Cougars see improvement, want wins to follow

PULLMAN – The second time hasn’t exactly been a charm for Washington State. But it’s certainly been better.

In the Cougars’ three Pac-12 rematches this season – their last three games, at Oregon State and Oregon, and home against Arizona – they’ve played considerably better basketball than they did the first time around. Yet they’ve only managed to turn one of those improved performances into a victory, and that was against an OSU Beavers team they beat the first time around.

WSU (13-13, 5-9 Pac-12) will look to reverse half of that trend – the losing part – against Arizona State (8-18, 4-10) at 5 p.m. today at Beasley Coliseum. The Sun Devils beat the Cougars 71-67 in Tempe three weeks ago.

“I’m really pleased with the progress we’ve made, especially with the departure of (injured) Faisal (Aden),” coach Ken Bone said. “I think we’re playing good basketball right now. Unfortunately, we’ve only won one of our last four games.”

The Cougars’ focus remains steady on changing that.

“I think we’re playing a lot better as a team, distributing the ball more,” freshman guard DaVonte Lacy said. “I hope we can win some games off of it.”