Shots In The Dark Cool-Hand Cougs Can’t Find Their Old Shooting Touch

A shooter’s psyche can be as delicate as his shooting touch, his confidence as fragile as fine crystal.

Washington State coach Kevin Eastman is aware of such realities and until this week had cautiously kept postgame discussions about his team’s mysterious shooting slump simple and unaffected.

“We’re just not shooting the ball very well right now,” was about as deep as Eastman dug - publicly, at least - in trying to analyze a 2-7 swoon during which the Cougars shot just 41.4 percent. The causes, he reasoned, were best left for him and his players to ponder privately.

“You really don’t want to make too much out of it,” Eastman explained, “because you worry about what it might do to players’ heads.”

Earlier this week, however, he took time to discuss some reasons for this year’s dramatic drop in field-goal percentage. The theories he floated ranged from unreal expectations spawned by last year’s abnormally high numbers to key injuries, off-the-court distractions and an increased emphasis by opponents to check WSU’s transition game.

“Those are probably all contributing factors,” said Eastman, who hopes his Cougars shake their shooting funk in today’s 3 p.m. Friel Court matchup against Washington. “But some of it is just that you have bad streaks like this.”

Last season, WSU led Division I schools in shooting accuracy. The Cougars shot 51.7 percent from the floor, including 39.4 percent on 3-pointers, and averaged a school-record 83.5 points per game.

This year, with essentially the same cast, they started the week shooting only 45.1 percent and averaging just 75.9 points. Through 20 games, WSU is taking the same number of shots per game (58.1) as it did last winter, but is making four less.

Four of the Cougars’ eight defeats have come by seven points or less. Four more field goals each time out could have turned losses to Syracuse, UCLA, USC and Oregon into wins. At 16-4, it’s unlikely Eastman would have to defend anything about his team, least of all its shooting.

The Cougars, however, are a disappointing 12-8 - a record made more perplexing by the fact the names and faces of Eastman’s top six players have hardly changed from last winter, when the Cougars went 18-12 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament.

With five starters and 85.2 percent of last year’s offense returning, Cougars fans had reason to expect even better things. Yet only one of this year’s regulars, sophomore forward Carlos Daniel, has improved statistically over last year.

Scoring leader Isaac Fontaine is averaging as many points (18.5), but has taken almost two more shots per game to get them, and his shooting percentage (44.5) is down from last year’s 52.5.

Forward Mark Hendrickson, who shot 62.7 percent to lead the Pac-10 in field-goal accuracy last season, had made only 62 of 115 tries (53.9 percent) and was 3 of 20 from 3-point range at the start of the week.

Hendrickson has an excuse, however. He broke his shooting hand seven games into the season, missed six games and, until recently, played with a bulky pad on his injured hand.

His absence contributed greatly to WSU’s shooting problems and his effectiveness since returning has been spotty because of opponents’ stepped-up physical play inside.

“A lot of our (shooting) problems started when Mark went out,” Eastman said. “Defenses changed in that they did not come down and doubleteam our postmen at all. Instead, they tightened up on our perimeter guys and gave them less and less time to look at the basket.

“His first game back against Cal, Mark really sent a message that he was going to be a force to be reckoned with (27 points, 14 rebounds). And since then, people have been hammering him, really. He’s taken some physical shots from defenders that have actually been downright dirty.”

Shamon Antrum’s slump is more difficult to rationalize. The senior guard, until his 5-for-8 night in Tuesday’s win over Idaho, was shooting 37 percent (74 of 200) from the field. As the Pac-10’s newcomer of the year last season, that number was 42.7.

“We sense that we’re not shooting well out on the court,” he said. “But so far our mentality has been to just keep shooting and believing shots are going to fall, eventually.

“It’s frustrating for me, personally, because I’m so used to knocking those shots down. When I do miss, it’s kind of surprising. I get down on myself, because I make that shot eight or nine times in practice and I can’t really believe it didn’t go in.”

Antrum said part of his problem is having lost the element of surprise against defenders. As a transfer from Dixie (Utah) College, he came into the Pac-10 last season as an unknown.

“Last year, they were letting me take the (perimeter) shot, making me prove that I could shoot it,” he said. “This year, they’re stepping up and defending it better.”

The same is true of WSU’s fast break, which produced baskets last season while opponents were still trying to familiarize themselves with Eastman’s up-tempo style.

“This year, a lot of teams have been concentrating on stopping our running game and sprint breaks,” Antrum explained. “So we aren’t getting as many open lanes and fast-break layups.”

The loss of Hendrickson continues to loom as the largest reason for WSU’s shooting demise.

When the 6-foot-9 senior went down, the Cougars lost not only one of the top rebounders and most versatile power forwards in the Pac10, but also one of the best percentage shooters in the country.

“We’re actually shooting a little bit better the last few games, and a lot of that is attributable to Mark, no question about it,” Eastman said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 color photos Graphic: Shooting blanks