Slide show: In Las Vegas, WSU vs Cal
3/7/2019 Pac-12 tourney women’s basketball Season over, but hopeful for
future. Cougs lose 77-58 to Cal. WSU trailed at halftime, 36-34.
……………
Pac-12 women’s
basketball tournament: Kristine Anigwe’s big game helps Cal beat Washington
State 77-58
Thu., March 7,
2019, 8:17 p.m.
LAS VEGAS (AP) –
Kristine Anigwe had 27 points and 16 rebounds to lead seventh-seeded Cal to a
77-58 win over 10th-seeded Washington State in the opening round of the Pac-12
Tournament on Thursday night.
When these two
teams met last Sunday, Anigwe had 32 points and 30 rebounds – the first
Division I player since 2002 to reach 30 in both categories in the same game.
She single-handedly outrebounded the Cougars by eight that night as Cal won by
22.
Anigwe did her part
for Cal (19-11) on Thursday despite facing constant double and triple teams.
She recorded her 31st straight double-double, the longest in Pac-12 history.
Chanelle Molina
helped Washington State (9-21) hang around for 25 minutes as the Cougars only
trailed 36-34 at the break. She had 14 of her 24 points in the first half to
offset Anigwe’s 17 points.
Cal, which will
face Stanford in the quarterfinals Friday night , got going in the third
quarter behind Recee Caldwell. She had eight of her 14 points in the period as
Cal extended its advantage to 58-51. Anigwe broke Cal’s career blocks record
when she recorded her 199th in the third quarter.
She passed
Charlotte Lusschen, who held the record of 198 since 1986. With her three
blocks, Anigwe now has 200 in her career. The Bears put the game away early in
the fourth quarter, scoring 13 of the first 14 points.
:::::::::::::::::
“Zero Chance” for naming rights deal for WSU
football field this fiscal year
From Pullman Radio
News 3/7/2019
WSU was talking
with 2 potential partners regarding a naming rights deal for the football field
inside Martin Stadium. The
administration presented the WSU Regents Finance and Compliance Committee with
an athletics department budget update on Thursday.
The report focused
on the lack of a naming rights sponsorship deal involving Cougar
Athletics. WSU President Kirk Schulz has
stated that the institution is looking to sell the naming rights to the field
to help athletics solve its ongoing annual deficit.
Schulz revealed to
the regents Thursday that 2 potential field sponsors with ties to the
university ended up passing on the deal.
He told the regents that there is "zero chance" for a naming
rights deal this fiscal year.
That means WSU
Athletics will miss its budget deficit reduction target by over a million
dollars. Cougar Athletics annual
multiyear budget shortfall is expected to end around 8 million dollars this
year. That is still an improvement of
about 750,000 dollars from last year.
Administration officials
told the regents that they hope to sell the name of the football field in the
next fiscal year. The current fiscal
year ends June 30th.
::::::::::::::::;
Restricted parking
in effect for Spring Break on College Hill
From Pullman Radio News
3/7/2019
College Hill
parking restrictions will go into effect next week for WSU's Spring Break.
Pullman Maintenance and Operations staff will use the week long break as a
chance to clear snow, ice and other debris that have built up throughout the
winter. Vehicles that are found parked on the restricted streets between the
hours of 2 a.m. and 9 a.m. could be cited and towed. Drivers who plan to keep
their vehicles in Pullman over the break will need to find alternates to street
parking, WSU Transportation Services will provide alternate parking for those
impacted for free in the gravel Blue 1 lot across from the South Fairway
Intermural Fields. Restrictions will be in effect from Monday, March 11th to
Friday, March 15th, 2019.
:::
WASHINGTON STATE MEN
BASKETBALL VS. OREGON
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6,
2019 – 8 P.M.– BEASLEY COLISEUM (PULLMAN, WASH.)
FINAL SCORE: OREGON
72, WSU 61
From WSU Sports Info
POSTGAME NOTES
CJ Elleby finished
with 10 points, which puts him at 456 on the season, breaking the WSU freshman
record…the record was 454 set by Steve Puidokas in 1974).
Senior Robert
Franks led WSU with 16 points, adding 7 rebounds and 2 steals.
Franks moved into
sole possession of 15th on WSU’s career scoring list…he now has 1,304 points,
29 points away from 14th.
Franks’ 2 blocked
shots puts him just 4 blocks away from Klay Thompson in 16th in WSU’s career
record books.
Sophomore Marvin
Cannon was one rebound away from his career high with 7 rebounds…he added 12
points and 2 blocked shots.
WSU held Oregon’s
leading scorer, Louis King to just 3 points and Kenny Wooten, who scored 20
against the Cougars in Eugene to 2 points…King is averaging 13.3 ppg on the
season.
WSU concludes the
regular season hosting Oregon State, Saturday, March 9 at noon at Beasley
Coliseum…seniors Viont’e Daniels, Robert Franks and Davante Cooper will be
honored for ‘Senior Day.’
::::
Men Basketball: UO Ducks
fly higher than WSU Cougars
Turnovers haunt WSU
in 72-61 loss to Oregon
By Colton Clark, Lewiston
Trib / Mar 7, 2019
Washington State's
defense wasn't all too ragged.
Either it was OK,
or Oregon's attack was a bit off the mark, leading to a relatively close affair
for about 40 percent of the Wednesday night scuffle between the Cougs and Ducks
at listless Beasley Coliseum.
No matter - Wazzu's
offense was loathsome enough to offset everything. Oregon played decent
basketball and capitalized on a litany of Cougar giveaways, enough to bury WSU
72-61.
"When you've
got 17 turnovers, that's a difficult pill to swallow," Cougs coach Ernie
Kent said. "I didn't think we looked very well playing together. We were a
little selfish on the floor. Too much breakdown, too much one-on-one stuff, and
it cost us."
Kent noted his
belief that WSU could "play with (Oregon)" via defense, which he
asserted was "good enough." Nonetheless, the Ducks simply "took
advantage of our miscues" to sprint into an insuperable lead a few minutes
into the second period.
Oregon (18-12, 9-8
Pac-12) scored 20 points off turnovers, most of which came on simple transition
looks in the second half - WSU coughed it up 12 times after the break.
"Remember
earlier in the year, the areas where we really struggled were the unforced
turnovers, or turnovers in general that gave you easy buckets," Kent said.
"We could've
moved the ball better to get each other in rhythm and make plays," chipped
in CJ Elleby, who's now WSU's all-time freshman scoring leader.
He had 10 points
and seven boards (four turnovers) and concluded, "It feels pretty good but
we got a loss tonight, so that doesn't feel too good."
Though, Kent's
right about one thing. Wazzu (11-19, 4-13 Pac-12) held about even with the
Ducks early. Until the waning minutes of the first half, that is, which were
emblematic of these Cougs' late-season woes - WSU lost by 48 to mid-level
Stanford and by eight to lousy Cal last week.
Faulty offense
inspires faulty defense.
"Usually, when
you have bad shots, you have a bad transition defense," Kent said.
"So there's our nemesis from early in the year. It came back on us
again."
WSU's clip from the
floor dropped by about 30 percent in a mere three minutes (42 percent overall)
down the first-half stretch, while the Ducks netted momentum-garnering baskets
to zombify the approximately 1,000 spectators, who'd braved icy conditions for
the late-night tip, only to see their group go as cold as the outdoors.
UO rookie standout
Louis King canned a 3, and was followed by two more triples by Victor Bailey. A
pair of layups in response later, the Ducks had closed the half on a 15-6 run
to go up double figures. Meanwhile, WSU hit 3 of its last 16 attempts, and that
was really all she wrote.
"We didn't
close the half well and we didn't play smart," Kent said. "We talked
about being smart, and here was an opportunity where we could get back in this
game, because they've been a team that's given up leads before."
WSU was within
relative striking range until then - and not completely out of it at the half -
using commendable defense and ball movement to sneak past UO's lengthy
forwards. It also netted some 3-balls in response to the Ducks' early
onslaught.
But all fell apart
as swiftly as it was constructed, owing to quick and myriad Duck takeaways,
several long-lasting Coug cold streaks and an Oregon offense that grew more
confident and congruent with time.
Four Ducks notched
double figures, including leaders Paul White (21 points, seven boards) and
Payton Pritchard (15 points, seven assists). Oregon shot 50 percent and was
10-of-20 from deep, where WSU went 6-of-18.
Robert Franks
(3-of-13) and Marvin Cannon contributed 16 and 12, respectively - and seven
rebounds apiece - but neither could spark any rallies, nor limit mistakes born
from the Cougs' sloppy perimeter ballhandling and in all, a flustered approach.
Four players had
missed the weekend's games with concussions. Jeff Pollard, James Streeter and
Carter Skaggs returned, but Viont'e Daniels remained on the sidelines.
"We were obviously
a much different basketball team playing down in the desert (where they swept
the Arizonas)," Kent said. "When we lost Jeff, it knocked us out of
whack. Now we're out of rhythm."
WSU gets Oregon
State on Saturday at noon for senior day, an occasion Kent hopes will be a
"rallying cry."
OREGON (18-12)
King 1-5 0-0 3,
White 8-13 1-3 21, Wooten 1-2 0-1 2, Okoro 0-4 0-0 0, Pritchard 7-12 1-2 15,
Norris 1-2 0-0 2, Richardson 4-9 2-3 11, Amin 2-4 0-1 4, Bailey 5-8 0-0 14.
Totals 29-59 4-10 72.
WASHINGTON ST.
(11-19)
Elleby 4-10 0-0 10,
Franks 3-13 8-8 16, Pollard 2-3 0-0 4, Cannon 5-10 2-3 12, Ali 3-7 2-3 9, Wade
3-5 1-2 7, Kunc 1-2 0-0 3, Skaggs 0-0 0-0 0, Robinson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-50
13-16 61.
·
Halftime_Oregon 41-30. 3-Point Goals:
Oregon 10-20 (Bailey 4-
·
::::::::::::::
·
·
Evaluating Washington
State’s NFL Combine participants with draft evaluator Rob Rang
Thu.,
March 7, 2019, 5 a.m.
By
Theo
Lawson Spokane S-R
A trio of Washington
State players took on the NFL Scouting Combine’s gantlet of strength
tests, agility drills and private interviews last weekend, completing what most
might argue is the most vital stage of the pre-NFL Draft process.
Things went well –
and better than well, in some cases – for offensive tackle Andre Dillard, quarterback Gardner Minshew and running back James
Williams at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Dillard wowed with his 40-yard
dash time, Minshew impressed in the vertical jump and Williams placed top five
among combine running backs in three drills – the three-cone, the 20-yard
shuttle and the vertical jump.
“To me, this was a
case of the three Washington State players needing to check the boxes, they did
as expected helping their cause, but not so much helping their cause that they
went (in) as a late-round pick and now are first-round picks, necessarily,”
said Rob Rang, a Tacoma-based draft analyst whose work appears on
NFLDraftScout.com, FootballMaven.io and elsewhere. “But just kind of crossed
the t’s, dotted the i’s, what they needed to do to take that next step to being
drafted into the NFL.”
In a phone interview
earlier this week, Rang helped The Spokesman-Review evaluate how each of the
three Cougars performed in a high-exposure environment at the 2019 combine.
Andre
Dillard
While most draft
analysts and media experts are pegging Dillard as the draft’s top offensive tackle prospect –
and someone worth spending a top-15 pick on – Rang isn’t part of that camp.
Four years of
experience in Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense has melded Dillard into the
country’s top pass-protector, Rang believes, but it’s also come at a cost.
“I personally struggle
with the idea of just stamping a first-round grade on him, because I don’t
believe he is the run blocker that some of the other tackles this year are,” he
said. “But let’s face it, the NFL is a pass-first league and he is the best
pass blocker of this year’s tackle class, so that is likely to keep him in that
first-round mix.”
Dillard could become
a standout run-blocker at the next level – and he may already be more advanced
than people give him credit for – but the pre-draft process doesn’t offer ample
opportunity for an offensive lineman to demonstrate that. It could be the
reason WSU’s left tackle falls from high to low first-round, or low first-round
to high second-round.
Rang calls Dillard a
“terrific athlete” who graded out as “spectacular” in Indianapolis. His agility
and straight-line speed were evident in drills like the 40-yard dash, where
Dillard clocked 4.96 seconds, and both the broad jump and 20-yard shuttle –
both events in which he set top offensive-line marks.
Rang said Dillard
could still improve his general strength and develop the “nasty physicality”
that NFL teams value in a run blocker.
“I think that he has
a tendency to get himself a little more narrow than I’d like him to, so that
kind of leaves him a little bit off-balance when he gets kind of in the strike
position and blocking at the second level,” Rang said.
“Same thing even at
the initial level when he’s run-blocking. He’s a little higher than I’d like
him to be, and because he doesn’t have that elite strength, then you’re up a
little bit too high in run-blocking, and you’re going to lose that leverage
battle, and you’re going to fail to move people at the line of scrimmage.
“That is one of the
things that he needs to continue to work on, is not just relying on angles, but
really developing a little bit of that nasty physicality, and knocking
defenders down to pave ways for running backs to exploit.”
Gardner
Minshew
Minshew, similar to
his WSU predecessor Luke Falk, won’t be leapfrogging any of his quarterbacking
peers based on the numbers he posted at the combine. Nor was he expected to.
“I thought that he
actually looked a little bit bigger and stronger than when I saw him in person at the Senior Bowl, so I
thought that was a positive sign that he’s been in the weight room,” Rang said.
“He just kind of is what he is from an athletic standpoint. Nobody is going to
be asking him to go out there and run (run-pass options). His job is going to
be to basically be a distributor, a point guard in football, and that’s where
he tests well.”
The short dump-offs
and midrange throws that make up the bread and butter of Leach’s offense were a
strong area for Minshew at the combine. He didn’t connect quite as often on the
deeper throws he seldom made during his record-shattering season at WSU, but
Rang said as NFL teams continue to adopt Air Raid passing concepts, Minshew’s
strengths will mask his weaknesses.
“With Minshew, that’s
something he could continue to work on, no question,” Rang said. “But at the
same time, it was one workout with a bunch of receivers he’s never thrown the
ball to probably in his life.
“The combine workout
is not something that can really knock you down that far, unless it just really
matches the tape. And with Minshew, his production speaks for itself.”
Even without top-end
arm strength, Falk displayed the deft touch on his deep passes that Minshew
could still gain, Rang said. But Minshew set himself apart from Falk with his
quick decision-making – something Rang thinks could be a major asset in the
NFL.
“So the fact he did
that with only one year, technically speaking, in Mike Leach’s offense,” Rang
said, “it is a testament to Minshew’s quick thinking as well as his quick
release, is why he may be able to project a little better to the NFL.”
Rang also admires the
quarterback’s intangibles – and he’s heard that NFL scouts do, too.
“Let’s face it, every
team out there is looking to find the players that can help them win,” he said,
“and there’s a lot of folks out there that believe that part of that winning is
what’s done on the practice field, what’s done in the film room, what’s done in
the locker room and just the building up of relationships and teamwork.”
James
Williams
Like his Washington
State counterparts, Williams probably won’t see a surge in his draft stock as a
result of his marks at the combine.
But he was strong in
two of the drills Rang considers important when he’s evaluating a running back
– the three-cone drill and the 20-yard shuttle. Williams came in with a time of
7.01 in the three-cone and clocked a 4.25 in the shuttle – both good enough for
fourth among running backs.
“I’m a big believer
in the three-cone and the short shuttle for running backs, because it shows a
change of direction,” Rang said.
“So that’s obviously
a critical trait for the running back position as well.”
The 40-yard dash is
also a valuable tool for the running back position, “because certainly you’d
like to believe if that back is able to get into the clear, then he has the
jets to go,” Rang said.
Williams’ time, a
4.58, was “not great,” Rang said, “but it’s good enough.”
NFL.com’s grading
system gives Williams a “better-than-average chance to make an NFL roster” and
Rang believes a thin running back class could work in his favor.
“Therefore, I could
see a lot of teams that are going to ignore running backs either first round,
second round or third round, and you’re going to have a glut on day three,” he
said. “Once you start investing picks on day three in running backs, usually
you’re not looking for a bell-cow running back.
“You’re looking for a specialist, and
there’s not many backs in this draft class (who) catch the ball like James
Williams does, so I do believe that he has a chance to be drafted late and if
not, then absolutely he will get plenty of interest as an undrafted free
agent.”
White 4-5, King
1-2, Richardson 1-3, Amin 0-1, Norris 0-1, Pritchard 0-3), Washington St. 6-18
(Elleby 2-4, Franks 2-6, Kunc 1-2, Ali 1-3, Pollard 0-1, Cannon 0-2). Fouled
Out_Wooten, Okoro. Rebounds: Oregon 27 (White 6), Washington St. 33 (Cannon,
Elleby, Franks 7). Assists: Oregon 15 (Pritchard 7), Washington St. 15 (Ali 5).
Total Fouls: Oregon 15, Washington St. 15. A: 2,065 (11,671).
::::
