Cougars’ losing streak trudges along after 72-56 defeat to Stanford

PULLMAN – The latest best chance at a win squandered by the Washington State basketball team followed an unfamiliar outline.

Although, really, is there anything we have not seen during this losing streak?

The Cougars lost to visiting Stanford, 72-56, in front of 2,711 fans not because of last-second heart break or because they were fundamentally outclassed by superior talent and athletes.

WSU’s shooting percentage (44.4) was not abhorrent, and the team did not turn the ball over excessively, get beaten up on the boards or gift the other team a victory by repeatedly sending its players to the free throw line.

The Cougars, losers of 12 consecutive games, have simply forgotten how to win.

“Building programs, you go through a lot of times like this,” coach Ernie Kent said. “And to me, I really get the sense that the Pac-12 stepped up. Just like this game, when Stanford steps up in this game, there were a lot of times we didn’t step up with them, just like there’s a lot of times we didnt step up this year, and it cost us.”

WSU made just seven field goals during an anemic first half, giving Stanford a 35-24 cushion that was durable enough to sustain WSU’s early second half punches. The Cougars shot just 29.2 percent in the half, and went 6:12 without scoring as a one-point deficit ballooned into a 23-14 Cardinal buffer.

“Just the same thing for every Pac-12 team I guess. Three, four minute stretches where we don’t get stops or we don’t get buckets,” Que Johnson said. “So I guess we had one of those stretches and that’s kind of been our biggest problem for the season, just getting over that stretch.”

Conor Clifford, a center, did not score in the first period but got the Cougars close in the opening minutes of the second. Hey made a layup on WSU’s first possession after halftime, and then helped Ike Iroegbu force a turnover that led to a pair of free throws for Que Johnson.

“Give them credit,” said Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins. “They were competing and they were making good basketball plays. I was really proud of our team. We settled down when they cut it to two. We executed and we were able to create separation again.”

Johnson soon assisted Clifford on another layup, and the big man promptly completed a three-point play to bring the Cougars within 37-35. WSU kept contact until midway through the half, when a flurry of Stanford 3-pointers (the Cardinal hit nine of them on Thursday) put the Cougars to bed.

WSU (9-17, 1-13 Pac-12) was given a puncher’s chance against a Stanford team (13-11, 6-7) that just last week ended a four-game losing streak of its own. WSU has four games left, just one of them at home and all of them against teams who will be heavily favored against the Cougars.

As the season winds down and Kent’s thoughts turn toward how to avoid a repeat next year, he is beginning to reflect on the lessons learned during this unsuccessful campaign.

Kent has had a hard week, leaving the team for a brief period to spend time with his mother, who was hospitalized following a stroke. At the same time as that setback, his most critical role as a coach has been instill positivity in a group that, if nothing else, needs motivation and belief in a brighter future heading into what will be a critical offseason.

“As hard as it is on these young people, we continue to bring them back,” Kent said. “Because you’ve got to keep grinding, you have to keep growing, even if it’s individual growth by certain players, that’s enough right now until we get the personnel, system in place that can stay connected to the conference and this conference has stepped up big time over these past couple years.”