WSU’s turnover-forcing defense holds Riverside back, late offensive charge puts
Highlanders away
By Colton Clark, Trib of Lewiston
Dec 16, 2019
No one was stunned to learn that Washington State collected 23 takeaways, the most amassed by a Cougars men’s basketball team in nine years.
“It’s what we do,” first-year coach Kyle Smith said of Sunday afternoon’s showing against California-Riverside, the fourth game this year in which a Wazzu opponent has committed 20-plus turnovers.
By Colton Clark, Trib of Lewiston
Dec 16, 2019
No one was stunned to learn that Washington State collected 23 takeaways, the most amassed by a Cougars men’s basketball team in nine years.
“It’s what we do,” first-year coach Kyle Smith said of Sunday afternoon’s showing against California-Riverside, the fourth game this year in which a Wazzu opponent has committed 20-plus turnovers.
Pitched in star forward CJ Elleby, undeniably a key in that: “I
think it’s becoming the norm for us. Just active hands on defense.”
WSU, which again traversed offensive peaks and valleys, again made up for those inconsistencies with its defense and a second-half burst, enough to allow the Cougs to break free from a tight game and coast to a 70-56 win over the Highlanders before a sparse post-finals Beasley Coliseum crowd.
Takeaways provided 24 points for the Cougars (6-4), who won their third straight. Defense in general staved off the Highlanders (7-4), a lengthy and steady defensive group itself.
Leading only slightly about five minutes into the second half, Wazzu endured one of its offensive lulls, which Riverside of the Big West Conference took advantage of, racing out on a 10-0 run with a slashing, small-ball lineup that hit a pair of 3-balls and added a one-handed jam.
It fashioned the game’s only tie at 35-all, and compelled Smith to call timeout.
“I sprinkled my magic dust,” Smith joked. “I just think our defense tightened up … wiped them off the 3.”
And thanks to that, the offense settled.
The Cougs proceeded to generate four turnovers, all of which they turned into quick baskets. Elleby led the push, netting six consecutive points — including a deep 3 and a smooth, floating underhand layin, which drew a foul — as part of a 15-2 spurt spanning the next four minutes. It produced a double-digit lead WSU didn’t surrender.
“We came out of that timeout aggressive,” forward Aljaz Kunc said. “Basketball’s a game of runs. We made that one. In the future, we just have to eliminate theirs.”
Elleby finished with a game-high 20 points (16 after halftime), along with six rebounds and three steals. He chided himself for not eyeing the rim and driving inside more in the first half.
Once he started, he was isolating himself and leaving Highlanders far behind, flying in for contested layups and often scoring in Wazzu’s on-the-run offense, generated via defense.
WSU, which again traversed offensive peaks and valleys, again made up for those inconsistencies with its defense and a second-half burst, enough to allow the Cougs to break free from a tight game and coast to a 70-56 win over the Highlanders before a sparse post-finals Beasley Coliseum crowd.
Takeaways provided 24 points for the Cougars (6-4), who won their third straight. Defense in general staved off the Highlanders (7-4), a lengthy and steady defensive group itself.
Leading only slightly about five minutes into the second half, Wazzu endured one of its offensive lulls, which Riverside of the Big West Conference took advantage of, racing out on a 10-0 run with a slashing, small-ball lineup that hit a pair of 3-balls and added a one-handed jam.
It fashioned the game’s only tie at 35-all, and compelled Smith to call timeout.
“I sprinkled my magic dust,” Smith joked. “I just think our defense tightened up … wiped them off the 3.”
And thanks to that, the offense settled.
The Cougs proceeded to generate four turnovers, all of which they turned into quick baskets. Elleby led the push, netting six consecutive points — including a deep 3 and a smooth, floating underhand layin, which drew a foul — as part of a 15-2 spurt spanning the next four minutes. It produced a double-digit lead WSU didn’t surrender.
“We came out of that timeout aggressive,” forward Aljaz Kunc said. “Basketball’s a game of runs. We made that one. In the future, we just have to eliminate theirs.”
Elleby finished with a game-high 20 points (16 after halftime), along with six rebounds and three steals. He chided himself for not eyeing the rim and driving inside more in the first half.
Once he started, he was isolating himself and leaving Highlanders far behind, flying in for contested layups and often scoring in Wazzu’s on-the-run offense, generated via defense.
He’s really playing with a purpose,” Smith said of Elleby. “He’s gotta bide his time and pick his spots, and he did. He just kinda regrouped.”
efore then, WSU’s offense was guided quietly by posts Kunc and Jeff Pollard. Kunc compiled an efficient 13 points (5-of-6), including two triples in the game’s first two minutes. Pollard, who went 4-of-12, finished with 16 points and seven boards, and shot 7-of-7 from the charity stripe.
“(Kunc) needs to be like what Jeff is for us going forward,” Smith said. “Those guys keep us balanced out.”
Smith had praise for newcomer guard Isaac Bonton, who capped off some crucial possessions with the lead fading late in the first and midway through the second. Bonton chalked up three transition assists and 12 points, nine in the second half as Wazzu turned itself around and shot 51.7 percent from the field in that period.
Meanwhile, the Cougs limited Riverside to five points over an eight-minute span.
“I knew buckets were gonna be hard to get,” Smith said, referencing the defense of UC Riverside, which is coached by David Patrick, a former assistant alongside Smith at Saint Mary’s (Calif.) in the mid-to-late 2000s.
“People don’t shoot the ball well against them. They’re really sound. They play a lot like Saint Mary’s.”
WSU shot 32 percent in the first half after a 9-0 start. It rushed some takes and took some erratic attempts to let the Highlanders hang around, then eventually creep back, mostly using success underneath.
But owing to early-and-often giveaways, Riverside never went ahead, and the deficit got out of hand by the midway point of the second half.
The Highlanders were spearheaded by post Angus McWilliam’s 13 points and guard George Willborn’s 11.
“If we can rely on (defense), I think we’re gonna be in good shape,” Elleby said.
Added Smith, whose constant defensive focus has provided wins where there might’ve been losses a year ago: “We put a lot of time in it. I think you achieve what you emphasize.
“We’re playing a little more methodically because we’re good defensively.”
The last time WSU forced 23-plus turnovers was in December 2010 under coach Ken Bone, when it snatched 25 in an 81-59 win against Gonzaga....Wazzu forced 20-plus turnovers in a game only once under former coach Ernie Kent.
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WSU football
Has Washington State’s cloudy future on defense impeded Cougars’ recruiting efforts? Three commits lend their perspective
Mon., Dec. 16, 2019
By Theo Lawson of Spokane’s S-R
Accustomed to the flat plains of Indiana, and a more urban life in the Indianapolis suburb of Avon, Nathaniel James was “mesmerized” by the pine trees and tumbling hills that greeted him when the three-star defensive tackle touched down in Spokane last spring for an official visit to Washington State.
“The view, as soon as I got out of the airport, I knew it was different,” James said. “Then on the drive – we drove from Spokane to Pullman – it’s just that hour and a half drive, driving through the hills, just seeing the mountains and a different kind of atmosphere out there. It’s really nice.”
A kid from the Midwest was immediately sold on a college football career in the Inland Northwest.
But, despite the hospitality the Cougars showed James, who had an amiable host in redshirt sophomore nose tackle Dallas Hobbs, and his relationship with position coach Jeff Phelps, who’d recruited his older brother Elijah Daniel when he was at Minnesota, the Avon (Ind.) High defensive lineman and his impending college career faced some uncertainty once WSU’s first bye week hit.
When Tracy Claeys left his defensive coordinator post in October, without more than a few days’ notice, it not only shook things up for the 2019 Cougars, but also raised potential questions for the next wave of defensive players coming to Pullman.
“I was definitely contemplating for sure on my decision, as far as recruiting wise, if I wanted to stay there and how this would affect things,” said James, who pledged to the Cougars in April, becoming WSU’s first defensive commit in the 2020 class. “… With the defensive schemes and then you change the D-coordinator, things could switch up. And obviously how I fit in was one of the roles that put into me committing and wanting to go there. So, with that switch up, it definitely had me contemplating.”
Two days from now, James and as many as 20 other high school prospects are expected to sign binding agreements with the Cougars when the NCAA’s early period officially opens. For Hawaiian quarterback Jayden de Laura and the offensive commits, it may have been reassuring to see head coach and de facto offensive coordinator Mike Leach re-up with the Cougars after his name was linked to vacancies at Arkansas and Ole Miss.
But for now, WSU can’t guarantee the same closure on the other side of the ball.
In the short-term, Leach appointed inside linebackers coach Roc Bellantoni to interim defensive coordinator and elevated cornerbacks coach Darcel McBath to co-interim defensive coordinator. But WSU’s coach hasn’t made any decisions on the long-term, and indicated last week he won’t until the Cougars get through the Dec. 27 Cheez-It Bowl against Air Force.
“We’ll work through the bowl game first,” Leach said.
So, as many as 10 defensive recruits could be inking their letters of intent on Wednesday, without any real assurance of continuity – either in scheme or on the coaching staff.
Leach said he’d consider in-house candidates when selecting WSU’s full-time DC – “Oh yeah,” he said, “of course, always” – but there’s no guarantee of that happening. Leach not only left Pullman, but left the region, to bring in Alex Grinch, previously at Missouri, and Claeys, who was taking a year-long sabbatical at home in Kansas when he received a call from the WSU coach.
If Leach makes an external hire, there’s a chance he’ll bring in a coordinator with his own views on how to run a defense – views that don’t necessarily align with the ones WSU’s position coaches have been spewing out in living rooms over the last year. Not only that, but the future of those assistant coaches could be in limbo if Leach goes outside of the program for his defensive coordinator, who may prefer to bring his own help.
But, those scenarios haven’t come up on the recruiting trail, Leach
maintains, and prospective Cougars don’t seem too bothered by the changing
pieces of WSU’s defense.
“No, not really,” Leach said. “It’s just been business as usual and we’re just pressing ahead, you know?”
Claeys wasn’t an insignificant part of WSU’s recruiting efforts,
but he also wasn’t the point man for many of the players who’ll be signing with
the Cougars on Wednesday. The team delegates assistant coaches to various
regions as “area recruiters” and prospects communicate routinely with their
future position coaches.
So, while James had a few interactions with Claeys, his contact points were primarily Phelps, WSU’s defensive line coach, and outside linebackers coach Matt Brock, who recruits heavily in the Midwest for the Cougars because of his background in the Mid-American Conference.
“(They were) telling me basically how great of a player I am and the potential I have and (Claeys) leaving and another coach on the coaching staff (Bellantoni) stepping up and taking his job and being the defensive coordinator,” James said. “It had no effect. The defensive scheme is still the same and the way they do things there is not going to change at all. That was one of the things that kind of reassured me on the decision I made.”
Moon Ashby is a three-star outside linebacker from Valley Christian
High in San Jose, Calif., who, like James, was committed to the Cougars well
before the defensive coordinator shuffle.
“I was pretty sold,” Ashby said. “I liked the environment, too.”
Ashby didn’t second-guess his decision when Claeys left, though, stating the importance of his relationship with Brock, who, pending a change, will be the recruit’s position coach in Pullman next season.
“It didn’t matter to me,” he said. “Because coach Brock was still there and I’d still be playing edge rusher, probably, most definitely. And I felt like it was always going to work out.”
Other recruits, like Colorado’s Justin Lohrenz, pledged to the Cougars after Claeys’ departure. Asked about the midseason defensive coordinator drama in Pullman, the weak-side defensive end said over the phone last week, “Actually, this is my first time hearing about this.”
Would a cloudy future make Lohrenz rethink his decision? Absolutely not, the Columbine High senior said.
“The position coaches and style over there and the Pac-12’s been my dream,” Lohrenz said, “and I don’t think there’s anything that can happen to make want to do something else.”
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STUDY FINDS FLIRTING AMONG COWORKERS CAN REDUCE STRESS
"PULLMAN, Wash. – Casual flirting with colleagues at work is relatively harmless and can even be beneficial, new research from Washington State University shows.
"The study, published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes ...."
Source: Dec 16, 2019, news release from WSU News/Washington State University, Pullman, Wash. Link below for news release:
https://news.wsu.edu/2019/12/16/study-finds-flirting-among-coworkers-can-reduce-stress/
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