There’S No ‘I’ In Team But Cougs Would Have Sorely Missed Thomas’ 34 Points In Loss At Arizona

Layups always beat jump shots.

A solid team always beats an individual.

Arizona always beats Washington State.

OK, maybe that last one is stretching it a bit. But the No. 8 Wildcats (10-1, 2-1) were able to withstand a McKale Center record eight 3-pointers from WSU’s Jan-Michael Thomas to defeat the Cougars for the 27th consecutive time, 98-87 on Thursday. The 27 consecutive Arizona wins are the longest current streak in the Pac-10 Conference.

This time, the Wildcats won because they scored layup after layup - nine straight at one point in the second half. Because they outrebounded the Cougars 54-23. And because they didn’t have to worry about any WSU offensive threat other than Thomas in the second half.

“It was probably a good thing we had 25 rebounds on the offensive glass, because we weren’t able to counteract them from the outside,” said UA coach Lute Olson. “Thomas was really on fire in the second half.

“There were guys flying at him and he didn’t get very many clean looks.”

But the shooting guard, who came into the game fourth in the Pac-10 in 3-point shooting at 45 percent, had enough space to get a look. That’s all he needed.

At one point, Thomas, who finished with a game-high 34 points, hit three 3-pointers in 19 seconds. He followed that up with two more 3s. He hit a baseline jumper for his 17th consecutive WSU point in a span of 5 minutes.

The 6-for-6 barrage allowed the Cougars to cut a 17-point Wildcats lead at 8:03 down to a 10-point lead with 2:20 left.

But the Cougars (7-6, 1-1) couldn’t stop the Wildcats at the other end, where they were get ting second and third shots from 2 and 3 feet away.

“They were getting all the easy buckets and we were having to work for ours,” said Thomas. “Easy buckets don’t counteract hard buckets.”

They also failed to find another scoring option. Chris Crosby was second in scoring with 13 points, but eight came in the first half.

“When a guy starts scoring, they tend to turn on you and you need some other guys to step up and put it in,” Thomas said.

And they neglected to get the ball to the hot-handed Thomas every time he was available.

“He doesn’t even hit the rim, maybe not even the net, and he didn’t touch the ball for four possessions there,” said WSU coach Kevin Eastman. “Our other players lost him there.”

“Sometimes our team doesn’t know when to get the ball to the hot guy and that’s what hurt us,” added Thomas. “I’m sure that I could have got the ball a little more, but that’s how the game goes.”

But Kojo Mensah-Bonsu knew the game didn’t have to go the way it did on the boards.

“We didn’t work hard enough,” the senior said. “They wanted it more and that’s what made the difference in the game.

“They wanted those rebounds more than we did.”

It didn’t help that the Cougars, who are small to begin with, lost 6-foot-6 Eddie Miller for much of the first half because of foul trouble. And then they lost him altogether when he fouled out at the 13:13 mark in the second half.

The Cougars didn’t have anyone who could stop the Pac-10’s leading scorer, Jason Terry, either. The 6-2 point guard finished with 27 points, seven rebounds and eight assists.

The Cougars did force the Wildcats into 30 turnovers, the most ever by a Lute Olson-coached Arizona team. But WSU had 21 turnovers.

Arizona 98, Washington St. 87

Washington State (7-6) - Mensa-Bonsu 5-9 1-4 11, Crosby 6-12 1-1 13, Miller 3-5 0-0 6, Pengelly 1-4 0-0 3, Thomas 11-19 4-4 34, Bush 0-2 5-8 5, Kazadi 2-5 1-3 5, Stewart 1-1 1-2 3, Slotemaker 2-6 2-2 7, Hutchens 0-0 0-0 0, Nelson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-63 15-24 87.

Arizona (10-1) - Wright 3-3 0-1 6, Jefferson 9-16 7-8 25, Bramlett 3-9 4-6 10, Douglas 4-9 5-7 14, Terry 8-13 8-9 27, Wilson 1-4 0-1 2, Ash 0-0 1-2 1, Anderson 0-1 0-0 0, Wessel 1-4 2-3 4, Edgerson 3-8 3-5 9. Totals 32-67 30-42 98.

Halftime-Arizona 39, Washington State 35. 3-Point goals-Washington State 10-20 (Thomas 8-12, Slotemaker 1-2, Pengelly 1-3, Crosby 0-3), Arizona 4-14 (Terry 3-7, Douglas 1-6, Wilson 0-1). Fouled out-Miller. Rebounds- Arizona 54 (Jefferson 12), Washington State (MensahBonsu 5). Assists-Arizona 14 (Terry 8), Washington State 17 (Bush 5). Total fouls-Washington State 26, Arizona 19. A-13,760.