Cougars find their voice with Bennett
SEATTLE – Dick Bennett didn’t need to shout at the top of his lungs to make his opinion known. The words, not the volume, told the story.
“This is the kind of performance I’ve been looking for, waiting for, for three years,” said Bennett, who has been stricken with laryngitis for weeks. “It was really nice to watch them play. We played probably as complete a game as we could – both ends, inside, outside, and on a consistent level. I really have absolutely nothing to complain about.”
His Washington State University team had just pasted Utah 69-42 in front of 5,496 fans in KeyArena, playing the first Cougar Hardwood Classic in the SuperSonics’ home building. At 7-2 with the non-conference schedule complete, Bennett went so far to say that similar performances would make his team competitive in the Pacific-10 Conference.
“We have a better sense of who we are,” he said. “We’re not foolish enough to think it’ll be anything but extremely hard, but at least we know we’re capable of good basketball.”
WSU’s domination of Utah (6-4) was as quick as it was complete. Less than 12 minutes in, the score was 23-7, and by halftime the Cougars held a 39-14 lead.
Sophomore power forward Robbie Cowgill scored the Cougars’ first 10 points and finished with 14, to go with four assists and three steals, setting the tone for the blowout.
“I knew we had some potential,” Cowgill said. “It just seemed like everything was going our way.
“We’ve just got things going right now.”
Cowgill’s initial scoring burst helped pave the way for a number of other Cougars to pile on. Senior Randy Green, who played his high school ball at nearby Rainier Beach, led all scorers with 15 points and point guard Derrick Low added 10.
WSU freshman Caleb Forrest drilled the first 3-point attempt of his collegiate career in garbage time and sophomore center Chris Henry, who doesn’t usually look at the basket from outside 5 feet, nailed a 16-foot jumper from the left elbow.
All in all, the Cougars left little doubt as Utah coach Ray Giacoletti, formerly the head man at Eastern Washington, looked on in frustration.
“I would agree,” Green said when asked if this was the best game he had seen in his years at WSU. “We all knew coming in this would be a big game.”
That was true in large part because of the game’s location. Looking to get away from the small crowds in Pullman this time of year, WSU hoped to establish a foothold in Seattle, much as Gonzaga has done successfully in recent years. The Cougars are already booked to play once in each of the next two seasons at KeyArena.
The game did not sell as well as both the game’s promoter and the school had hoped – 4,709 of the fans were there on a paid ticket – but Bennett and his players were more than thrilled by the reaction of the West Side fans.
“The crowd was wonderful. It felt alive, and it was good to be in a setting like that again,” Bennett said. “I hope we did (win some fans). It was clearly the most enthusiastic reception we’ve had, and that was great. I could tell before the game – that was the best I’ve felt in terms of getting people excited.”
If they play more often like they did against Utah, the Cougars might find themselves doing so in front of bigger crowds – with much more on the line than just game-to-game improvement.
“We feel pretty confident going in there (to the Pac-10). We’re peaking at the right time,” Cowgill said. “If we keep playing like this, watch out for us.”