WSU hoops notebook: Myles Rice is FOTW again, Cougs receive AP votes, climbing Bracketology fields
PULLMAN – The accolades just keep pouring in for Myles Rice.
The latest honor for Washington State’s star redshirt freshman is one he’s familiar with: He was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week on Monday, the fifth time he’s received the honor this season and the second on back-to-back occasions.
He earned it by supplying 18 points in WSU’s overtime win over rival Washington on Saturday, including the game-winning 3-pointer just inside two minutes left in the extra session. With that outing, he has scored in double figures in nine straight games, making him the conference’s highest-scoring freshman, with 15.7 points per game.
Rice, who registered five rebounds and five assists in Saturday’s game, is also rising up the steals leaderboard at WSU. He has notched 37 steals this season, tops on the team, fifth in the conference overall.
He also orchestrated the play that sent the game to overtime. In the final seconds of regulation, after UW forward Moses Wood missed a free throw that would have put the Huskies up three, WSU forward Isaac Jones set a screen for Rice, who shuffled it back to Jones for a dunk, knotting the game at 83-all.
In overtime, Rice sank what turned into the game-winner, a deep 3 for the final margin.
Rice and WSU return to action Thursday, visiting Oregon State for a 7 p.m. tip-off. On Saturday, WSU takes on Oregon at 2 p.m.
Cougars receive votes in AP pollWashington State (16-6, 7-4 Pac-12) isn’t just a half-game back of first place in the Pac-12 – the Cougs are also getting attention from around the nation.
That became clear on Monday morning, when WSU received six votes in the latest AP poll, good for an unofficial No. 35 ranking. The Cougars haven’t appeared in the Top 25 since the final poll of the 2007-08 season, when they earned a No. 21 spot, making a cameo in the Sweet 16 in former coach Tony Bennett’s penultimate season with the program.
That remains the last time Washington State appeared in the NCAA Tournament.
Neither of the Cougs’ upcoming opponents, the Beavers and Ducks, received any votes in this week’s poll.
Bracketology updates
The more the Cougs win, the more they rocket up NCAA Tournament experts’ projections.
WSU appeared in the Last Four In section of ESPN’s Joe Lunardi’s latest predictions, which came out on Monday. That means the Cougs, in Lunardi’s estimation, will earn one of the final four at-large bids to the field of 68.
CBS Sports writer Jerry Palm has WSU as a No. 9 seed, facing No. 8 Oklahoma. He’s clearly higher on WSU than Lunardi, whose designation would likely have the Cougs snaring a No. 11 seed, potentially needing to win a play-in game to make the field.
Through the tournament lens, Washington State’s upcoming game against Oregon bears extra importance. The Ducks are also on the tournament bubble. With a win, the Cougs wouldn’t just boost their own resume, earning a Quad 1 win – they would also bump Oregon further away from tournament contention, thereby strengthening their own case.
In the same way, it’s also vital for WSU to beat Oregon State and avoid a bad loss. The Beavers are No. 169 in the NET rankings, which would mean a Quad 3 loss for the Cougs if it were to happen.
WSU already has on its ledger one loss that could become Quad 3 by the end of the season, a road setback to Cal on Jan. 20. The Cougs need to avoid another potential blemish on their resume.
As things stand now, here is WSU’s tournament resume:
Record: 16-6 overall, 7-4 Pac-12
NET ranking: No. 40
KenPom ranking: No. 43
Quad 1: 4-3
Quad 2: 3-2
Quad 3: 1-1
Quad 4: 8-0
WSU, per Bracketmatrix.com, has an averaged projected seed of 10.74. The Cougs appear on 65 of the 83 bracket projection sites that the operation pulls from.