Cougars look for first Pac-12 tourney win in six years

LAS VEGAS – It has been six years since Washington State won a Pac-12 men’s basketball tournament game and about that long since the Cougars entered the tournament trending upward. WSU (13-17, 11-7 Pac-12) has won three of its last seven games for just the second time in those six years, and two of those losses came by five points or less. At the very least, the gap between where the team was at the beginning of the regular season and where it ended it has given the Cougars a rare incentive to win for more than winning’s sake. “This is kind of the next step for them to be able to do,” coach Ernie Kent said. “The guys who are returning next year, to be able to handle yourselves in a one-and-done situation and have some success at it, that’s really good.” The Cougars went from struggling to beat bad teams from bad conferences like Missouri State and Rice to holding second-half leads in all of their last seven games, save for a laugher against No. 5 Arizona. And just last week was likely WSU’s best two-game showing of the season, a near-upset of No. 17 Utah and a revenge win over the same Colorado team that beat the Cougars by 32 points earlier in the season. Actually, it wasn’t the same team, since the Buffaloes were without a pair of starters in the first matchup. In that matchup Ike Iroegbu had his first double-double and Que Johnson, another sophomore guard, scored in double figures for the first time in three weeks. With the Cougars seemingly improving in some way each game, they’d understandably prefer it if Wednesday’s game against California weren’t their last. “Every game is an important game with us,” Kent said. “It’s about the growth of our program, it’s about having some success, it’s about accomplishing things we haven’t been able to accomplish before.” The ninth-seeded Cougars split with eighth-seeded Cal (17-14, 7-11), winning on the road in Berkeley but losing at home after the Golden Bears got guard Jabari Bird back from injury. Bird completed a tall and physical backcourt, pairing with first-team All-Pac-12 guard Tyrone Wallace to pull down 15 rebounds. Jordan Matthews – at 6-foot-3 he’s the smallest starting guard for Cal by two inches – led the Bears with 24 points in the team’s first matchup. Two teams that were already closely matched will play each other for the third time so there are no secrets. WSU will be successful if the post players are on their games while the Golden Bears will try to attack outside-in. Even though Wednesday’s games are the only ones where the teams have ample time to game plan, they still won’t be won or lost on the chalkboard. “You don’t have to pay as much attention to the scout as the first time because you know strengths and weaknesses,” WSU senior guard DaVonte Lacy said. “It comes down to who wants it more, who’s going to go the extra effort.” The prize for the rubber match’s winner is a noon game on Thursday against top-seeded Arizona, whose closest call against either team was a 73-50 win at Cal. The Wildcats are gunning for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but likely have to win their conference tournament to make it happen, and even then may need help from higher-ranked teams losing. Despite entering the Pac-12 tournament as the top seed in three of the last six years, UA hasn’t won it since the 2002 team led by Luke Walton. The Wildcats have lost in the title game in three of the past four years, falling to Washington, Colorado and UCLA. While Utah spent nearly all of the season as the conference’s second team in the national spotlight, Oregon snuck into the No. 2 seed by winning nine out of its last 10 games, a run that earned Dana Altman the conference’s Coach of the Year award and made Joseph Young the Pac-12 Player of the Year. Utah is the 3-seed and UCLA is the fourth seed, granting both teams a first-round bye. The Utes may have received a blessing, however, by falling to the 3-seed. They will face the winner of Wednesday night’s game between sixth-seeded Stanford and 11th-seeded Washington, two teams that that have struggled considerably late in the season. The Ducks, meanwhile, will likely have to face No. 7 seed Oregon State, a gritty rival that narrowly lost both matchups to UO and would surely be energized by one more shot with a semifinal berth on the line. But first the Beavers have to get past No. 10-seed Colorado in what is sure to be one of the tournament’s most physical games. UCLA will play the winner of Wednesday’s game between No. 5 seed Arizona State and USC, the conference’s last-place team.