WSU takes itself to task after loss

COUGARS

Sorry we are a little later than usual, but it took the Cougars a longer-than-usual time to come out of the locker room. And that sat us back. But as my dad used to say, people don’t want to hear about the labor pains, they just want to see the baby, so here’s the baby. With a special addition. I put the Bill Moos story on the bottom with quotes from Elson S. Floyd, release tonight by the athletic department. Read on.
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• Here’s the basketball story along with a note and our weekend summary …

PULLMAN – It was almost as if a switch had been flicked off.

And with it, Washington State University’s chance to compete with UCLA on Thursday night went dark.

“We didn’t play with the type of energy we need to,” said a somber Ken Bone, who spent about 30 minutes in the locker room with the Cougars following their 71-51 beatdown by the Bruins before 6,566 at Beasley Coliseum, many of whom started leaving with 10 minutes left.

“There wasn’t a lot of energy in the building, but it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if there is anybody in the building. We’ve got to create our own energy and play hard. For whatever reason we just did not bring it tonight.”

And, for the second time against WSU this season, the Bruins did.

In Pauley Pavilion less than a month ago, UCLA (12-13 overall and 7-6 in the Pac-10 Conference) shot 59 percent in an easy 74-62 win, starting a WSU streak that now has reached six losses in seven games.

That shooting percentage would have been welcomed in this one. Not only did the Bruins shoot 65.9 percent, they hit 23 of their first 31 attempts, a hard-to-fathom 74.2 percent.

Well, not all that hard.

“Even if you have three people on the floor that pride themselves on defense, it does not matter,” said DeAngelo Casto, who was one of two Cougars in double figures with 10 points. “If three people are playing defense … that’s only 60 percent of your people on the court. That’s failing.”

“We let them do what they wanted to do in the first half,” said Marcus Capers, who missed practice all week after a death in the family and did not start. “I think they shot 70 percent. That ain’t what WSU is about.”

The Bruins patiently carved up whatever defense the Cougars attempted, either at the rim – they had a half-dozen dunks, including one by Nikola Dragovic 2 minutes in when two nearby WSU defenders didn’t even see him attack the rim – or from beyond the arc – they hit 6 of 12, led by Michael Roll’s 3 of 4, part of his 15-point effort.

Roll and Tyler Honeycutt (14 points) were both 5 of 5 in the first half as UCLA broke open a 26-24 game with a 14-0 run. Only a Casto just-before-half layup, intermission and a Nik Koprivica basket interrupted a skein that grew to 22-4.

“That doesn’t happen every day,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said of the two perfect performances. Either does winning 17 years in a row in the Inland Northwest, but the Bruins have done that as well.

“From the players on the court to the end of the bench, we (were) just dead,” Capers said. “When you are playing conference play, you can’t play defense dead at all.”

Or offense the way WSU did in the crucial 14-point run.

With a chance to tie, the Cougars (15-11, 5-9) missed three consecutive shots. That included a 26-foot 3-pointer from Klay Thompson, who finished 2 of 9 from the floor, scored eight points and added six turnovers. WSU shot 36 percent, 3 of 19 from beyond the arc.

But misses or not, at least they were shots. The next seven possessions ended in turnovers.

“I don’t want take anything away from UCLA, because they’re a good ballclub, Ben does a very good job and they played great basketball tonight,” Bone said when asked about the stretch. “But again, we had lapses where we just didn’t play one possession to the next. At least play solid basketball one possession to the next.”

The only thing that slowed down UCLA in the stretch was 6-foot-8 center Reeves Nelson landing headfirst on the floor after a fastbreak dunk. He left the game with a towel on his right eyebrow and only returned to the bench after receiving 14 stitches.

But despite his absence, and that of reserve center James Keefe, out for the season with a shoulder injury, the Bruins still won the rebound battle 27-25 despite playing zone the entire game.

Maybe it was because they got to almost every loose ball.

“If it’s not all five guys,” Capers said of the lack of effort, “if it’s not everybody on the bench, then you are not going to play good defense. You’re not going to stop anybody.”

With second-place USC coming in Saturday fresh off an upset of Washington, what can WSU do?

“We’ve got to get back to basics,” Koprivica said. “We have to know who we are and what we do the best.”

And Bone expressed faith they would.

“We had a bad night,” he said. “In a nutshell, that’s the deal.”

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• And here’s the Moos story …

PULLMAN – Washington State University president Elson S. Floyd offered the school’s vacant athletic director position to Bill Moos on Thursday afternoon.

“He did extend the offer,” said Moos when reached by telephone. “My wife (Kendra) and I are going to consider it and, hopefully, we’ll have a response to president Floyd in the next few days.”

“He is considering the offer we made him and will provide us with his decision by the middle of this coming week,” Floyd said late Thursday night in a press release. “I am optimistic we will be able to reach a mutually beneficial agreement.

“The support for Bill has been overwhelming. After hearing from WSU coaches, senior athletic department leaders, alumni, donors, and fans, I extended the offer to Bill.”

Moos declined to go into specifics of the offer, saying he was honoring Floyd’s wishes.

In a conversation earlier in the day, Floyd reiterated his plan to “make a fair offer,” and emphasizing his desire to bring Moos back to Washington State.

Moos, the former Cougar football player and Montana and Oregon athletic director, emerged quickly as the prime candidate for the position that opened last week when Jim Sterk took the same spot at San Diego State.

One stumbling block may be a separation agreement Moos signed with Oregon when he left the school in Nov., 2006, but he said talks are in the works to iron that out.

“The people at Oregon are working with my representatives,” Moos said, reached earlier in the day while hauling beef between Sandpoint and Coeur d’Alene. “I’m appreciative of that. I’m going to watch that carefully before I make any decisions.”

Whether an agreement can be worked out in the time frame Floyd is working within is hard to gauge, but Moos seemed confident if cautious.

Floyd reiterated Thursday that Moos’ Oregon agreement is for him to deal with.

Moos and Floyd talked often Tuesday and Wednesday and both came away impressed.

“This thing would not have advanced as far as it has if I did not have a genuine admiration for president Floyd and all that he is doing with Washington State,” Moos said.

No matter what happens, Moos said, he got two things accomplished this week.

“Every opportunity I had (Wednesday), I wanted to applaud Jim Sterk,” Moos said of the man he may replace. “Jim is a very good friend and I was looking forward to working with him in a consulting basis on raising money for the stadium.

“But the next thing I know he is departing and we’re into where we’re at the present moment.”

Which led to the whirlwind courtship.

“I felt it went exceptionally well,” Moos said of his on-campus visit. “The people at Washington State had it extremely well-organized. I got to meet with and have interaction with everyone I had hoped to.”

Including a lot of old friends.

“The open forum at the end of the day was a lot of fun for me,” Moos said, “and it was very good to be able to see so many people who have meant a lot to me throughout my life and there were a lot of them there. That was very special.”

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• That’s all for tonight. We’ll return in the morning with our usual post. Until then …