WSU leads 33-18 at the half

COUGARS

What is it about Stanford and first halves? For the second time this season, WSU played a superlative first half – or, if you’re a half-empty type of guy, the Cardinal played a terrible half. For my money, you half-empty guys are more right than wrong this time. The Cardinal turned into a turnover machine in the opening 20 minutes, giving the ball away 11 times, including some that were just incomprehensible. But the Cougars had something to do with that as well. Though this wasn’t the defensive effort of the Arizona game, it still was pretty good, holding the Cardinal to 33 percent shooting (7 of 21) besides the turnovers. Landry Fields has five points, as he was guarded early by DeAngelo Casto but quickly given to Nik Koprivica – when WSU wasn’t in zone. Jeremy Green has six points, all on 3-pointers, with Marcus Capers doing the bulk of the defensive effort. … Casto has been a force inside offensively – he actually went coast-to-coast with a turnover – with nine points, but the most telling stat on offense is the eight assists on 13 baskets. … Klay Thompson has four assists and eight points. … The Cougars are running their offense well, with eight players having scored – none of them named Brock Motum, who has yet to play. WSU is shooting 46 percent. … We’ll be back at the end of the game. Don’t forget the way Stanford played in the second half in Pullman.