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WSU gets past Arizona, 78-60

Posted by Vince

Feb. 6, 2010 7:37 p.m. • 13 comments

COUGARS

If Washington State has played a better defensive game this year, I didn’t see it. That, combined with another outstanding effort on the glass against UA and more bench contributions than usual - a lot more - lifted the Cougars past the Wildcats at Beasley Coliseum. The number of players who had a hand in WSU’s fifth Pac-10 win can’t be counted, well, on one hand. We’ll be back in about two hours with more. Untill then …

13 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

mdriftmeyer on February 06 at 7:45 p.m.
Get’s past? Seriously?

The refs made sure it wasn’t a 25 point win. If winning by 18 is getting past I can’t imagine what a dominant performance must be in your eyes.
MikeSequim on February 06 at 7:50 p.m.
One of their best games this year.
Tim_in_the_Gorge on February 06 at 8:00 p.m.
So glass-half-empty TommyCoug, what’s the excuse. It obviously couldn’t have been that the Cougar players and coaches did a great job. Arizona must have just had an inexplicable bad performance. Since you were convinced there wasn’t another single game on our schedule we could win, it should be interesting to see you explain that. Maybe all of the critics can just take a step back and be patient with this ever learning team.
blotto on February 06 at 8:17 p.m.
Lets not forget the Cougals overASU today!!
EllensburgCoug on February 06 at 8:23 p.m.
Sweet!
You have it right “blotto”. Great win by the women today on the road against a quality opponent. They deserved it after all those close losses. April Cook was unbelievable today!
Go Cougs!
Ridgetop on February 06 at 8:25 p.m.
Great game to watch down here in AZ. Everyone sparkled at one time or another. Nice to watch Klay starting to shoot inside the three. Great play by Casto. Great play by Reggie. Nice to see some of the secondary players play really well like Brock Motum. We just match up well against AZ. Way to go Cougs!
junurz on February 06 at 8:40 p.m.
Had a dinner engagement tonight, boy can’t wait to play the DVR. This is like an apertif. Way to go Cougs.
EllensburgCoug on February 06 at 8:48 p.m.
Also! How about that half court shot by the fan at half time. First time I’ve seen it in all the years I’ve been going to Coug games. What a good omen.
Go Cougs
oregoncoug on February 06 at 9:00 p.m.
The differance in Thursdays game and this one was free throws. Thursday the cougs missed them and today they made them.
OlyCoug on February 06 at 9:29 p.m.
Okay, my predictions weren’t perfect. In another post I said, “Klay gets his shot back with 50% shooting, Moore breaks down Wise for 15+, and Casto re-emerges from the shadows to set Friel on fire.”

Klay just missed the 50%, Moore was a few points under 15, but I’d say Casto re-emerged. The guy had fire tonight.

Also, UA looked like they were just going through the motions. Maybe it had something to do with their team’s announcement of probation…

Whatever the case, this is the kind of game we’ve all been waiting for at Friel. 82% free throws, 51% shooting. A real battle of wills that the Cougs won hands down. And against Arizona, who the Cougs almost never sweep! Unless they run the table or win the tourney, UA is almost certain to miss the NCAAs. Too bad for them. Wah. Sucks to be a mediocre team in Tucson.

To be 15-8 in Pullman, however, is not too bad. Cougs can take Stanford and probably an Oregon team or two on the road. Knock off two of three at home and you’re talking a 20-win team at WSU. How many first year coaches pull that off? Not many. And probably never in Pullman.

Go Cougs! Job well done.
dhmeany on February 06 at 9:30 p.m.
Free throws may have been one reason, but the biggest thing I noticed was the energy and the much improved defense and rebounding.

Also, it seems like they had a plan to get Casto going again inside - he looked fresh on both ends. When he scores the Cougs are a different team.

Loved the bench play, the all around team effort. It’s like someone flipped a swtich from the last few games where they were struggling and tonight things came together nicely.

Hopefully, this won’t be a quick flash for Motem..if he can contribute down the stretch, Klay gets hot,Thames continues to shoot well and Moore/Casto do their usual..this team should win 20…and ???
cougars6371 on February 06 at 10:08 p.m.
WOW!!!

We were at the game tonight and this was by far WSU’s best game of the year. What took so long? They actually played DEFENCE tonight and great TEAM ball. Old man Bennett would be proud of tonight’s effort. You could feel the ENERGY from the cougar players the WHOLE game. Who is this Brock Motum stud? Even the bench played great! They even MADE their free throws. This was just a fun and enjoyable game to watch. This is the way WSU basketball should ALWAYS be played!
TommyCoug on February 07 at 1:36 p.m.
Tim in the Gorge…the Cougs played a basketball game tonight. They played defense, they rebounded, they shot well from the foul line, well from the field (except 3 pointers). The bench played well…Motum plays hard on defense, will rebound and has a scoring touch…he should play more (if tonight is any example of his effort and ability).

Klay didn’t get his 20+…though who cares…he had 4 assists, a few rebounds and didn’t get some calls he should have. And we won the game. Teams clearly try to shut him down…so he needs to feed others…like he did tonight. It’s a team game.

My concern was the way we were playing lately, winning any more games was very questionable. Now, if we play the next 7 games with this same intensity, emotion and effectiveness…then there are more games to be won…how many…I’m not sure (maybe 3 or 4)…revert back to old habits and we won’t…certainly “I” can see the difference in the Cougs play…CAN YOU!!??

GO COUGS!!