SportsLink

WSU’s record day at the line

Jan. 17, 2009 7:34 p.m. • 50 comments

COUGARS

OK, I’m back in Spokane after racing up I-5 to make my flight. I made some changes in the story and added some web-only items. You can read it all on the link.

••••••••••

• Here’s the game story …

EUGENE, Ore. – It might have taken 17 games, but Washington State finally found the key to its offense.

Get to the free-throw line. Then make every one.

The Cougars walked there 14 times Saturday. And they made all 28 attempts in their 74-62 Pac-10 Conference win over Oregon before 8,261 at McArthur Court.

And they needed every one of their school- and Pac-10-record free throws, as the Ducks, without coach Ernie Kent on the bench, ejected midway through the second half, came flying back late.

“We knew we had to go to the line and make it count every time,” senior center Aron Baynes said. “We were able to do that. It was clutch down at the end of the game.”

Despite the 12-point final margin, the free throws and Kent’s ejection weren’t the only unusual occurrences WSU needed to raise its record to 11-6, 3-2 in Pac-10 play.

They also needed every one of Taylor Rochestie’s career-best 30 points – he hit all 16 of his free throws – and seven assists.

They needed Baynes’ first career 3-pointer and the rest of his season-high 19 points and career-best-tying 12 rebounds.

They needed at least five blocked shots, including an uncredited one by freshman Marcus Capers, making his first career start, three by Baynes and two by DeAngelo Casto.

And of course they needed their given, a defense that suffocated most of Oregon’s shooters for 37 of the 40 minutes.

“Some guys are just playing real well,” WSU coach Tony Bennett answered when asked how the Cougars have been able to win three consecutive Pac-10 games. “Taylor is just carrying us. Aron, those two seniors have just stepped up.”

Rochestie not only tied Marcus Moore’s single-game school record for most free throws made without a miss, he also hit two big 3-pointers late to blunt the first part of Oregon’s comeback.

“It just came down to having the ball go in the basket,” the senior point guard said of his recent improved shooting and his 19.2 scoring average in conference.

The ball going into the basket something you expect from Baynes, second in the conference in shooting percentage and 6 of 10 in this one. Only you don’t expect the ball to be shot from more than 10 feet.

But when he picked up a loose ball at the top of the key with 7:01 left and UO (6-12, 0-6) on a 7-0 run that had cut WSU’s once 17-point lead, Baynes knew what to do. Shoot it before the shot-clock expired.

“A few things were falling our way,” Baynes said, smiling. “I’ve put up a few, but I never put them up with much time on the clock, so I’m always kind of rushed. This one just fell in.”

But it wasn’t counted immediately. The officials, who already had ejected Kent to a chorus of boos, had to check to see if the shot clock had expired – it hadn’t – and if Baynes was behind the line – he was.

By then Kent had been in the locker room for 5 minutes.

After watching his team shoot 25 percent in the first half, miss their first eight 3-point attempts and have trouble matching up with Baynes and Casto inside, Kent had seen enough.

The Ducks led only once, at 2-0 on LeKendric Longmire’s post move, part of his team-high 15 points. They trailed by seven at the half after a 6-0 WSU run in the last 2 minutes, though they crawled to within five – 31-26 – on Joevan Catron’s bucket with 14:48 left. WSU then went inside to Baynes. His hook shot seemed to slip from his fingers as Josh Crittle made incidental contact and official Chris Rastatter called a foul.

Kent jumped out to near mid-court and Rastatter whistled him for a technical. Four free throws later, WSU had started what would turn out to be a 12-0 run.

Kent, under fire after the young Ducks slow start this season, wasn’t around to see the run end. When no foul was called after Catron, who had 12 points and nine rebounds, went to the hoop and hit the ground on a miss, Kent jumped up again and Rastatter hit him with another technical.

“He believes that this game was reffed unfairly,” junior guard Tajuan Porter said of Kent’s actions, “and he did what he had to do.”

The Cougars scored four more points off that call and this one seemed over. It wasn’t. The Ducks, after missing their first eight 3-pointers, made seven in the last 8 minutes and kept it close, with Porter hitting four en route to 15 points.

“That shows you how quick they can score,” Bennett said of the Ducks’ late run. “We didn’t do a great job guarding at the very end, but I thought we were real good defensively up until, what, 3 minutes left when they just started flying at us, ball-screening and attacking. They got in scramble mode and we weren’t quite ready.”

But they were at the line.

“They just stepped up there with confidence and banged them,” Bennett said. “We needed them.”

They also needed all the blocks, including three on consecutive possessions late in the first half that keyed the edge-building run. First Capers came over the help and swatted Longmire’s layup attempt. Then Casto got a hand on Porter’s. Finally, Baynes took care of a Drew Wiley drive.

“Usually Daven and I are the high flyers who are blocking shots,” Rochestie joked. “To have Marcus and DeAngelo and those guys, it makes a big difference. They are making plays some of us can’t make.”

It also allows the Cougar defense to extend quicker, or as Rochestie said “getting out on shooters and trusting your teammates.”

Bennett trusted Casto on Catron, who the coach felt was the key to Oregon’s offense.

“I just thought Catron was going be just such an important guy in this game,” Bennett said. “If we could do a good job on him, it would be big.”

The 6-foot-6 power forward nearly fouled out starter Caleb Forrest, but Casto came off the bench to help limit the Ducks’ go-to inside guy.

“We decided to let DeAngelo take him one-on-one,” Bennett said, “and I thought he did a heck of a job.”

NOTES: The 17 points Oregon scored in the first half tied a 20-minute low this season for the Ducks. Of course, the 45 they scored after intermission were the most WSU has given up in a half this year. The Cougars countered with 50 points, also a one-half high. … The old Pac-10 record for most free throws without a miss was 22 by USC, also in Eugene. The NCAA record is 34, done three times. The Cougars’ performance was the best in the NCAA this season. … WSU has won four consecutive games vs. the Ducks. … Rastatter wouldn’t address the Kent ejection. “I really can’t get into that. I mean, it’s bench decorum. You can quote it’s bench decorum,” he told pool reporter George Schroeder of the Register-Guard. However, he did talk about the Baynes’ 3-pointer. “We determined that no timing error occurred,” he said. “We just went to see if a timing mistake happened. There was no timing error. We did review the 2 and 3 and it was clearly a 3 and that was it.” … Capers played a career-high 31 minutes.

•••

• That’s it for tonight. We’ll be back in the morning with other quotes, notes and links in our usual day after post. Till then …

50 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Tim_in_the_Gorge on January 17 at 3:14 p.m.
Good win. All of them on the road are. Just wish I could have seen it. Had a power outage that finally came back on with 3 minutes left on the FSN replay. Oh well. And why does a team like UCLA have to go and lose right before they play us. We won’t take them by surprise.
wsudaveyo on January 17 at 3:48 p.m.
Tim -

Game should be on FSN again tonight at 9:30. At least it is in the seattle area.
mbb on January 17 at 4:07 p.m.
I was lucky enough to be there. What a great game. It would have been easier on my heart if Oregon hadn’t hit every 3 they threw up there in the last 8 minutes, but the Cougs looked really solid. It’s great to have Rochestie playing so well again. They are a whole different team when his game is on.

Vince, is it just me, or does Casto create a huge defensive disruption when he is in the game. It’s hard for me to believe he only had two blocks because he changes so many of Oregons interior shots. That kid is a beast inside, and he seems to be getting more comfortable. I’m looking forward to watching him for the next 4 years.
wazzuwyatt on January 17 at 4:07 p.m.
Rochestie looked great, the whole game. Baynes looked better, too, playing his role quite well. Cougs did well staying ahead of the Ducks by a slim margin most the the game, but when they got hot, they took off and UO looked horribly sloppy.

I have a feeling Kent’s career at UO is over. The Oregonian sports writer, John Cazano, pretty much said it was quite possible in today’s paper.

Watching the UCLA-ASU game afterward, they both looked like very poor shooters. I smell upset of one or the other. Maybe UCLA will get beaten at the Coug Home Palace.
avboden on January 17 at 4:29 p.m.
WSU has a history of playing UCLA very strongly.

You can also expect the ZZU CRU to be in full force, the UCLA match is usually bigger than UW
MikeSequim on January 17 at 6:12 p.m.
No dominate team in the PAC. Some good teams, which opens the door for some fair teams like WSU to play well and sneak an extra win or two! I know it was only the Oregon schools but it was a road sweep and thats good. 28 for 28, WOW!

Mike, Sequim
ggov on January 17 at 6:33 p.m.
Was at both games in Oregon this week and it’s GREAT to get an Oregon sweep! We had a tougher win against the Beavers vs. the Ducks. Rochestie IN CHARGE and Casto a beast…this team is gelling and next weekend should be an interesting one in Pullman. Go Cougs!
RobH on January 17 at 7:29 p.m.
The game on Thursday will be tough. The one Saturday will be a bigger, and winnable game.

Arizona just blew another one, hopefully they will pack it in.

Pac Ten doesn’t have a top 5 team, but they are very tough day in and day out.

The missing ingredient right now that keeps them from their full potential is Harmeling hitting threes at 35% clip. This team can’t go far without it.
MikeSequim on January 17 at 8:29 p.m.
Your right RobH,

The PAC after tonight may not have a top twenty team in the NCAA Bracketolegy on Monday but who cares? The point this year is just to get in and let the ball bounce where it may! UW, ASU and Stanford/Cal are playing well, the Uke’s and USC are beatable!
It will take a perfect game at home by WSU but it can be done.

Go Coug’s

Mike, Sequim
rufus on January 18 at 8:14 a.m.
maybe we should have taylor’s dad and brother at all the games…
filippo38 on January 18 at 8:35 a.m.
I hate to rain on the parade, but the Cougars are stuck with Rochestie, unfortunately. In a game like this, against a mediocre Duck team that lost four starters from last year’s team, his poor decision making does not show up so much. Oregon’s current crop lacks experience guarding Taylor and he can go into relaxed mode and drain 3s, get 30 points. It’s a good outcome this time. He’s still mediocre.
Rochestie himself refers to his “mental lapses.” Someone else referred to him as “a gambler.” That he is. And just when he makes a couple of blunders that keep the opposing team in the game, he makes a great play or two to keep himself on the court and his team’s head above water. This has happened against Pitt, Baylor, Washington, Cal, Stanford and against both Oregon schools—the last 3 games the Cougs survived.

Like missing bunnies underneath the basket, not making the pass to the open shooter, telegraphing a pass that gets picked off. These bone-headed plays set the tone for the other players, and both Capers and Casto followed Rochestie’s missed layup with missed bunnies of their own yesterday.
Against any of the schools in California and Arizona, this incompetence, this Rochestie poor judgement—which used to visibly upset Kyle Weaver on the court during games—will sentence the Cougars to a middle rank in the Pac 10, and probably no NCAA, no NIT bid.
On the positive side, Aron Baynes has played steady and well. He may have below-average hands, but he’s taking extra time in ball handling and showing patience. His above average footwork is getting him great position. He’s fouling less frequently allowing Bennett to strategically maintain an ever stronger front court presence. Rochestie will diminish his propensity to get caught in bad situations by getting the ball into Baynes and Casto as much as possible.

Koprivica belongs in the same mediocre category as Rochestie. He has been a disappointment with his floor play boo-boos and missed 3 pointers, giving the momentum edge to opposing teams. The team needs somebody with guts and ability to stick in the dagger when the game is undecided. Lodwick and Capers, one hopes, will gradually replace Nik.
mbb on January 18 at 9:12 a.m.
Not sure how a “mediocre” guard could lead the Pac 10 in assist to turnover ratio, like Rochestie did last year…..He struggled at the start of this season, but he’s coming around. I think he runs the team pretty darn well. I’m glad he’s a Coug.
Ted on January 18 at 9:22 a.m.
Wow Phil, must have had a bad night or something. I agree that wins over Stanford, OSU, and Oregon are nothing to hang an NCAA bid on but I feel that the “team” has really grown over that time. Seniors are leading and the freshmen are playing much better. Glad to see that Tony is trying to get different players into the lineup for various matchups. As for Rochestie, I don’t see what you see at all. In a perfect world maybe. Guy has the game of his life and you beat him up for making a couple of mistakes. Don’t understand that mentality.
ThaiCoug on January 18 at 10:07 a.m.
When you have the ball in your hands three quarters of the time, responsible for bringing it up 90% and have everyone looking to you for leadership, one might expect a few mistakes.

Sorry, but Taylor is doing an excellent job. Who else can create and take it into the middle. Clay gets there off screens, Nik can’t protect the ball even outside one on one, Capers needs more time, our bigs occasionally keep the dribble more than twice before losing it. TR is doing just fine given his situation.

Our offense gets stagnant because we have no penetration other than TR. Now that he is hitting his 3’s maybe we will see him in the paint dishing more.

I say TR is the biggest positive on the team right now.

Is Harthun’s red shirt gone? I know he has played, but is there any cut off that you can play early and still red shirt. I don’t know and thought someone out there might. We have seen so little of him I am not sure what he can bring.
Tom_R on January 18 at 11:01 a.m.
Amazing that Ted would knock Rochestie after Taylor played such a fabulous game. My concern for the Cougars is 3-point shooting. Rochestie is starting to get into sync, but who else? I don’t know what Thompson’s 3-point percentage is, but I would guess not all that good. It would appear that Harthun is in the doghouse. Hard to believe that he has lost his outside touch. Bennett raved about it before Hathun’s “incident.” Against the good teams, the Cougars are going to need some 3-point shooters besides Rochestie. The opposition will pack it in against Baynes, and focus on Rochestie on the outside. As mentioned in other blogs, the Cougars were 28 out of 28 FTs. Normally, they would miss at least eight of those, which means a much closer game—against Oregon. Still, a win is a win is a win; let’s hope the Cougars can put together some magic when they play UCLA.
Ted on January 18 at 12:55 p.m.
It wan’t Ted that knocked Rochestie, it was Phil
coug79 on January 18 at 1:06 p.m.
Lighten up, Phil. Without Taylor, including a few of his “mistakes”, we lose that game big. Enjoy the ride a little.

I agree, beating the 8,9, &10 teams in the Pac-10 doesn’t make us tourney-bound, but the team is playing better together every game. If you look at how UW played OSU vs. how we played OSU, you get a good indication that we will still need a lot more out of this team to compete with the top three in the conference.
Tom_R on January 18 at 1:31 p.m.
So sorry Ted for my getting the name wrong. Thank you for pointing out that it was Phil who criticized Rochestie (who had 30 points, 7 assist, and 1 turnover).
garlandcoug on January 18 at 1:47 p.m.
Taylor is not perfect, but the way he is playing now puts him in the top 2 or 3 point guards in the Pac 10. His stats bare that out. Sorry Phil you are way off base.

Nik is not a ball handler, his strength is rebounding, defense and the ability to move well without the ball. With Capers emerging as the third ball handler, Nik wil be able to get back into a better roll for him.
scottB on January 18 at 3:02 p.m.
TR is playing great quality ball right now. I’m not saying he’s the best in the country or anything, but I am very happy to have him as a coug and playing on the court for as many minutes as he can stomach. Happy to see he’s made the turnaround from december when things were not so hot.

I think I’ve been one of the most vocal against Nik so far this season, and I’d actually like to give him some props for once. His off ball play has greatly improved since starting conference play. I think the gutt-check memo from tony was well received by him. I do think he really needs to told not to dribble the ball though. In the 3 spot it’s ok not to dribble. catch and shoot, or catch and pass. take his dribble out of the equation and I have a lot less to fear with Nik.

As far as Harthum goes… He might of squandered his chance. I hope for his sake, come summer he proves to tony otherwise, but if xavier thames is half what he is reported to be, it’ll be xavier starting next year not harthum.
MikeSequim on January 18 at 4:56 p.m.
He’s the best we got so live with it! Not a good comparison with the UW and us with any team…two total different styles of play and match-ups. If we can get 8-10 wins in this league this year with this team, that would be about right for the talent and makeup of the team. Anymore than that and it’s a bonus.

WSU is still a tough win for other teams to get! Mid PAC to lower PAC is about right. Let’s just keep hoping they keep improving and finish in the upper half.

Nice win’s Coug’s.

Mike, Sequim
GimmeeQHall on January 18 at 10:19 p.m.
Garland Coug,

Nik’s srength is defense? He couldn’t guard a dead person. C’mon guy!!!
scottB on January 18 at 11:24 p.m.
GimmeeQHall -
I’m no fan of Nik, but defense is why he is/was on the floor. Coach Tony is all about the defense and if there was someone who could play better D in the 3 (or occasionally 2) spot, you’d be seeing it. Case in point, Marcus Capers, his defense has been coming in-line with the pack system enough to the point where it doesn’t counteract his (hopeful)offensive spark and thus is slowly taking minutes away from Nik as a result. Nik’s offense is not what has kept him on the floor this long, if it was just about offense, Marcus or Abe Lodwick would have been logging higher minutes all season.

I’m all in favor of seeing Nik play the role he was playing for the oregon swing (10 minutes or less per game), but he deserves his props where he can get them, and that’s on defense.