Huskies use early run to outdistance Cougs
SEATTLE – Falling behind to a quicker, more athletic Washington team at any point was tantamount to a loss for Cougars, and they knew it well before taking the floor with the No. 10 team in the nation.
Washington State managed to make their normal slow-down, scratch-it-out strategy work for a while, too. A very short while. WSU took a 5-4 lead four minutes and 38 seconds in, momentarily frustrating a talented Husky roster. Then came a 14-0 Washington run, and there went any chance of an upset before a sellout crowd of 10,000 at Edmundson Pavilion.
Despite holding the Huskies well below their season average of 89.4 points a game, the Cougars were never able to give fight their way back into contention and it was only a matter of watching the minutes go by en route to a 66-48 loss to their in-state rival.
“I don’t think it got us down to the point where we gave up,” said WSU freshman center Robbie Cowgill. “I think it’s hard for us, a very defensive-minded team, to come back from a loss like that. In the games where we have done well, it’s where we have jumped out on top at the beginning. That was hopefully going to be a key in this one and it seemed to be. We let them get a lead early and it’s just hard for us.”
The Cougars trailed by 13 at the half and never any less than that thereafter as the Huskies (16-2, 6-1 Pac-10) pressed, hustled and ran their way past any passing threat.
“Our limitations were more evident and they just continued to push the envelope, which is why they’re such a good team,” Cougars coach Dick Bennett said. “They pretty much kept us from doing anything we needed to do to stay competitive. Their quickness was overwhelming.
“Had we made more relatively open shots it would have made it more interesting. But in reality, that’s part of the game. They missed their share too. It looked like a mismatch. I just felt like we had to stay close. The only part that irritated me was in the first half, when there was still a chance to stay competitive a couple of guys just made horrible decisions. Those are the things we warned them about.”
But WSU (8-8, 3-4 Pac-10) didn’t make open shots, going 3 of 21 from 3-point range and shooting just 32.2 percent overall. The Cougars’ defense held Washington to 35.9 percent from the floor, but 18 Huskies offensive rebounds – a season-high against WSU – gave them ample opportunity to keep their lead intact.
After the game, Bennett credited only Cowgill and Thomas Kelati for their efforts on the afternoon, and even Kelati was struggling to find his shot, finishing with a team best 12 points even after missing all five of his 3s.
Jeff Varem, a go-to guy for much of the Pac-10 season, was unable to develop any rhythm and scored just six points in 23 minutes.
“The fact that Jeff Varem only had six points is a testament to our defense,” Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar said. “This year you expect to see him in double-double numbers, so I thought our guys did a great job on him.”
Those Cougars that did play more minutes than Varem tired as the Huskies took advantage of their depth and attacked in waves. It wasn’t, Bennett suggested, the worst game his team has played. But on a day when they probably needed their best game to win, the Cougars couldn’t find it.
“In the beginning of the game we did all right,” Kelati said. “We executed well; we just didn’t hit our shots. But at that speed, over the course of the game, it kind of wears you down.”