Tuesdays with Ken Bone, abridged
COUGARS
FROM PULLMAN -- The basketball team has the day off, but Ken Bone still called into the Pac-12 coaches teleconference. We have a summary of that below.
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Bone is out of town at the moment, so he won't speak with local media until tomorrow. But he did have some things to say on the Pac-12 call. ... Asked to give a scouting report of Washington, Bone said "they're really good," and mentioned twice that the Huskies seem to be peaking at the right time. He also said freshman guard Tony Wroten may be playing as well as anyone in the conference right now. ... Asked how the Cougars plan to stop Terrence Ross and C.J. Wilcox, Bone said it's too much to ask for one player to try to shut down each of them. "We’re going to have to somehow corral those guys and have a presence off the ball, or we’re in trouble." ... The rivalry aspect of Saturday's game shouldn't be what gets the Cougars going, Bone said, nor the fact that WSU can put a dent in UW's NCAA tournament hopes with a win. Instead, Bone said, "our focus is for us to get as good as we can in the next couple weeks going into the Pac-12 tournament." ... Other than Ross lighting it up at the end, Bone said he felt WSU's zone defense was pretty effective against UW the first time around. The one problem, of course, was the Huskies' enormous offensive rebounding advantage, which Bone attributes to UW's size, athleticism and aggressiveness. "It’s a difficult challenge we have faced, and a few other teams have faced agains them. They’re a really good offensive rebounding team, no matter whether you’re playing man or zone." ... Bone was asked another series of questions about Brock Motum and his somewhat surprising ascension up the Pac-12 scoring ranks. Bone said again that he wasn't expecting Motum to score quite this much, but that he did believe he could be one of the team's leading scorers. Motum spent the summer in Australia working out with a trainer, and showed up in the fall about 15-18 pounds heavier, something Bone says has helped Motum this season. Bone was asked if Motum's big numbers are also a product of the Cougars' offensive system, and he said that yes, it has certainly helped. "He has a lot of flexibility and freedom in trying to score the ball," Bone said.
All for now.
Christian Caple can be reached at christianc@spokesman.com. Twitter: @ChristianCaple