WSU’s loss to Oregon, the morning after
COUGARS
Walked out of the Spokane Arena last night and directly into a pouring rain. Oregon weather. Seemed sort of appropriate after the offensive showing the Ducks put on inside the place a couple hours earlier. Read on.
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• Washington State: Don't have much more to add to last night's post about the game. Yes, Oregon played well. The Ducks' execution of their offense was crisp, their spacing was impeccable, their shooting nearly perfect. But the Cougars did not step up in the first half defensively. The second half was better, but by then the defensive plan had to change as WSU tried to force turnovers to get back into the game. It worked to some degree, but not well enough. ... Here is our game story and John Blanchette's column. ... Freelancer Howie Stalwick has this gamer in the News Tribune. ... The Register-Guard's Bob Clark also has a game story while the S-R's Dave Trimmer covered the game for the Oregonian. ... WSU has a few videos we can pass along.
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• Here are the highlights, such as they are ...
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• Coach Ken Bone's comments ...
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• And the comments from players ...
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• Around the Pac-12: I understand there was a highly entertaining bowl game in San Antonio last night. Couldn't say I saw a minute off it, though. I was too busy watching and writing about a not-so-highly-entertaining basketball game. Thanks to Twitter, however, I could keep up with the offensive show that was the 67-56 Baylor victory over Washington in the Alamo Bowl. The numbers are staggering, including the ones put up by UW quarterback Keith Price, though the Huskies end the season on a down note. ... Wisconsin has a lot of time to prepare for the Ducks in the Rose Bowl. Will it help? ... Oklahoma State quarterback Brandon Weeden, who will face Stanford in the Fiesta Bowl, is sick of talking about his age. Hear that. ... California coach Jeff Tedford sees the Bears on an upward trend. ... Utah gets ready for Saturday's Sun Bowl without a key defensive cog. ... Last night was the first night of conference basketball and though the schedule was a bit slim – neither Utah, Colorado, Arizona State nor Arizona played – there were a couple of real entertaining games in the Bay Area. ... Cal blew almost all of a 16-point lead late but survived 53-49 over USC when a bailout call by the officials resulted in three late free throws. Needless to say, USC coach Kevin O'Neill wasn't happy but he's learned to bite his tongue. ... Down the way in Stanford, the Cardinal kept UCLA at arm's length throughout the second half and held on to win 60-59 on a game that came down to the final possession. ... The Huskies raced away from Oregon State, allowed the Beavers to get close, then finished with a flourish in a 95-80 home victory. ... Arizona's Kevin Parrom is slowly returning from his gunshot wound.
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• That's all for this morning. We'll be back either this evening or tomorrow morning, depending on events. Until then ...
