Cowgill ready for key Pac-10 week

On a team filled with young players, sophomore Robbie Cowgill has as much experience as anyone on the floor for Washington State this season.

The 6-foot-10 forward from Austin, Texas, is scoring nine points a game this year despite missing three games at the start of the year with a broken collarbone.

The Cougars are looking to bounce back this week after losing at UCLA and USC last week, and nothing seems out of the question in a wild, wide-open Pac-10.

S-R: What do you expect from this week of play?

RC: This is a really big weekend for us. Dropping two in a row in L.A., we really want a sweep. But of course we’ve got to take it one at a time and we’ve got Oregon (today) and we’ve had a tough time (with the Ducks). They’ve got a lot of talent and it looks like it’s coming together right now, at probably the worst time for us and the best time for them. That’s OK – we like the challenge. I think if we play the right way we can beat them.

S-R: In retrospect, what went wrong last week?

RC: Last week was really disappointing for us. We had a chance to do a lot of things as far as conference standings – even national rankings. And we really didn’t come in with the right mindset, I think. The most disappointing part isn’t that we lost. It’s that we didn’t play well. It wasn’t that we were missing shots, it was almost an effort thing, a lack of energy. Especially at the defensive end, which is supposed to be our forte.

S-R: What do you make of this league?

RC: It’s crazy. No one has less than two losses, right? That’s what makes it fun. No one’s unbeatable, and you can’t look past anyone because I think every team has a legitimate shot of beating any other team in the conference on any night. Arizona dropped two in Oregon, Arizona State winning, all the California teams are solid.

It makes it fun, you don’t have many down games, and you’ve got to come to play every night.

S-R: Do you have any idea where WSU fits in at this point?

RC: I don’t. I hope people still fear playing us. And I think they do, especially coming up here. It’s kind of far away. I think if we put them through our system, our grinding defense, really run things off screens and be patient on offense – I don’t think teams like to do that. We need to get back to that to get back to our success.

S-R: Which is, or would be, the bigger thrill: Texas winning the national championship this month or WSU making a postseason tournament?

RC: Definitely us making a postseason tournament. But Texas winning was awesome.