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WSU loss to Stanford, the day after

Feb. 12, 2010 9:01 a.m. • 21 comments

COUGARS

It’s the day after a tough loss. Which means, I’m sure, it was a tough night to fall asleep for those connected to the Washington State basketball team. But it’s on to Cal for a FSN-televised 1 p.m. game Saturday. Before we turn our eyes there, however, we have some thoughts – and links – about last night’s loss. Read on.

••••••••••

• Washington State: Last night, after the game, I promised you some thoughts on the outcome. This morning, before we do anything else, we’ll deliver. And, after reading comments posted after the game last night here and other places, I’m not sure a lot of you are going to like what I have to say. Blaming this loss on coaching is missing the point. That would be clearer if you had been able to see it. This wasn’t a situation in which a team with a big lead was told to slow it down, milk the clock, play not-to-lose. Quite the contrary. Sure, WSU coach Ken Bone wanted the Cougars to be patient offensively – all game long – and with good reason. Stanford isn’t a very good defensive team. Good shots, easy looks, open lanes, they all would present themselves if WSU took its time. And those opportunities were there in both halves. But as the game tightened up, so did the Cougars. DeAngelo Casto said it perfectly in the hallway near the locker room after the game: “The offense we were running, I mean, I don’t think the offense changed, we changed as a team. We tried to just shoot (jumpers) a lot.” Not get the ball inside to Casto, where he had an advantage over anyone Stanford put on him. Not look to move the ball quickly early in the shot clock, taking advantage of the Cardinal’s slow rotation. Not make the easy pass to the open teammate, but instead try to thread a needle that couldn’t be threaded. In too many instances, despite repeated time outs and substitutions aimed at correcting those things, the offense stalled and settled, leading to long jumpers that weren’t falling. As Nik Koprivica put it, the Cougars stopped looked for the open lane, stopped moving the ball liked they had earlier. They started trying to be the guy, not a teammate. And that carried over onto the defensive side of the ball. … After Stanford struggled in the first half with WSU’s combination of man, soft full-court zone pressure and an aggressive half-court matchup, the Cardinal made some adjustments, most of them mental. They got more aggressive. They attacked with the bounce, attacked off quick cuts, attacked the glass. And WSU’s defense reverted to recent I’ve-got-to-stop-my-guy form. Too often defenders lost track of the ball. Too often help off penetration was too late. Too often ball screens led to easy baskets. The last hoop, the game-winner, was the whole second-half defensive effort in an 8-second span. We’re not going into it here in depth, because it was the main element of our story, but the mental mistake was symptomatic of the breakdowns that occurred throughout the half. … An aside: Klay Thompson was a man after the game, waiting around to talk with us, not ducking his responsibility, or the responsibility for the last play. Though Ken Bone described the play, he didn’t call Thompson out, not naming anyone. But of course I saw what happened and had to ask Thompson. He immediately owned it, answering quickly when I asked him about what he was supposed to do. “Switch,” he said. What happened, I asked? “I didn’t,” he continued. I wondered if he got caught on up on the screen, so I asked. No excuses. He admitted the crux of the matter. “I just had a bad lapse at the worst part of the game.” That is how a person should handle a mistake. No matter what comes out of the game, that was a stand-up act by Thompson and all too rare. … Now back to our narrative. When WSU needed a stop down the stretch, it rarely got it. And when the Cougars did force a mistake – after having 11 first-half turnovers and shooting 33 percent, Stanford had just six turnovers and shot 63 percent in the second – they seemed to turn it over themselves. One killer stands out with about 3 minutes left when WSU had an advantage on a break and made a ill-advised pass that Landry Fields got his foot on and Stanford recovered. By the way, if you are looking for another reason why WSU’s offense slowed in the second half, look at the turnovers. In the first 20 minutes, the Cougars scored 18 points off the Stanford mistakes. In the second, just four. … You’re probably about through with my thoughts, and rightly so. Let’s move on to some more quotes, though a lot of what we were able to gather last night was in the story. But before we get there, the links. …. We had our game story in the S-R, along with its usual appearance on the blog. … Freelancer Howie Stalwick had his story in the News Tribune and other places. … From the Bay Area, where the big-time guys (cough, Ray Ratto, cough) were across the bay in Berkeley, there was a game story in the Chronicle and this piece in the Mercury News. … OK, on to a few quotes.

•••

• Bone on the discrepancy in free throws (Stanford: 15 of 22; WSU: 7 of 10): “Stanford made free throws down the stretch and we did not make free throws down the stretch and that made a big difference in the game. … They got to the line. I think they were in the bonus and I think they had two fouls on them (actually one) at the time they were in the bonus. And that’s an advantage. But they earned it. They earned that, so it wasn’t the refs fault or anyone else’s fault. They did a good job of earning that opportunity, getting to the bonus.”

• Bone on coming back Saturday: “We’ve done it before, played bad games on one day and bounced back a couple days later. So I would assume we would battle back and do the best we can at Cal.”

• Bone on the rest of the regular season: “Right now it’s on to Cal and see if we can’t beat them. We’re not too worried about what other teams are doing. We’re trying to be the best we can be come Pac-10 Tournament time. That’s our goal. To be healthy and to be playing our best basketball.”

• Koprivica on his poor shooting night: “I know my shots were not falling and I had great shots. They were not falling in. I missed a couple layins I should make. You know, it was kind of unlucky.”

• Koprivica on Stanford’s comeback: “We talked about it (at halftime). Up in Pullman we were up by 20 and they almost came all the way back. We said we’ve got to come out with the same energy like we came out in the first half. We just didn’t do it. It’s unreal for me we were up by 15 in the first half and then we dropped everything in the second half again. Starting with me, as a senior leader, and all the rest of the guys, we’ve got to step our game up and be more focused on things coach told us to do.”

• Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins on the second half: “It was a tale of two halves. Very similar to the game at their place. They got off to a hot start, and our guys responded in the second half. We whittled the lead down and were able to overcome the deficit. Both teams fought hard to the end.”

•••

• Around the Pac-10: Yes, Stanford is still undefeated at home in Pac-10 play (5-0). And the Huskies have yet to win a game away from home this season. So there will be an epic showdown at Maples on Saturday. That was assured when UW came up short in the epic showdown (just kidding, folks) at Cal last night, unable to contain Jerome Randle. The senior guard sliced up UW with 33 points, leading the aforementioned Ratto to designate Cal as the Pac-10’s premier team. That’s a relative term, of course, and it also might be the kiss of death in this conference. … Down in the desert, Oregon State couldn’t crack the puzzling ASU zone and fell 70-57. … The Sun Devils got a contribution from an unlikely source. … Oregon is tied with OSU in the Pac-10 cellar after Arizona pounded the Ducks inside. … Arizona’s main man: Freshman Derrick Williams.

•••

• That’s all for now. We’ll be back after we put together something for tomorrow’s S-R. Until then …

21 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

rufus on February 12 at 9:35 a.m.
well… the cougs are up against the wall– i think they will need to win 3 or even 4 of their next 6 conference games to make the NIT - or do well in the pac-10. last night’s loss was very bad— under pressure their youth showed- turnovers in the closing minutes and had shot selction.
bradley010a on February 12 at 9:38 a.m.
I was at the game last night. What a buzz kill to be dominating and collapse with 10 minutes to go. It was a classic case of, well: Cougin’ it.

But let me tell you, this is the first time I’ve seen them play live, and I was very impressed with this team’s athletic ability, speed, strength, and, at times, moments of genius. They are going to be a force next year. Plus, I think the team has good depth: Brock Motum is solid, Thames is a badass, Harthun’s pretty good, Anthony Brown seems to be a serious athlete…

Once the Cougs learn to play with energy and mental toughness for a full 60 minutes, in my opinion, they’ll be able to beat anybody in the nation.
GeauxCougs on February 12 at 10:07 a.m.
I went to the game last night as well. It looked like we thought the game was over after 30 minutes. We went from the ‘hunter’ to the ‘hunted’ and couldn’t recover. Being my first live game, I was also encouraged by our overall athleticism as a team. The future is certainly bright.

Heck, I’ll settle for 40 minutes of energy and mental toughness, not 60.
elvis on February 12 at 10:15 a.m.
I too was at the game last night … very disappointing. I say forget all the post-season talk and just focus on playing well against Cal. Thanks Vince for the reality check. I think I speak for most when I say it’s hard to be a Coug sometimes.
coug79 on February 12 at 10:18 a.m.
I haven’t been this disappointed in the outcome of a b-ball game since we lost to Vandy in OT at the NCAA’s three years ago. This game—that we really needed to win—was in the bag and then simply frittered away with turnovers, poor defense, and bad shots.

I’m with you, Vince. Bone’s the coach, but he’s not on the court turning the ball over, taking ill-advised crappy shots, missing defensive assignments.

It’s really time for Klay to step up if he’s going to be a leader on this team. He has more Pac-10 floor minutes than anyone on the team. I can handle the missed shots. But the brain cramps on defense, poor passes, or even the quick trigger shots when we have the lead late the game and are trying to burn some clock, are really hurting the team. It’s great that he will man up to a critical defensive mistake, but what we really need is for him to lead by example…that means showing everyone on the team he won’t make those key mistakes in the first place.

Goodbye NIT, hello baseball.
Rambler on February 12 at 10:23 a.m.
I believe in the saying “you play like you practice.” By now it is obvious, what the makeup and character of this young team is, and it must be a hard task to change it - maybe growing up is the only answer.

I was hoping that this late in the season a floor leader would develop by now on this team, a “don’t worry, I am in charge guy”. Wishful thinking, again for a young, young team.

I do not think this game was any different than the one played against Stanford at home, so not being there last night, really makes no difference. In this game, as with several others through out the season (in various stretches), this team is not deep enough, talented enough, and yes well coached enough to play and win regularly in the PAC-10.

It is a lot to ask for out of a first year head coach and a bunch of freshmen an sophomores, even in this year’s version of the PAC-10.
bradley010a on February 12 at 10:42 a.m.
Yeah but, GeauxCougs, I want them to maintain their energy and mental toughness even when they hit the lockeroom and the showers. Because the floors in there can get slippery, and we can’t have anyone pullin’ a hammy.

Er…but you’re right, I guess I’d settle for 40 minutes.

Keep your head up, Cougs.
Grady on February 12 at 10:59 a.m.
GeauxCougs’ comment exemplifies why this game was so difficult to watch… er, listen to. Early in the season the team would jump out to a big lead, then play as if the game was over: Eastern, Idaho, Gonzaga, Air Force… it was lucky the Cougs only lost one of those games that they should have had firmly in hand. The choking seemed to be gone for a while, and it looked like this team had matured. Especially against Arizona last Saturday.

Last night was a regression in the worst possible way at the worst possible time. To only draw three fouls in 17-18 minutes of basketball, and to have a Bennettesque scoring drought in this kind of offense, well… there just isn’t any excuse. Good thing they can turn around tomorrow and have a shot at redemption against Cal, or else this loss would sting for a while.
OlyCoug on February 12 at 12:02 p.m.
The “day after” comments appear to be much more rational than the “day of” comments. I refrained from comment last night, though I tossed and turned in bed going over the what-ifs.

Bottom line: youth kills. Nobody who was paying attention at the beginning of the season can say they didn’t expect this kind of thing from talented but inexperienced players. A 15-point comeback against USC…then an 18-point blown lead to a cellar dweller. A sweep of UA, a bumble against UO. And there will be a couple more pleasant and unpleasant surprises before the season’s done.

I don’t think the coach can coach his way through inexperience…you just have to learn it, often the hard way. And, boy, was it hard last night!

What’s especially tough to take is the magnitude of the lead. Have the Cougs ever lost with that big of a lead that late in the game. Not in my memory. Though I do cringe when I think of that OT loss to Arizona back in the mid-1990s. You know, the one where the crowd got called for a technical, Ike Fontaine (I think) missed a game-winning free throw, and the Cougs blew a 10 point lead with a little over a minute left? That was the only game where I actually wept like a friggin’ baby after a loss.

Last night I just shook my head in wonderment. But I can’t say I didn’t expect these things to happen this year. What’s important, after the initial disgust, anger and disappointment, is how the kids responded to it. I’m glad to see Klay has owned up to his part in defeats. It would be easy for him to slip into the victim role or, worse, the prima donna role.

Coach Bone has done a good job. If he’s in it for the long haul, unlike Tony Bennett, I think Coug Nation will be singing his praises for years to come.
GoCougs05 on February 12 at 12:11 p.m.
The worst part is that about halfway through the Stanford game I kept thinking “Man, if they can just pull this off it’ll set up a wonderful opportunity for them to get back in the pac-10 race on saturday”. Now those dreams are gone and I wouldn’t be surprised for them to have a let-down against cal. I’ll probably spare myself the heartache and not even tune in.
texman on February 12 at 12:34 p.m.
Sounds like Coach Bone coached a great game and the players just let him down. Sorry, most likely uncalled for. Just a frustrating night of basketball.
But, is it just the players? Are they not listening? Are they tired of hearing him and shutting him out. It can not be just the players and their youth. They have played 20 plus games and some of the same types of loses are occuring.
What does Coach Bone think of his performance? And not just last night, but so far this season.
GaryRCox on February 12 at 12:42 p.m.
The Cougs are who we thought they were, i.e. a talented team capable of greatness and/or a young team able to stink the place up at will.

Ken Bone is an excellant coach and clearly knows the game. All the pieces are in place for another good run, IF everyone buys in and plays as a team.

The game of Basketball is a team sport. Granted one truly great player can make a difference (ala’ Larry Bird and Indiana State making it all the way to the NCAA Finals), but once you understand teamwork, it becomes a thing of beauty.

The only problem I have with this band of Cougars is they have not bought in to the concept of Team and too often turn into ‘cowboys ridin’ the range’, going rogue, hoisting up bricks and not playing defense.

These Cougars can still put it all together and win the PAC-10 Tournament, but it will take some real soul searching to accomplish this. Anything less means that the season is over and they get to think about until next year.

Go Cougs!!
Lone_Stars_Ghost on February 12 at 12:52 p.m.
I cannot stand the term “Coug’n it.” Makes my blood boil. Especially when fellow Cougs say it. I expect it from the Purples, but not one of our own, no matter how we lost. Just can’t stand it.
oregoncoug on February 12 at 12:57 p.m.
Maybe it is just me but It seems that Nick seems to play better comming off the bench. What about starting Motum in his spot and then after a few minutes bringing in Nick. Lodwick seems to be more tentative than he was earlier in the season. Any comments?
Go cougs
bradley010a on February 12 at 1:33 p.m.
Sorry Lone Stars, I rarely use “Couged it.” But, in this case, the definition of the term applies: to be up by 18 points, providing your fans total comfort that the win is at hand, and then collapse and lose, left with the feeling that you were also sucker punched in the stomach. Quintessential “cougin’ it.”

Hey, if we can’t make fun of ourselves, how can we make fun of others?
blotto on February 12 at 1:44 p.m.
I sincerely hope the praise of Bone is warranted––
Ridgetop on February 12 at 3:29 p.m.
I also hate the word “Couged it”.
What a disappointing game. I only hope these young guys are learning something from these type of events. One bright spot is that Casto is starting to play like I thought he would. I wonder if his injury has been hampering him before.
Lets regroup and do what the coach says and play with a lot of energy. The season is coming to a close.
Beat Cal.
Go Cougs.
TommyCoug on February 12 at 4:15 p.m.
All is well and forgiven the day after. Brother!

I posted last night. I have read Vince’s take and all the “glass half-full or full” posts. I didn’t go to the game…but listened to it on a Stanford Cardinal station. The announcers, unlike those at U of California, were level headed, quite non-partial and even complementary of Wazzu’s play. However, they were surprised and questioned the offensive play selection mid-way throught the 2nd half, the taking out of Casto and Thompson and others for long periods of time in the 2nd half, were trying to figure out Bone’s stategy, the shot selection and then did comment on “the bricks” being shot by Nic K. and the one from Lodwick, extremely bad pass by Thompson.

I know that Stanford played, shot better the 2nd half…or we played worse defense. This is not the first 2nd half collapse for this team.

Bradley010a, you said you went to the game and commented about several players. Harthun did go 3-5, Thames was 1-3, Motum didn’t shoot and Brown didn’t “play” (did he even travel?). Watson was 1-1 with 4 fouls, if I remember correctly. I can only assume that you were speaking of maybe potential.

We continue to comment on youth…and yet, although we have defeated them twice, Arizona is as youthful as we are and they are far above us in the standings. Klay Thompson is not a 1st year rookie…he is closing in on 2 full years experience in top level Pac-10 and major college play. Yet, he’s continuing to take some bad shots, shooting % and scoring is falling, makes some bad passes and dribble turnovers and then doesn’t switch on the games most critical shot…I wonder?

We are 1-3 in our last 4 games…and are going nowhere but down.

Vince, I asked why Motum didn’t play last night except for one stretch of 2 minutes at most. Yet, Watson and Bjornstad both played longer stretches. Motum showed an ability to score last weekend against Arizona and you commented on his “fine, great, acceptable practice sessions this week.” Why didn’t this guy get more minutes and an opportunity to contribute more against Stanford?

I think we are alibing for, supporting and justifying some rather poor play and coaching errors. I didn’t expect us to be 18-0 in Pac-10 play…but, this league is not overally strong this year and reatively equal…when you have an 18 point lead with 10 minutes to go…it’s time to attack and close the game out. However, we seem to throw it into reverse instead.

Vince, I look forward to your answer on Motum’s absence last night.

Good luck Cougs against Cal!
fitz on February 12 at 4:25 p.m.
Thanks for your observations, Vince. I thought we were going to have to fire Bone and hire Tommycoug.

I wish we would have called timeout after Casto’s basket that tied the game. I’ve seen it time after time where the defense gets lost at the end of games, not just us, but numerous games on tv.
gocougs05 on February 12 at 5:13 p.m.
I’m not trying to be “that guy,” TommyCoug, but I don’t know that all of your doom and gloom is accurate. You said, “We are 1-3 in our last 4 games…and are going nowhere but down.” I don’t understand how you can say that when this team is only two games back of Arizona in the loss column. I know Arizona is young too, but they have uber-frosh Williams, who probably could play in the NBA right now and Nic Wise, who probably should have gone into the draft last year. That’s a huge difference from Casto and Thompson and Moore. You always seem to blame “poor coaching,” when the fact of the matter is this team is still has a lot of growing up to do. It’s not like Bone is telling them to dribble the ball off their feet or shoot it from halfcourt every time. Coach Bone does a great job. Nobody said growing up was easy. If the Cougs had taken care of the ball and executed their offense and kept the clamps on Stanford on D, they probably would have won by double digits. Combine that with the Oregon loss (I hate to even bring that up), and we’d be in the thick of it. This is just another hard lesson that the team is going to have to learn from. I think the future is bright. Cal will be a tough game to win, but I hope we do. Then, we have three straight home games and play the Oregon schools on the road. It is possible for the Cougs to finish strong and possibly get to 19 or 20 wins. If that happens, they probably make the NIT. Even if they finish the last six games at .500, that’s still 18 wins on the year. Of course, there’s the Pac 10 Tourney, minus USC, and anything can happen there. They have a chance to really be on a roll when that starts up in March. People can be glass half empty people all they want. They claim they’re “realistic.” Well, realistically, the future of WSU basketball is very bright, and with a great coach like Bone and more maturity from the team, they’ll be a lot of fun to watch and support, even more than now. I know it’s a tough process to watch sometimes, but I haven’t lost my Cougar Pride. Also, TexMan, I wonder if they are all maybe hitting that “freshman wall,” playing all the time. I know Coach Bone was tired of talking at them and started sitting guys down when they screw up. I don’t think they have tuned him out, but maybe they are just wearing down a little bit mentally and of course that translates to stupid mistakes. Next year they’ll all know what is expected of them, and I think that is a lot of the issue as well, just handling expectations from the staff for a full season.
Bino on February 12 at 6:25 p.m.
Vince is right to a degree; the coach isn’t on the floor executing. And we are young, although that is starting to wear a bit thin.

The talent seems to be there, and when they are on, they are great fun to watch. But the same inconsistent stuff continues to happen 25 games into the season. Why? Practice and preparation, managing the flow of the game, helping the kids develop tougher habits and focus, etc. That IS coaching.

All that said, I still have an overall good feel about coach Bone and the future, but every game that goes by this late in the season with this continued inconsistency — ranging from small to total meltdown (as in the freefall last night where there was a 21 point swing in less than 10 minutes) — I start to wonder sometimes…

Go Cougs!