Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

SportsLink

Looking back at Arizona State

DaVonte Lacy, right, slices to the basket in Cougars’ 74-71 win over Arizona State. (Associated Press)
DaVonte Lacy, right, slices to the basket in Cougars’ 74-71 win over Arizona State. (Associated Press)

We covered Dexter Kernich-Drew's big night pretty extensively in our game story. But another player made a big impact in WSU's 74-71 win over the Sun Devils.

You can read that game story here.

-- Ike Iroegbu had an interesting game. With Ny Redding out of the starting lineup Iroegbu assumed the primary ball-handler duties and was a great distributor early in the game, dishing four assists in the first four minutes. His speed really seemed to give the Sun Devils trouble on defense and he's a heady enough player to draw the defense and then find the open jump-shooter waiting in the vacated spot.

But after the game Ernie Kent resisted the idea that Iroegbu is developing into a true point guard and it's obvious he still thinks there is a lot the sophomore can improve upon. With DaVonté Lacy and Kernich-Drew graduating soon, it's likely that Iroegbu will be one of WSU's most important offensive players for the next two years and so Kent wants him to establish himself more fully before the Cougars head into the offseason.

Here is what Kent said:

"He did some good things in the game. In terms of a true point guard and developing into it more, we’re a long way away from that because that’s the most critical position on the floor and we made a ton of mistakes out on that floor with the leadership at that position at times, defensively and offensively. … We look at flow, we look at feel, we look at do you make the right read and to his credit again, we’re asking a lot of those point guards because this system is different than a walk it up and down the floor system. You’ve got to be able to make split decisions going 100 miles-per-hour and that’s very difficult to do."

The 100 miles-per-hour comment makes me think Kent was especially displeased with one 3-on-2 fast break when Lacy hit Iroegbu, who easily sped past the two defenders. The trouble was he was going so fast he was barely able to get his shot off before he flew out of bounds and he missed the layup.

Iroegbu's speed is going to create problems for every defense he faces. But until he plays with better control it's also going to create headaches for the Cougars.

Here are some notes from the game:

-- Friday's game was the third time in Kernich-Drew's career that he led the team in scoring.

-- Lacy passed Bennie Seltzer (1990-93) to move into eighth-place on WSU's all-time scoring list.

-- Lacy's 234 3-pointers give him sole possession of 2nd place all-time at WSU.

-- Josh Hawkinson's scoreless first half was his first scoreless half of the season.

And some notable quotes:

Kernich-Drew on confidence: "Coach Kent tries to find whoever's hot and let them play. It makes you just relax a little more. It wasn't really about me going out and getting shots up."

Lacy on what he told Kernich-Drew as they stood near midcourt with the game in hand: " In short terms basically good job. Not those exact words but I'm proud of him, he deserved it. He played really well this past week and we tried to just get him to play how he's playing in practice. He did today."

Kent on the seniors: "Yesterday, I talked to those three seniors, I think even as normal students, seniors start to feel that senioritis, they start to feel that pressure their senior year as to what’s going to happen, where they’re going to go. When you talk about athletes, when you’ve told them for four years where to go, you tell them what they’re going to eat, when they’re going to be on time, what to wear… You just control their lives so much. When they get to be a senior, there is a big fear whether they’ll admit it or not, that sits there with that uncertainty of what’s coming, so we tried to free them up and told them just to enjoy the last games and lead us. And I thought they were tremendous."



Jacob Thorpe
Jacob Thorpe joined The Spokesman-Review in 2013. He currently is a reporter for the Sports Desk covering Washington State University athletics.

Follow Jacob online:






Looking for a Grip on Sports?

Vince Grippi's daily take on all things regional sports has been moved to our main sports section online. You can find a collection of these columns here.