Cougars prepare for vengeance
PULLMAN – Thomas Kelati sprinted off the McKale Center court having played the game of his life as Washington State University pulled off its first win against Arizona since 1986. In the immediate reviews, most everyone focused on how Kelati drilled seven 3-pointers and scored 27 points to match a career high and put away the Wildcats in the 70-63 win.
Now, nearly four weeks later, it has become apparent that Kelati’s offensive exploits may have paled in comparison to the job he did on the other end of the floor.
The entire time he was in that game, Kelati guarded Wildcats sharpshooter Salim Stoudamire, who missed all five of his 3-point attempts and scored just 11 points overall. Since then, Stoudamire has continued a season-long tear of remarkable shooting. In Arizona’s six games since then, Stoudamire has scored at least 22 points five times, punctuated by the 31 he tallied last Saturday against Oregon State.
So with Arizona coming into Pullman and looking for revenge on Friel Court at 5:30 p.m. today, Kelati knows he’ll need to be especially aware of the Wildcats’ top threat.
“I’m going to find him and pick him up at half-court,” Kelati said. “That’s the thing: Locate him and don’t give him any room. He launches it from anywhere, 25 (feet), 30, it doesn’t matter.
“I take it personally when coach calls on me to guard him. He’s a great player, so it’s a challenge to try and shut him down.”
Stoudamire may feel a little extra motivation this week as well since his head coach, Lute Olson, has been going on a media blitz lately to convince people that his point guard is the “best shooter in the nation.” Tuesday night, Olson went on ESPN to tout Stoudamire’s abilities, and a quick look at the numbers explains why. The senior is shooting 53.6 percent from the floor but a whopping 56 percent from 3. Should the defense on him be a little too aggressive, Stoudamire is also making good on 92 percent of his free-throw attempts this season.
Those numbers – and the fact that he’s been voted the team’s top defensive player in his freshman, sophomore and junior years – have Olson heaping praise on his team leader.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had a guard play better on both sides, and we’ve had a lot of great guards in this program,” Olson said. “He’s been shooting the lights out practically every game.”
But WSU (10-13, 5-9 Pac-10) has more to worry about than just Stoudamire. The Cougars are locked in a tight race for the final spots in the conference tournament, and with four games left it’s conceivable that they could wind up anywhere from sixth place to out of the tournament entirely, a fate that befalls the last two teams in the league.
WSU head coach Dick Bennett figures his team needs to win two of the last four games to get in, and a win tonight would certainly make things look a lot rosier. But his team has lost four of five since ht upset in Tucson, and it might be overwhelmingly difficult to beat the Wildcats (23-4, 13-2), a team that is also clinging to a one-game lead in the conference and still in the running for a No. 1 seed in March.
One thing Bennett does know – his team will need to at least equal its effort from Tucson to have a chance, because Stoudamire won’t likely have the type of day he did the first time around.
“If the patron saint of lost causes will work his magic again, it might happen,” Bennett said of Stoudamire’s struggles. “But I don’t see that happening. He’s just way too good.”
Notes
WSU will have junior guard Randy Green available for the first time after missing the last four games with a stress reaction in his leg. Green also has a slight ankle sprain, and coach Dick Bennett said if he does use Green it will likely be for just a few minutes. … Two TV crews will be working the game, one for Fox Sports Northwest and one for Fox Sports Arizona.