Cougars rest up for Ducks

Tony Bennett is considered a favorite to win national coach of the year honors for his work as a first-year coach in turning the Cougars into a 22-4 team.

But for all the in-game adjustments and the personnel decisions, his best move may have come in the off-season.

After Washington asked that last week’s game between the two schools be moved from Saturday to Wednesday, Bennett decided to leave the open date on his schedule, giving his team a full week off between playing Washington and Oregon on the road.

If the Cougars are to complete this miraculous season by winning a Pac-10 title, it might be that decision that plays the most pivotal role.

“I like having the ability to work on some things, and if you need extra rest, let’s do that as opposed to maybe traveling somewhere and playing,” Bennett said. “That would have been hard for us.”

Rest the Cougars have. Washington State took Thursday and Friday off, before returning to the practice floor for a brief session Saturday. The Cougars will take today off as well, giving them three days to rest before getting ready for the Ducks.

While the days off may be important for the team as a whole, there’s little doubt that its two best players, starting guards Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver, are most in need of the break.

Both have shown signs of fatigue lately, and Low has been ill with a stomach virus that has visibly slowed him for two weeks. (Low said Saturday that he’s lost at least 5 pounds because of it.)

What, exactly, was sore after the grind of 26 games?

“Everything,” Weaver said. “It was my whole body, from getting tripped up, falling, getting run over, elbows, the whole deal.”

Low and Weaver, both juniors, have played 499 minutes in 14 Pac-10 games – at 35.6 per game, they’re tied for third in the conference in that category. Neither has taken on a strain like this before.

Low, because of a broken foot in each of the last two years, had never played more than 23 games in a season and never averaged more than 32 minutes a game. Weaver, whose role on the team has increased tremendously this season, averaged less than 20 minutes as a freshman and less than 30 as a sophomore.

“I’ve just got to be mentally tough, especially when I’m tired in the second half,” Low said. “When teams are trying to deny me the ball or overplay me, I’ve just got to dig deep inside because the thought of knowing that the team needs me at this crucial part of the game, I think that gives me an extra lift.”

But it’s been difficult for WSU lately. The Cougars have dominated the second half for most of the season, scoring more points in those 20 minutes in 17 of 26 games. That hasn’t been the case, though, in four of the last six, and in some instances it has appeared that WSU has been hanging on instead of taking over.

Bennett has tried to get other guards in the rotation – Taylor Rochestie played the best 31 minutes of his Cougars career against Washington in Wednesday’s win – but even the coach admitted that he’ll need his two starters for more big minutes as WSU looks toward the Pac-10’s closing weeks and the postseason beyond.

“You’ve just got to hope that they hold up,” Bennett said. “Hopefully, the mental toughness will come through and the physical training (will too) – how they lift, how they take care of their bodies. We’re a team that doesn’t have the luxury to play those guys 30, 31 minutes a game. We’ve just got to go with it.”