Listless WSU falls flat at USC

LOS ANGELES – For a team that takes pride in discipline and toughness, this was not the game Washington State was looking for.

Pick the words to describe Saturday’s 71-66 basketball loss at USC – confused, lethargic, defeated – and you get everything a Dick Bennett team usually is not.

Look at Kyle Weaver entering a game and playing man-to-man defense when his team had been in a zone; look at Josh Akognon getting his pocket picked near halfcourt with the clock nearing zero in a two-point game; look at a miscommunication between player and coach leading to a wasted timeout; and look at Nick Young’s 32 points plus Gabe Pruitt’s 20.

“It was just bad, the fact that nobody knew what we were doing out there,” Akognon said. “We were calling timeouts and we had some stuff going on in the huddle that really didn’t help to the game.”

It was obvious from the opening tip that this game, the Cougars’ last at the Los Angeles Sports Arena before USC moves into a new building next season, was not the prototypical Bennett-coached contest.

WSU (9-5, 2-3 Pac-10) and USC (12-5, 3-3) were the top two defensive teams in the conference coming in, but a 41-37 Cougars lead at the half suggested that neither team was playing its normal style.

“They were just too quick for us,” Bennett said. “We were a step slow, looked a step tired, looked somewhat intimidated.”

Still, the Cougars had an opportunity to take the game to overtime, the second time that’s been the case in three days. Against UCLA on Thursday, Weaver missed a layup as time ran out in a two-point loss. This time, Akognon lost control of the ball with 16 seconds left, as Ryan Francis stole it away from him, dishing to Young, who capped the game off with a breakaway dunk while getting fouled.

“This one was just a turnover at the end, my fault, bad play,” said Akognon, who led the Cougars in scoring for a third consecutive game since Derrick Low was injured, this time with 19.

The Cougars might have been able to call timeout to help Akognon, but they had none left in part because Bennett needed two in 29 seconds a few minutes before. Desperate for solid guard play, Bennett inserted Randy Green, who had turned an ankle in Thursday’s game. Green had played 4 minutes in the first half but apparently wasn’t able to go again after the break. So after one possession, Bennett used another timeout to take his senior back off the court.

“He said he thought I knew he couldn’t play,” Bennett said. “Well I certainly didn’t know that. I mean, it’s up to the trainer or him to tell me, ‘I can’t go in the second half.’ Another miscommunication.”

Earlier in the season, Green walked off the court and left Beasley Coliseum during a game when he thought Bennett had told him to leave.

The Cougars ended up losing both games on the Los Angeles road trip by a combined seven points, and after a thrilling victory against Washington last week it seems the momentum gained has been lost.

“We wanted to at least split,” said Antonio Chavers, who had seven points and six rebounds in a career-high 29 minutes. “Of course the win over Washington kind of gave us a confidence boost, but now with these two losses we wanted to prove to people that the Washington game wasn’t a fluke, which is going to be said now.”

USC 71, Washington State 66

Percentages: FG .436, FT .857. 3-Point Goals: 6-17, .353 (Akognon 4-8, Weaver 1-4, Matthews 1-5). Team Rebounds: 31. Blocked Shots: 1 (Akognon). Turnovers: 8 (Akognon 3). Steals: 2 (Akognon 2).

Percentages: FG .455, FT .650. 3-Point Goals: 8-20, .400 (Pruitt 5-6, Young 3-4, Shackleford 0-2, Francis 0-2, Stewart 0-3, Ozdic 0-3). Team Rebounds: 29. Blocked Shots: 2 (Ndiaye, Stewart). Turnovers: 7 (Stewart 3). Steals: 5 (Francis 2).

Halftime–Washington State 41, USC 37. A–NA.