WSU Basketball: Cougs hold on to defeat Stanford 77-73

Pullman, WA – The Washington State (13-5, 3-3) men’s basketball team has encountered trouble recently in conference play by getting off to sluggish starts.

The Cougars roared out of the gate Saturday afternoon, playing a tremendous first half then finished just barely clinging to a 77-73 victory over the Stanford Cardinal (8-7, 2-3) at home in Beasley Coliseum.

Searching for an answer to getting his team off to a fast start, WSU Coach Ken Bone called for players to arrive 30 minutes earlier than usual. The result was positive with the Cougs playing intensely at both ends of the court for the first 20 minutes.

The Cougars held their largest halftime lead of the year, a massive 20-point margin over Stanford at intermission and appeared ready to cruise to a Pac-10 win.

Klay Thompson enjoyed an outstanding first half, contributing 17 points on a sharp shooting 7-11 from the field, including 3-6 on 3-point shots.

As good as WSU played in the first half, their efforts were almost negated by stagnant play in the second half.

It was Coach Johnny Dawkins' Stanford team doing the roaring to begin the second half, cutting into the Cougar lead in the first couple of minutes. “That start of the second half is not what we wanted... Come out and get outscored 6-0 right away. At least 4 of the points were off of turnovers which led to breakaway layups,” commented Coach Bone after the game.

The Cardinal hovered around a 12-14 point deficit for the next 10 minutes of play. Surprisingly, WSU seemed to run out of gas on defense. Cougar defenders weren’t contesting shots as closely and suddenly Jeremy Green began raining down 3-point shots from everywhere.

In a strange twist, it was Coach Bone who seemed to light a fire under the Cardinal offense after he was called for a technical foul.

Bone’s team was slowing down Stanford’s run and held a comfortable 17-point lead at 64-47 with about 8 minutes remaining. After Nikola Koprivica was whistled for a foul on Landry Fields, he converted two free throws to cut the lead to 15. Koprivica appeared to be fouled on a long jumper that missed. Typical of Nik, he raced back on defense making the same play on Fields attempting a jumper that went in. The officials didn’t see it that way and whistled Koprivica for a foul which incensed Coach Bone demonstrably and was T’d up.

Three free throws and two Green treys later, Stanford was in striking range at 64-60.

The Cardinal played with a lot of heart the rest of the way, but never caught up to Washington State.

“It was a must-win game, especially at home. We’re going on the road for the next three games now so you can’t leave (Pullman) with two losses.” - WSU forward DeAngelo Casto

Coach Bone was pleased to get the win, but was concerned with the play of his team in the second half. “I don’t think we executed very well the second half with foot speed,” said Bone. He went on to say, “We didn’t get as many opportunities in transition. When we were in the half court game it didn’t seem we were moving as well to get open to complete passes and get good shots. We looked fatigued.” The coach suggested he probably should have given Thompson more rest considering how Stanford played him, clearly taking a toll physically.

When assessing the physicality of the game, one stat jumps off the box score sheet to determine which team had the edge. Washington State recorded a season high 10 blocked shots against Stanford, eclipsing the previous mark of 6 against both San Diego and Eastern Washington. Thompson and Casto each swatted away 3 shot attempts.

WSU is now 3-3 in Pac-10 play, but they could just as easily be 5-1. Five of the six conference games they’ve played have been decided by 5 points or less.

“Play through everything that’s out on the floor that can have an impact on the game. Just play through it.” - WSU Coach Ken Bone

Sage advice for a young basketball team one-third of the way through the conference schedule.

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