Cougars Play Through, But May Need Mulligans

Kevin Eastman would like to think that college basketball players at the Division I level are self-motivators.

But Washington State’s second-year coach has been around the game long enough to know that isn’t the case. So Eastman, like a golfer who has made the turn at way-too-many over par, hopes to convince his Cougars that better times await on the “back nine.”

That’s how many Pacific-10 Conference games WSU has left after finishing the first half of its league schedule at 2-7, six games behind the first-place UCLA Bruins (8-1).

“For us, it’s Round Two, so that’s what we’re kind of preparing for,” Eastman said Tuesday afternoon. “We have a number of teams that we have to show that we’re a little bit better than what they saw (the first time around).

“As a college player, you shouldn’t need the outside stimulation. You should be self-motivated so that you’re ready to go all out every night. But as a coach, you’re always looking for an edge, and who knows, maybe that will be an edge for us.”

The Cougars, who are coming off a split of last week’s road swing through Arizona, host the Oregon schools this week. Lastplace Oregon State (1-8) visits Friel Court Thursday night at 7, with Oregon (3-6) visiting Saturday afternoon at 4.

Despite his team’s problems, Eastman believes there is still plenty at stake during the final month of the regular season.

“There’s lots of reasons to still be playing right now,” he said. “We’re in that stage of still fighting like crazy for a tournament bid.”

The Cougars are a longshot for any kind of postseason invitation and will probably have to win at least seven of their final nine Pac-10 games to get any consideration from the NCAA selection committee.

Fowlkes-lore

California’s Tremaine Fowlkes has not exactly been tearing up the league since returning to the Golden Bears’ lineup two weeks ago after serving a 14-game NCAA suspension for his involvement with an alleged sports agent.

Last year’s Pac-10 freshman of the year is averaging 12 points and almost seven rebounds in the four games he has played this season, but he is shooting just 35.6 percent from the field.

Coach Todd Bozeman said, however, he is neither surprised nor disappointed by the production of his 6-foot-7 sophomore forward.

“This is like his preseason,” Bozeman told the San Jose Mercury News. “You have to remember, he’s getting someone else’s minutes and taking someone else’s shots.”

Ike, ice, baby

WSU’s Isaac Fontaine scored 39 points in last week’s split in Arizona - a feat made rather remarkable by the fact that the sophomore shooting guard played with his fingers still tingling from a mild case of frostbite suffered Wednesday evening.

According to Fontaine, he numbed his fingers while trying to get to practice in sub-zero temperatures. He said he was still experiencing some pain from the incident following Thursday night’s win over Arizona State.

“I’m just glad we were coming down here on this road trip instead of going back to Syracuse,” he said.

Eastman, who has lost players for various amounts of time for everything from injury and illness to academic suspensions and a family tragedy, said he feared the worst when he first learned of Fontaine’s frostbite.

“I thought, ‘Oh no, what else can happen?”’ Eastman explained. “It’s almost to the point of being comical. It’s no longer Murphy’s Law, it’s Washington State’s Law.”

Jack Friel tribute

A tribute to John Bryan “Jack” Friel is planned for Saturday, prior to the men’s basketball game between WSU and Oregon. Friel, who died last Dec. 15 at the age of 97, was WSU men’s basketball coach from 1929-58.

The tribute is an open invitation to the public to join Friel’s widow, Catherine, and son Wallis, at a reception beginning at 1:30 p.m. in the Lewis Alumni Centre. At 2:15 p.m. there will be a brief program featuring comments from Marv Harshman, former Cougars basketball coach; Jud Heathcote, former Cougars player and coach; and former players Bob Sheridan, Scott Witt, and Ray Johnson. WSU president Sam Smith and athletic director Rick Dickson will welcome the guests to start the program.

The WSU Alumni Association and Athletic Departments are cosponsoring the tribute.

There is no charge for the tribute reception and program. Those wishing to attend the WSU-Oregon basketball game at Friel Court in the Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum following the tribute may purchase tickets in advance by calling 1-800-GO-COUGS.

For more information, call Bob Smawley at 509-335-6903.

3-Pointers

Jelani McCoy, UCLA’s freshman center, had only one rebound in the Bruins’ last three games. … McCoy’s teammate, sophomore forward J.R. Henderson, played only 4 minutes in Saturday’s suprisingly tough 69-60 win over Oregon State because of a bad back. He is expected to be back at near-full strength for Thursday night’s game at Cal. … Stanford’s Dion Cross, who leads the nation in free-throw shooting with a percentage of 94.8, has made 27 consecutive foul shots and needs to make 14 more to break the Pac-10 record of 40, held jointly by Oregon’s John Greig (1981-82) and Stanford’s Todd Lichti (1988-89). … By upsetting Washington Saturday afternoon, Arizona State avoided what would have been a record-tying fifth consecutive home loss in the University Activity Center.

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