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The game that was: WSU 60, USC 53

Posted by Christian Caple

Feb. 2, 2012 9:54 p.m. • 20 comments

COUGARS

FROM PULLMAN — Washington State stayed perfect at Beasley this season with a 60-53 win over USC. Here's our overview.

PLAYER OF THE GAME — Brock Motum continues to look like an all-conference player. He led the Cougars with 26 points and eight rebounds tonight, and he was ultra-efficient in doing so — 9-11 from the field, 7-10 from the free throw line. Against a team as small as USC, it figured that Motum could really make a killing. Eleven field goals might not be enough for him, the way he's playing lately. But in a slow-down style of game against USC, that's not a bad number.

PLAY OF THE GAME — Again, we'll go with Motum, who tore down a tomahawk slam early in the second half to give the Cougars a 41-31 lead. They pushed the margin to 14 before USC fought back and cut it to four. But it never got closer than that.

KEY STAT — The Cougars' played man-to-man defense the entire game and forced nine turnovers. But the interesting number is that USC shot just three free throws, making two of them. Very hard to win on the road when you can't get to the foul line. And USC scored just 14 points in the paint.

QUOTABLE — “That’s on us. We need to prove to him that we can guard man to man. We’ve played well in a zone, but we also need to be able to play well in a man to man so either way we play it’s not going to hurt us. … I thought we took some good strides tonight. We still have a lot to work on.” — Motum, speaking about the challenge coach Ken Bone issued to the team about playing man-to-man

NEXT UP — Saturday vs. UCLA at 2 p.m. (Root). The Bruins lost, 71-69, at Washington on Thursday.

Christian Caple can be reached at christianc@spokesman.com. Twitter: @ChristianCaple

20 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

OlyCoug on February 02 at 10:36 p.m.
A win’s a win. Even against a 1-8 team.

Cougs took care of business tonight but Saturday is the one they need to win.

On paper, UCLA looks as mediocre as WSU. Will the Cougs finally beat the Bruins in Pullman? They haven’t won since I was one year out of college…and that seems like a heck of a long time ago.

Oh, wait. It was. 1993. Hard to fathom the futility our guys have had against UCLA—for nearly 20 years.

Ridiculous. Let’s hope that awful streak finally comes to an end.

Go Cougs!
SWPullmanCoug on February 02 at 10:37 p.m.
From what little I know about USC this is a pretty typical game against them. Luckily the Cougs came out on top.
Motum is worth the price of admission. Ladd played tonight which was a bonus. I gave him up for dead. Good defense by Ladd. Moore hasn’t been shooting well but he does have his assists.
Sad to see Aden limping.
Go Cougs! Beat UCLA.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on February 03 at 12:18 a.m.
Yawn…..try winning on the road then maybe I will pay attention again.
SpectreCoug on February 03 at 7:16 a.m.
Lefty,

The fact that you’re taking the time to respond to a blog post about WSU hoops means you are, in fact, paying attention.
coug79 on February 03 at 7:33 a.m.
SprectreCoug—cut him some slack. He is a liberal, You have to allow for the short attention span.
wishtheywould on February 03 at 8:41 a.m.
Interesting how the posts are more politically focused these days. I am a liberal, also, but on this blog I am a Coug. Go Cougars!
bradley010a on February 03 at 9:02 a.m.
Please spare us the political B.S. The last thing we need is one more place for political contention.

Nice win for the Cougs.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on February 03 at 9:55 a.m.
Always awesome to attack someones political stance in a sports blog….seriously people? If you want to attack me for being liberal, fine go for it I have no problem, but keep it in the appropriate article.

And yes, I barely even pay attention to my alma mater’s basketball program this year because they can’t win on the road and if you can’t win on the road your season isn’t going to go very far, so I usually come on here read about the game and more on.
SpectreCoug on February 03 at 10:37 a.m.
Understood. Bandwagon.

Oh, and if you’re going to select that handle and that avatar, don’t get your drawers in a wad when someone makes fun of you. You’re asking for it.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on February 03 at 11:06 a.m.
SpectreCoug, are you kidding? Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?

Bandwagon fan….listen son, I have been a WSU fan since the day I was born, I went to the school, I bleed crimson and grey and have probably donated more money to the Washington State than you make in a year. Don’t talk about things you have no idea about, kid.

Also, very classy to attack a fellow WSU fan. True Cougs would NEVER attack another Coug just because of their political views. Hell, I know a lot people who went to WSU and die-hard republicans, doesn’t mean I hate them, heck no, I love them because they are COUGARS. Maybe its you who is a bandwagon fan, since you don’t seem to understand what it means to be a true Coug. Maybe you should change your screen name to BandwagonCoug.

Again, my screen name and avatar have NOTHING to do with sports blog, grow up dude, your acting like a whiny little baby.
SpectreCoug on February 03 at 11:42 a.m.
You went to school? Congrats. Just about everyone who is alive has done that at some level. Where exactly did I make fun of your political stance? All I said was that you can’t have that handle and avatar without expecting to take some crap for it. The same applies if you are a righty and have a donkey with “oops” imprinted on it. Yeah, and I’m the one who needs to grow up.

You said yourself that you wouldn’t pay attention to this team until they won some road games. THAT IS THE EXACT DEFINITION OF A BANDWAGON FAN. Also, I love it when people throw around terms like “True Coug,” as if there’s some list of criteria that one has to adhere to in order to meet the definition of “True Coug.”

I couldn’t care less about how much money you’ve donated. Neither does anyone else on here. If it makes you feel better about yourself, go ahead and mention it. Also, feel free to ask for some of that WSU money back since you don’t seem to know the difference between “its” and “it’s,” along with “your” and “you’re.” Additionally, since we live in America, it’s “gray.” There’s not a queen at the top of our political system. Is that petty? Probably. However, you decided to start with the name-calling. Enjoy spending the rest of your days shaking your fist at the paper boy.
SpectreCoug on February 03 at 11:43 a.m.
Edit: Apologies for the school comment at the top. I mis-read the sentence.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on February 03 at 11:56 a.m.
SpectreCoug, wow man, whatever you say little boy. Like I said, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed? Look, I am not going into a whole he said-she said thing with a 9 year old kid like you since all you have to do is read the above posts.

Reply away, attack away you bitter 9 year old kid, sounds like someone needs a nappy poo.

I am done with you, reply if you want, I am not even coming back to this article to waste my time arguing with a bitter little kid living in mommies basement.

Sorry, I wont proofread this either so feel free to pick out all the faults and grammar errors, make mommy proud of all the education you have that I dont seem to have…….porbaabley becuz me is juzt a domb liberal.
DeerLakeRon on February 03 at 12:02 p.m.
Did I miss something?
I was at the game, but it didn’t dawn on me until this morning that DJ didn’t play?
Do we know why?
I hate watching the Cougs play a prevent to not lose offense, insted of just finishing the game. Is that the Coach or our team?
SpectreCoug on February 03 at 12:07 p.m.
You know you’ll read this reply. You’re quite the debater. Instead of countering my argument, you simply start with the name-calling. You better demand a full refund from WSU. Though I do know why you resorted to name-calling etc. instead of making an actual salient point: you don’t have one to make.

I’m not going to make fun of your political leanings. There are far too many other things to make fun of you for. WSU is apparently handing out degrees to 9 year-olds now, since I have one on my wall. Does that make me a true Coug? Golly, I sure hope so, especially since I know how type correctly. Now go and tell those kids to get off your lawn.
TommyCoug on February 03 at 12:08 p.m.
Hey…”liberal_in_something_you_say”…

You were the first one to sling an arrow…and advertise your preferences…and then you “attack” folks for commenting on the very thing you indicate you deplore!!

Yes…”Liberal you are”…and you express the very character that most of us can’t stomach with your type…

You don’t want to back it up…then don’t wear it on your sleeve…otherwise…learn how to debate the issues like a mature individual.

If you depart…you won’t be missed…you brought us nothing of substance anyway!!

GOOD DAY AND GOODBYE!!

GO COUGS!!…POWER UP FOR THE UCLA BRUINS!!
SpectreCoug on February 03 at 12:09 p.m.
DLR,

Bone said he wanted to go with a smaller/quicker lineup since USC doesn’t have any true bigs. He didn’t imply that it was some sort of discipline issue.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on February 03 at 12:33 p.m.
Oh good lord, I cannot believe I am doing this.

SpectreCoug, when I said someone was attacking me for my political stance in a sports blog, I was referring to Coug79 (read his comment). My reply to your post was the second paragraph -

And yes, I barely even pay attention to my alma mater’s basketball program this year because they can’t win on the road and if you can’t win on the road your season isn’t going to go very far, so I usually come on here read about the game and more on.

(should have said MOVE on at the end)

Then the very next comment from you was about my screen name and avatar. Sorry you don’t like my screen name and avatar, but a sports blog is not the place to point that out.

Sorry that I got a little upset when all I was doing saying how unhappy I am with this season, sorry for trying to say it in a way I thought would be funny and get a laugh on here. But yes, I do tend to get upset with someone tries to classify me as a bandwagon Cougar.

As for the political stuff, I will maintain I never started any of that, but I did help continue it. So with that, I am sorry for getting a little heated towards you, politics should never be brought into a sports blog.
OlyCoug on February 03 at 12:49 p.m.
What I want to know is:

Why did the Republicans, when redesigning the GOP logo, turn the stars upside-down? Is that some sort of nod to their leader, Satan?

(Now *that’s* a flame-war starter if I’ve ever written one.)

Seriously, does anyone have an answer as to why the Cougs can’t win against UCLA in Pullman? And who thinks they’ll pull one out tomorrow against UCLA? Anyone? No one?

As usual, Go Cougs.
supercoug on February 03 at 6:41 p.m.
Yawn–-Let’s hope this is the end of politics on this board. This is the most uninteresting thread in memory. These comments are best saved for the editorial page although it is doubtful any of them would make it to print.