TV Take: Florida Gulf Coast took control in a flash to upset Washington State in NCAA Tournament
With a little more than 6 minutes left in the third quarter of Washington State’s opening-round NCAA Tournament game against Florida Gulf Coast, the Cougars and Eagles were trading the lead.
Then things changed. Quickly.
Maddie Antenucci hit three 3-pointers on consecutive possessions, her only buckets of the game. WSU star Charlisse Leger-Walker picked up her fourth foul. And the Eagles put together a 17-5 run en route to a 74-63 victory over WSU in Villanova, Pennsylvania.
And for the third consecutive year, coach Kamie Ethridge’s Cougars failed to win their first NCAA tournament game.
Throughout the key stretch, the ESPNU duo of John Brickley on play-by-play and Aja Ellison with the analysis, kept viewers up to date.
What they saw
• You may not recognize Brickley if you saw him in line at, say, Ferdinand’s, but you would turn your head hearing his voice. He’s been around ESPN for many years, doing a little of everything.
Saturday he was describing the type of matchups the NCAA Tournament was built on. Two teams from different regions with different strategies and different strengths. As Ellison pointed out even before the Eagles (33-3 and, despite the 12th seed, favored by a point) attacked Washington State’s defense with the bounce, Florida Gulf Coast had a distinct speed advantage.
Conversely, the fifth-seeded Cougars (23-11) towered over their FGCU counterparts.
As one would expect, the Eagles love to shoot 3-pointers. More than 31 of them a game. They make an average of 11.8 – both most in the NCAA.
Yet, that’s not how Florida Gulf Coast won – and Ellison knew it.
“Just using that speed,” she said more than once, as the quicker Eagles were able to get to the basket with impunity.
“They’ve won other ways,” Brickley said in the fourth quarter, noting that FCGU was outscoring the Cougars not only around the rim – 50-26 in paint points while shooting 62.5% on attempts inside the arc – as well as contributions off the bench – 19-6 in the second half.
The Eagles took just 14 3-point shots. Made five, two fewer than WSU. Sha Carter led them with 24 points. For the Cougars, Tara Wallack led with 16.
• One way they won they had little to do with: Leger-Walker had one of her rare off games.
The All-Pac-12 first-team selection scored just 5 points, 13 less than average. She played 30 minutes, though many of them had to be played tentatively with foul trouble.
The junior was 2-of-10 shooting, including 1 for 7 from beyond the arc.
“She can’t find her stroke today,” Brickley said as Leger-Walker missed an open fourth-quarter look.
“It’s just tough,” Ellison said. “She’s been in and out of the game with foul trouble, so … it’s hard to find that rhythm.”
Leger-Walker’s fifth foul came with 5:25 left and WSU trailing 70-56. She anticipated a drive, got set and took a hit from Kierra Adams. Referee Benny Luna saw it differently and called it a block. Her season, and Washington State’s comeback hopes, were over.
What we saw
• Washington State sold out to limit the Eagles’ 3-point attempts. But that opened gaps in the defense, allowing Alyza Winston and Tishara Morehouse (16 points) to attack the rim. Early on, they took advantage with the two guards combining for nine first-quarter points.
In the second quarter, Ethridge went small, replacing 6-foot-3 post Bella Murekatete, who had two fouls, and putting four guards on the floor.
One of them was Astera Tuhina, coming off a great Pac-12 Tournament title game performance. She shot the Cougars back in it, helping erase a six-point FGCU lead with seven quick points as part of a 13-2 run.
Ellison noticed the change quickly.
“I like this adjustment coach Ethridge has made here,” she said, “going with a smaller lineup” that allowed WSU to match up better.
The first half turned out to be part of the upside-down book written by FGCU. The Eagles took just seven 3-pointers, hitting one, but made 13 of 20 attempts inside the arce. WSU hit four long-range shots but was outscored by eight in the paint.
The final chapters were written in the second half.