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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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WSU’s Tuel, Long meet with media


COUGARS

We're headed out to Washington State's first practice of Apple Cup week in a couple hours, but we wanted to pass along some comments from quarterback Jeff Tuel and defensive end Travis Long today. Read on.
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• Besides the comments from the two sophomore starters, we also have a short advance of Tuesday night's basketball game and our first look at the Apple Cup to pass along. The advance is at the bottom of the post. ... WSU would like to limit Tuel's media responsibilities this week, so they made him available this afternoon via a conference call. The subjects ranged from last year's game – it hurt a little, he said, not to be able to play – to the status of coach Paul Wulff – he doesn't worry about it much, but he admires the way Wulff has persevered through the criticism. In between, he talked about the intensity of the rivalry, saying he became aware of it when Wulff and offensive coordinator Todd Sturdy made their home visit. "They were telling me how guys won't even drink purple Gatorade," Tuel said, laughing. "I knew from then it was a serious deal. Because if you won't just consume a team's color Gatorade. I happen to like purple Gatorade, that's my favorite one." Has he given it up? "I have," Tuel said. Though Tuel didn't grow up with the rivalry, he still believes he should hate the Huskies because, after all, they are the in-state rival. ... Other things he touched on included playing in the snow (he's for it), the byes (everyone is recharged though the momentum built by the OSU win is probably gone), leadership (he feels he's had command of the huddle all year and he enjoys that aspect of playing the position), running the ball (it's more him just taking advantage of what the defense gives him), rivalries (his college team of choice was the Arizona Wildcats, so he rooted against ASU), the UW defense (Mason Foster is a beast and the defense is getting better) and if people are excited for the Apple Cup (as you might expect, the answer is yes). ... Long spoke as well and the most interesting thing he said was he never really followed the Apple Cup much as a kid in Spokane. He had an uncle who played at Montana so that's where he went to games and who he rooted for. He did add he was more of a WSU than a UW fan because he had other relatives head to Pullman. ... Long also said he was recruited by Ty Willingham's staff but as soon as they were gone, Washington no longer was interested. ... He talked about how hard it is to account for Jake Locker, saying in one play last year he thought he had a great angle to bring him down and Locker just outran it. ... The win over OSU has given the defense a lot of confidence, he said, especially the way the Cougars were able to handle Jacquizz Rodgers, holding him under 100 yards. They are proud of that.

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• Here's the basketball advance ...

PULLMAN – The Washington State men's basketball team opens a three-game homestand tonight as Sacramento State comes to Beasley Coliseum for a 7 p.m. non-conference game.

The Big Sky Conference Hornets are 2-3, but all three losses have come by seven points or less. Senior guard Sultan Toles-Bey lead Sac State in scoring (14.8), assists (4.6) and steals (1.6) per game.

WSU's Klay Thompson (23.8 points per game) and Faisal Aden (23.3) are the top-scoring pair of teammates in the nation. The Cougars may be without starting center DeAngelo Casto (foot) and point guard Reggie Moore (wrist) again, as Moore has yet to play this season and Casto missed the 66-55 win last Friday at Fresno State.

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• Thompson was named the Pac-10 player of the week Monday night, marking the third time he's earned the award in his career.

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• That's it for now. Be back after practice. Until then ...



Vince Grippi
Vince Grippi is a freelance local sports blogger for spokesman.com. He also contributes to the SportsLink Blog.

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