
the lead-up to its first-round Pac-12 tournament tilt with Oregon.
The
Cougars had to win the defensive glass, create offensive opportunities via
solid defense and, most importantly, limit the giveaways, which have been WSU’s
bane all year.
The No. 11
seed Cougs did nothing of the sort, folding in all those and even more categories
in suffering an embarrassing 84-51 blowout to sixth-seeded Oregon on Wednesday
night at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.
That makes
10 straight conference tournament defeats for Wazzu. Current Coug coach Ernie
Kent lost to WSU as the Ducks’ boss in 2009.
That also
makes the Cougs’ worst-ever Pac-12 tournament loss and UO’s largest margin of
victory at the event.
And in
general, the tournament’s grandest margin.
“People
have talked about (UO) being the hottest team in the league,” Kent said. “Their
length on the floor is really difficult to score on. ... When you combine that
on the strength inside, the outside scoring, they’re a tough team.”
Almost all
of the entertainment in the front-to-back rout came thanks to Bill Walton’s
amusing color commentary.
The
Cougars (11-21, 4-15) ended their 2018-19 campaign on a six-game skid and with
one of their two worst outings — they coughed it up 20 times (13 assists), had
only three points in the opening 10 minutes, and at that time, had four times
as many turnovers as tallies.
It owed to
all-around sloppiness, rash takes and several defensive lapses. Plus, the
reanimated Ducks’ stout interior defense prohibited paint scoring and put
restraints on WSU senior star Robert Franks (eight points on 2-of-9).
“(Turnovers)
didn’t let us play our game,” said Franks, an all-league first-teamer. “It got
us out of rhythm. And with turnovers and them getting out in the open court, it
was tough for us to find rhythm anytime during the game.”
Oregon
(20-12, 11-8), Kent’s alma mater and former 13-year employer, scored 26 points
off turnovers and was again stellar defensively.
Over the
Ducks’ previous four, they’d limited opponents to 51.5 points per game, and
faintly improved upon that mark Wednesday. UO went up double figures in just
seven minutes and promptly expanded the advantage to as many as 35 in the
second half.
Really, it
was over by the break — WSU was shooting 22.7 percent, had 16 turnovers and
trailed by 17.
Any hope
for a post-half Cougar response was quelled when UO sprung out a 9-0 run to
open the second.
“I don’t
think we helped the cause,” Kent said on the first. “... We just dug ourselves
in a huge hole, because that length and athletic of a team, it’s very difficult
to push back.”
Instead of
seeking out lanes or getting the ball inside, Wazzu settled for a multitude of
hasty 3-pointers (7-of-32), and didn’t log a high clip from anywhere (30.8
percent).
The Ducks
didn’t shoot particularly well in the first — they were much better after
intermission (49 percent in all) — but countless Wazzu attacking blunders and
UO’s myriad opportunities in transition let that slide.
No one
registered double digits for the Cougs, who were led by CJ Elleby and Marvin
Cannon with nine apiece. Elleby also grabbed nine boards, but WSU was
outrebounded by eight.
UO
recorded 16 assists and apportioned the scoring — four were in double figures,
the whole crew traded off highlight-reel moments, and Ehab Amin led UO with 17
points.
“We flew
around on defense,” said UO coach Dana Altman, whose troupe gets No. 3 Utah
tonight. “They did miss some open 3s, which really helped us out. ... For the
most part I thought our activity was really good.”
WASHINGTON
ST. (11-21)
Elleby
3-11 0-0 9, Pollard 1-2 0-0 3, Franks 2-9 4-4 8, Cannon 2-5 4-6 9, Robinson 3-9
1-2 7, Kunc 0-1 0-0 0, Wade 3-6 1-2 7, Cooper 0-0 0-0 0, Skaggs 2-5 0-0 6, Ali
0-4 2-2 2. Totals 16-52 12-16 51.
OREGON
(20-12)
King 5-11
0-0 12, White 3-8 0-0 7, Okoro 4-7 0-0 8, Wooten 2-2 0-0 4, Pritchard 3-11 0-0
7, Norris 6-10 1-1 14, Amin 5-7 4-5 17, Richardson 3-5 3-4 10, Bailey 2-4 0-0
5, Johnson 0-2 0-0 0, Osborn 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-67 8-10 84.
Halftime_Oregon
37-20. 3-Point Goals_Washington St. 7-32 (Elleby 3-7, Skaggs 2-5, Pollard 1-2,
Cannon 1-3, Kunc 0-1, Robinson 0-4, Ali 0-4, Franks 0-6), Oregon 10-28 (Amin
3-4, King 2-5, Richardson 1-2, Bailey 1-2, Norris 1-4, White 1-5, Pritchard
1-5, Johnson 0-1). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Washington St. 29 (Elleby 9),
Oregon 38 (Okoro 8). Assists_Washington St. 13 (Franks 4), Oregon 16
(Richardson 5). Total Fouls_Washington St. 13, Oregon 19. A_8,876 (18,000).
:::
Below includes
WSU mentions from Vince Grippi’s latest posting …
Grip on
Sports: Wednesday night’s loss marked the end of WSU’s basketball season but
probably not Ernie Kent’s tenure
Thu.,
March 14, 2019, 8:58 a.m.
By Vince
Grippi
Spokane
S-R
A GRIP ON
SPORTS • Is this the end? The end of Ernie Kent’s elaborate plans? Of
everything that stands in Washington State’s basketball program, the end? Read
on.
• You know
when someone decides to dig deep into rock-n-roll history to start a column,
something historic has happened.
A lot of
historic, actually.
How about
a historic loss in the Pac-12 Tournament last night? Oregon dominated from the
first couple minutes and routed the Cougars, 84-51, the largest margin of
victory (or defeat) in tournament history. How about an awful year which
resulted in 11 wins, the same number (more on that in a moment) as the football
team had in the fall? How about five years under Kent in which the Cougars
haven’t come closer than five games of summiting Mt. .500?
That last
stretch isn’t historically bad – Marv Harshman and Jack Friel all had stretches
of at least five consecutive seasons under the break-even mark since World War
II – but it’s getting up there. As is the cost of making a change in the
coaching ranks.
If
Washington State wants someone else to lead the basketball program next season,
it will cost the Cougars more than $4 million just to usher Kent to the door.
That’s a
lot of money for a cash-strapped university. And it doesn’t include the cost of
hiring a successor.
But what’s
the cost of staying the course? That one’s harder to figure. Men’s basketball
has to be losing money. There is no way the crowds at Friel Court can be paying
the freight for putting on the games. Even with season ticket sales figured in,
the Cougars aren’t drawing well enough to heat Beasley, let alone pay the
ushers.
OK, we
exaggerate. A bit. But there is no enthusiasm for Washington State University
basketball right now and that’s sad. It’s happened before, though, and not all
that long ago.
Remember
when Paul Graham was running the program into the dirt? The only reason he
didn’t have five consecutive losing seasons was because then athletic director
Jim Sterk fired him after four. And made a bold hire.
Sterk
didn’t just hire Dick Bennett, he hired the former Wisconsin coach and made him
a promise about his son, Tony. Build a foundation and turn it over. That bit of
nepotism worked pretty well, didn’t it? Talk about historic, the Cougars
appeared in the NCAA Tournament back-to-back seasons. They made a run to the
Sweet Sixteen. They actually filled Beasley.
But
Bennett, either one, isn’t the answer for Washington State right now. They did
build on a blueprint established long ago by George Raveling, though. A
blueprint on how to win on the Palouse.
Do things
a bit differently than everyone else.
Raveling
was an outlier, an African-American head coach when coaches of color weren't
allowed that opportunity often. (In 1972, the year Raveling was hired at WSU,
he was one of three African-American head coaches in Division I.) Raveling was
able to recruit some of the best players in the country to Pullman and then
lead Washington State to the NCAA Tournament. Twice, actually.
Kelvin
Sampson did things differently as well, though his outlier status ended up
getting him in trouble at a couple post-Pullman stops. Sampson, like Raveling,
won big his fourth year at WSU. Unlike George, though, he made the Tournament
that season – and then left town.
Kent has
had five years to make an impact. His best player this season, Robert Franks,
is graduating. There is talent returning, but one of the hallmarks of Kent's
tenure is the surprise transfer, as happened last offseason when two-year
starter Malachi Flynn decided to leave for San Diego State. That’s not just a
Kent problem these days, of course, but it has hampered his ability to rebuild
the program.
The guess
here is Kent will be back on the bench next season. The buyout is just too
high. If everyone returns, the Cougars have a shot at being at least
fair-to-middling again. Isn’t that what their basketball fans hope for these
days?
• The
football/basketball record thing? I did a quick perusal of the two programs’
records and found five times the football team won as many or more games in the
fall than the basketball team did that school year.
In other
words, it isn’t unprecedented. It isn’t good either. But it could have been
worse. There was a year, not all that long ago, when the football team won four
more games than the basketball program. Yep, in 2001, Mike Price’s football
team won 10 games. That season, Graham’s group won six.
WSU:
At least
now Theo Lawson can leave Las Vegas. He covered the Cougars’ loss in the Pac-12
Tournament’s first round. Again. Washington State has won a tournament game
since 2008. … Theo also has confirmed a report quarterback Gage Gubrud was
injured in Midnight Maneuvers and may miss spring football practice. … The
baseball team lost at UNLV again. …
::::::
WSU
football
Report: QB
Gage Gubrud suffers injury, could miss entirety of Washington State spring camp
UPDATED:
Wed., March 13, 2019, 8:27 p.m.
By Theo
Lawson Spokane S-R
Gage
Gubrud’s first reps as a Washington State quarterback may be delayed by a few
months.
Through a
source, The Spokesman-Review confirmed a Cougfan.com report that the WSU QB and
Eastern Washington graduate transfer suffered a lower-body injury during the
team’s Midnight Maneuvers training regimen and could miss the entirety of
spring camp.
According to
Cougfan.com, Gubrud injured either a foot or ankle when he caught his foot on a
hurdle during one of WSU’s late-night workouts in Pullman.
An S-R
source clarified that it was either a left foot/ankle that Gubrud hurt and the
QB did not reinjure the fractured toe that caused him to miss the final 10
games of EWU’s 2018 football season.
The source
also confirmed the injury would probably force the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Gubrud
to miss spring camp, which begins on March 21 at Rogers Field/Martin Stadium in
Pullman. The Cougars will hold 15 spring workouts between then and April 23,
including the Crimson and Gray game, set for April 20 at Martin Stadium.
Gubrud,
who played 32 games and passed for nearly 10,000 yards in three seasons at EWU,
enrolled in classes at WSU last month, making him eligible to compete for the
Cougars in spring ball. That and Gubrud’s experience as a college football
player should have given him an advantage when WSU’s pending QB competition
begins later this month.
The former
FCS All-American and redshirt seniors Trey Tinsley and Anthony Gordon are
expected to be the favorites to replace Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year
Gardner Minshew.
If Gubrud
can’t practice with the Cougars until August, he may draw some hope and
optimism from Minshew’s situation. An East Carolina grad transfer, Minshew
didn’t arrive on campus until spring workouts had finished and didn’t begin
competing for the Cougars’ starting job until fall camp, although he arrived
with preexisting knowledge of Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense. Minshew then won
the job two weeks prior to WSU’s season opener at Wyoming.
::::::::::::::::::
WSU
basketball
Washington
State makes 10th straight first-round exit in Pac-12 Tournament, bowing to
Oregon 84-51
UPDATED:
Wed., March 13, 2019, 11:50 p.m.
By Theo
Lawson S-R of Spokane
LAS VEGAS
– They peaked in the desert nearly a month ago, beating Arizona State and
Arizona with fluid ball movement, consistent shot-making from almost everyone
in the rotation and sturdy defense.
Wednesday,
it was a different type of desert and a much different fate for the 11th-seeded
Cougars, who wilted the same way they have much of this Pac-12 basketball
season, and withered away in the first round of the conference tournament for
the 10th straight season with an 84-51 loss to sixth-seeded Oregon at T-Mobile
Arena.
WSU
finishes the 2018-19 basketball season with just 11 wins – exactly as many as
Mike Leach’s Alamo Bowl-winning football team – and 20 losses. The Cougars, who
went 4-15 against their own conference, will miss out on the postseason for the
seventh straight year and extend the Pac-12’s longest NCAA Tournament drought
to 11 years.
It was the
largest margin of defeat for the Cougars in a Pac-12/10 Tournament game,
beating a 25-point loss to Cal in 2015, and the largest margin of victory for
Oregon.
The one
thing they’ve been trying to correct most of the last month came back to sting
the Cougars – over and over again – in their sixth consecutive loss, and by the
second half they looked like a team that had grown fatigued from watching the
opponent turn their turnovers into quick buckets on the other end.
Constantly
disrupted by an Oregon team that’s as athletic as it is long, WSU committed 20
turnovers, leading to 26 Oregon points. Over their final six games, the Cougars
committed 100 turnovers, which turned into 137 points for the opposition.
“Our skill
has really gotten away from us,” WSU coach Ernie Kent said. “And I think teams
have made adjustments on us as well, too. … The turnovers to me are a result of
just trying to force a lot of things because our offense has gotten so
stagnant, so many adjustments defense has made on us.”
The
miscues came early, they came often and they were a big reason why WSU went
nearly 14 minutes in the first half with just one made field goal.
“Their
length is definitely a problem,” WSU freshman CJ Elleby said. “You could tell
with our turnovers in the first half and that was the game right there.”
For 13:53,
the Cougars were sitting on just five points, courtesy of a CJ Elleby elbow
3-pointer and two Marvin Cannon free throws. Elleby’s 3 was the first made shot
of the game, but the Ducks followed with an 18-0 run and scored 22 of the
game’s next 24 points.
The
Cougars couldn’t attribute their sluggish start to anything that happened in
the hours leading up to the game. Their gameday shootaround was fine. They were
sharp in warmups. Nothing, with the exception of their rocky track record,
could’ve pointed to this.
“I felt
like we gad good energy today,” WSU forward Jeff Pollard said. “I feel like we
just might have maybe thought about it too much and needed to play our game.”
Needed to.
Never did.
During
WSU’s scoreless stretch, the Cougars had 11 turnovers and missed nine straight
shots. At one point, they had 12 turnovers compared to three points and
finished the first half with 16 turnovers compared to 20 points.
WSU drew
an Oregon team that was seeded just sixth, but one that also came to Las Vegas
this week sizzling, having won each of its last four games.
“They’re
playing extremely well right now, and I can see them to play better and
better,” said Kent, Dana Altman’s predecessor in Eugene from 1997-2010. “As
long as they keep their heads in it, they have a chance to make a run.”
The Ducks
went to the halftime break with a 17-point lead and opened the second half on a
9-0 run. The Cougars kept their turnover count down in the second half,
committing just four more the rest of the game, but Oregon improved its 3-point
totals at the same time, canning seven in the second half after making just
three in the first.
For the
first time this season, WSU didn’t have a single player finish in double
figures. In his last college game, Pac-12 leading scorer Robert Franks scored
just eight points on 2-of-9 shooting, was 0-of-6 from three-point range and
turned it over three times.
“I wanted
to leave it all on the line today,” Franks said. “Unfortunately our turnovers
kind of slowed our offense down. It didn’t let us play our game. It got us out
of rhythm. And with turnovers and them getting out in the open court, it was
tough for us to find rhythm anytime during the game.”
Elleby and
Marvin Cannon each had nine points for WSU, but combined to shoot 4-of-16 from
the field and combined for nine turnovers – six of those from Elleby.
Oregon got
a game-high 17 points from Ehab Amin, 14 from Miles Norris, 12 from Louis King
and 10 from Will Richardson.
#
