Cougars chasing 10th conference win

PULLMAN – It’s been 13 years since Washington State last slid into an NCAA tournament bracket.

If there is any doubt left that this season will change all of that, the Cougars can eliminate it today.

A win against California at 2 p.m. on Friel Court would give WSU a 21st win on the season. Furthermore, it would guarantee the Cougars a winning record in the Pac-10, and in the process it would almost certainly do the same for their postseason dreams.

“The one thing we want to do is not change our game,” guard Kyle Weaver said. “We just want to go into this game and focus on what we do.”

If the No. 14 Cougars (20-4, 9-3 Pac-10) can be successful in that, they’ll probably find themselves in a familiar winning position afterwards.

WSU defeated Cal by 17 on the road last month, and the Golden Bears (12-11, 4-7) have been stuck in a tailspin of late, losers of five in a row.

“To me, that is a reason to be more concerned,” WSU coach Tony Bennett said. “If your guys think it’s going to be easy or take it for granted, they’ll be way off base.”

The Cougars played their best defensive game of the season on Thursday night in defeating Stanford 58-45. Another win this afternoon would give WSU a third two-game sweep of weekly conference play, a school first since 1993.

But Bennett cautioned that the solid defense in one game doesn’t necessarily indicate that another similar effort is coming in the next. That could be especially true with Cal freshman big man Ryan Anderson having an impressive season, including a 17-point game against WSU in January and another against Washington on Thursday.

“Just because you put a really nice defensive performance on the court Thursday, there’s no guarantee you’re going to be able to do that Saturday unless you really want to and don’t take it for granted,” Bennett said.