Gripping moment
TUCSON, Ariz. — Frustrated by his team’s overconfident attitude after beating Washington to take first place in the Pac-10 on Thursday, Arizona coach Lute Olson noted, “This game is a game of habits.”
For Washington State’s basketball team, the habit was losing. Forty-eight straight to ranked opponents. Thirty-eight straight to Arizona. Twenty-six straight on the road against ranked opponents. Twenty straight at Arizona.
While Olson’s team appeared to take its struggles to the McKale Center court Saturday afternoon, WSU had no such intentions. The Cougars jumped out to an 8-2 lead, trailed by just one at the half, fought back from a 10-0 Arizona run in the second half and kicked their losing streaks to the curb by beating the No. 11 team in the nation 70-63 before a stunned crowd of 14,586.
“I can’t remember the last time I was this happy,” said senior WSU guard Thomas Kelati, who matched a career-high with 27 points. “To return to that locker room, Coach was in tears; players were in tears. This feels good.”
For Dick Bennett, this win is clearly the biggest in his two years at WSU (9-9, 4-5 Pac-10). In it his team showed the fortitude he has begged for in practices, a fact not lost on the coach, who flashed an unusually large smile as he exited the locker room.
“This one required every ounce of whatever toughness that you can define, physical and mental,” Bennett said, even going so far as to say that the win is better than the near-upset they could have grabbed over then-No. 1 Stanford last season. “This one means more. When you go on the road and win at this level against a club like this and a program like this, it’s significant.”
The seven-point margin at game’s end was the largest lead for either team during the game, but it appeared that Arizona (17-4, 7-2) might take charge in the second half with a 10-0 run that had its home crowd in a frenzy. After the Cougars battled their way to a 45-41 lead with less than 14 minutes left, Hassan Adams stole the ball from Jeff Varem in the backcourt and dunked it to ignite the Wildcats.
But just when it seemed WSU was about to fold, the Cougars pieced together a 10-3 run over four minutes to bring the game back into question.
“We didn’t let their runs get to us,” said center Robbie Cowgill, one of four freshman in the game who wasn’t yet born the last time a WSU team knocked off Arizona 19 years ago today. “There were a couple of times when they got a fast-break dunk or two and things could have gotten out of control. We just stayed together, stayed mentally tough and got that game.”
Cowgill’s 12 points and freshman point guard Derrick Low’s 13, both career highs, were key as Arizona used a full-court trap the entire game to try and wilt the Cougars. But neither freshman buckled under the intense defensive pressure, and in fact the Wildcats turned the ball over once more than WSU.
The Cougars also kept their cool in the final two minutes, sinking 6 of 8 free throws to seal the game. Two days earlier at Arizona State, they had misfired on 12 of 21 attempts in a six-point loss.
And while the Cougars now need to worry about the second half of the conference schedule, one that will include a rematch against Arizona in Pullman on Feb. 24, there was no hiding the joy stemming from a potentially pivotal upset win.
“It is one game, but it’s a huge game,” associate head coach Tony Bennett said in an empty hallway after the hubbub outside the locker room had subsided. “This could be a sign for us that we’re doing the right stuff, that we’re not just going to take a back seat to these guys.
“We’ve been knocking at the door and we just pushed it open a little bit.”
Notes
The Cougars had lost three in a row before the win Saturday. … Five Wildcats scored in double figures, but Hassan Adams was the team leader with just 12. … The Cougars shot 57.1 percent from 3-point range, including 7 of 12 in the second half. Arizona, meanwhile, went 2 of 11 from long range in the second half. … Just four of WSU’s buckets after halftime came inside the 3-point line.