Cougs have desire to back up victory

STANFORD, Calif. – It’s hard to understand what one win can mean, and how much two consecutive wins would mean to the Washington State men’s basketball team.

“I’m hoping it just makes us more hungry,” point guard Taylor Rochestie said of Thursday’s 70-49 rout of Cal that gave WSU 10 Pac-10 wins. “We know that we’re in the tournament, or we feel that we are, and that just makes us want to start playing the best basketball we can.”

But there is one more game this weekend, today at eighth-ranked Stanford, and Rochestie sees it as a springboard for the rest of the month.

“It’s important … we get to a point where we can win back-to-back games,” he said after the Cougars’ Friday practice at Maples Pavilion. “And that’s what it takes once you get to the tournament. Not just playing one good game, maybe at Cal, but following it up and playing a high-caliber team like Stanford.

“That’s what it’s going to be like in the tournament.”

Of course, the tournament Rochestie is referring to is the NCAAs, which will start in three weeks. The 22nd-ranked Cougars feel their 22-6 overall and 10-6 Pac-10 mark makes them a lock for a bid. Now there are other goals – and some healing is taking place.

“When it gets around this time, I’m just excited to be playing basketball,” said the 6-foot-1 Rochestie, who rose up and dunked a miss in a recent practice. “That’s in practice and in the games. I’m just real excited for March, being in the situation we are in, where every game matters.

“I’ve stopped thinking about all the little bumps and bruises and the pain, and just think about the game.”

“Speaking of bumps and bruises, junior sixth-man Daven Harmeling still had his sprained right ankle in a boot Friday. According to coach Tony Bennett, Harmeling would try to see how much movement he had Friday night at the team hotel and then would be a game-time decision.

“It’s just a matter of, if he feels better tonight, we’ll see in the morning,” Bennett said.

Without the 6-8 Harmeling available, the Cougars expect to use the same lineups they used against Cal if the game dictates it. That would include, Bennett said, 6-foot-6 Nik Koprivica and little-used 6-9 Chris Henry playing some inside against Stanford’s 7-foot twins, Brook and Robin Lopez.

“It would be nice to have (Harmeling), especially with the big boys,” Bennett said, referring to the Lopez twins.

“Leaving practice Thursday before the Cal game, Bennett talked with a reporter about Harmeling’s sprained ankle. The Cougars coach discussed how bad a time it was for such an injury, with Cal and Stanford, and their stable of big men, looming.

It was mentioned another player would have to step up, that all year that had happened for WSU, and it would have to happen again. He agreed.

There was no hint it would be Henry, not from Bennett and certainly not in most observers’ minds.

But Henry, a guy who, because of a class commitment, only practices 45 minutes on Mondays, a guy who had yet to play in the first half of any game, a guy who is a redshirt junior but will graduate and walk away after the season, a guy without a scholarship … who would have thought he would step up?

Henry even admitted he hardly knows the offensive plays, having to ask what he was supposed to do most of the time.

“For the most part I know the motion (offense), so it’s cool” he said, smiling. “The set plays, I’m a little scratchy on.”

But he knows how to throw his body around on defense, doing that every day in practice against 270-pound Aron Baynes. So, 250-pound DeVon Hardin didn’t seem like much.

“I just felt like Chris could use his body and bang with Hardin,” Bennett said, “but he had to guard (Jamal) Boykins a couple times and he did OK. And that was important.”

“Sometimes, in that situation, the thought is ‘Oh, is he going to be ready?’ ” Robbie Cowgill said after praising Henry’s 8-minute stint. “Because he probably wasn’t expecting to be called on the first-half of the game with his minutes the season so far, so I think we were all kind of a little on edge. He probably wasn’t expecting it, but he was ready.”

If you are looking for a quote that epitomizes WSU’s program, Henry was ready with that as well.

“I’m just glad we won, and whatever I can do to get us a ‘W’ is all that really matters to me,” he said.

Notes

The Cardinal have won a school-record 15 home games (against just one loss). The Cougars have won 10 road games, with two losses, and 14 away from Pullman. The last time they won 11 road games was in 1946-47. “In this league, the team playing the best basketball wins,” Bennett said. “If you are not playing good basketball at home, you won’t win.” … Stanford (23-4, 12-3) is just 3-4 when trailing at halftime, but one of those wins came in Pullman. … In the first meeting, WSU’s Kyle Weaver missed 10 of 14 shots but still finished with a game-high 23 points. He got to that number by hitting 15 of 19 free throws, career highs in both. The Cougars missed 6 of 10 free throws in the final 2 minutes, 23 seconds of regulation. Stanford won 67-65 in overtime. Brook Lopez, double-teamed at most every opportunity, was just 4 of 16 from the floor, but hit 10 of 12 free throws for his 18 points. … Stanford has shot a conference-leading 614 free throws this season, including 360 in conference play – an average of 24 per game.