WSU takes aim at rarity
In a season filled with history-making wins, Washington State will go for one more this evening.
The Cougars open the second half of their Pac-10 season with a road game at Arizona, and if they should manage to deal the Wildcats a defeat it will represent WSU’s first regular-season sweep of the conference power since 1983, the season before Lute Olson arrived in Tucson.
As such, this is not expected to be just another run-of-the-mill matchup between the Cougars and the Wildcats. The Cougars, despite their overtime loss to Oregon on Saturday, are tied for third in the conference while Arizona is one game behind WSU.
Furthermore, the Wildcats have been mired in a slump, never more apparent than in a 92-64 drubbing at the hands of then-No. 4 North Carolina, by far the worst home defeat in the McKale Center under Olson’s watch. They’ll try to redeem themselves in front of the home fans when WSU takes the floor with them at 5:30 p.m.
“It seems like we’ve said this about the last couple of teams, playing a wounded animal,” WSU coach Tony Bennett said. “But this is a different kind of wounded animal after what happened to them in the North Carolina game. That’s not the Arizona team that we’re going to see.”
It would seem as though Arizona (14-6, 5-4 Pac-10) has been sending mixed messages to its opponents all season. The starting five is wildly talented, especially on the offensive end of the floor, but the Wildcats’ depth leaves something to be desired. It has played well at times against one of the toughest schedules in the nation, but it has also shown numerous vulnerabilities, as in WSU’s 77-73 overtime victory on Friel Court in a January matchup.
“Part of me says it’s kind of a bad time (to play Arizona) just because they’ve been down and kicked around a little bit recently,” WSU junior forward Robbie Cowgill said. “It’s good to know that we can compete with them and play well enough. We can beat them. There wasn’t any of that lack of confidence in the first game, or we wouldn’t have been able to beat them.”
In its favor, WSU (17-4, 6-3) has been especially good this season coming off of losses. In three games so far, the Cougars have defeated Gonzaga by 10, won at USC by three and crushed Washington at home by 28.
The Cougars will have to begin this latter portion of the conference slate without freshman Nikola Koprivica, who was lost to a season-ending knee injury against the Ducks. It appears that sophomore Chris Matthews, who scored eight points in the first game against Arizona and 13 against Oregon, is likely to see the biggest increase in playing time as a result.
“It’s hard to see a teammate go away because he’s a nice guy,” Matthews said. “But I’m going to take the opportunity as it is and go out there and play hard for me and him.”
Matthews played significant minutes against Arizona in the first game this season because of his long-range shooting ability, which came in handy against a zone defense that the Wildcats used for much of that game. Should they do so again, Matthews, Daven Harmeling – who had 28 in that first matchup this season – or Derrick Low will probably need to have a big night for WSU.
The Cougars have relied on different scorers throughout the season, and Bennett said he hopes that his team’s versatility comes to the forefront as his surprising Cougars begin the race for the finish line.
“You get contributions from more than just riding one horse or a couple of people,” Bennett said. “I think those are the things that really come into play in the second half.”