Vandals Up Next For Cougs

WSU basketball

Just when you thought it was safe to be a Washington State basketball player … Leif Nelson sprains his ankle in a community service event on Sunday, Mike Bush sprains his on the ice, Kab Kazadi tweaks his in practice, Blake Pengelly throws up blood an hour before practice and is hospitalized.

For those counting, that’s six left ankle sprains (Eddie Miller, Steve Slotemaker and Brian Stewart also suffered sprains) and one very sick point guard in the span of three weeks.

Everyone but Slotemaker should be ready for Sunday’s 5 p.m. game against Idaho (4-3) in the Kibbie Dome.

And even with the aches, pains and short bench, the Cougars (4-4) have managed to put together a three-game winning streak. But the lack of bodies has forced coach Kevin Eastman to scale back on some of the thing he wanted to do in practice, such as expanding the Cougars’ offense.

“We really haven’t had a chance to get everyone involved in the practice setting,” he said. “But we have done a little bit of that (expanding the offense).

“And we tried to shore up some things defensively.”

The defense is where the Cougars may need the most work. They are allowing the most points in the Pac-10 Conference (75.6) and are the only team with a negative scoring margin (-0.8). They are also last in rebounding margin (-2.4) and field goal percentage defense (.455).

The offense seems to be healthy from outside the 3-point arc.

Jan-Michael Thomas, a junior guard, was the first Cougar to earn Pac-10 player of the week honors since Mark Hendrickson in 1995. He hit 5 of 8 3-pointers against BYU.

The Cougars are leading the Pac-10 in 3-point field goal percentage (.419) and 3-pointers per game (7.75).

Thomas is shooting 50 percent from behind the arc and leads the Pac-10.

As the rebounding stats are skewed because of the lack of post players, so are the 3-point stats. The Cougars have been forced to play more of a perimeter game and therefore are shooting and making more 3s.

“For the most part, players usually find spots on the floor where they are the most productive and our guys have done that,” said Eastman “We don’t design any game plan going in saying we want “X” amount of 3-point shots.

” The problem against Idaho will be shutting down guards Avery Curry and Gordon Scott. That pair leads the team in scoring. Avery is averaging 12.6 points per game and Scott is scoring 16.3 per game.

“It’s the best Idaho team since I’ve been here,” Eastman said. “They have excellent athletic ability and a toughness that we haven’t seen in the past four years.”

Curry may provide the most difficult matchup for the Cougars. “There is no real set tendency that he has,” said Eastman. “When you think the majority of time that he is driving to the right then boom, he’ll cross over and hit a jumper to his left.

Scott is more content to shoot outside than create with the drive but has proven he can draw the defense and dish.

“You concentrate on those guys (Scott and Curry), but other guys really have potential,” said Eastman.