A Grip on Sports: There’s gonna be a showdown in Tucson tonight with No. 21 WSU trying to knock off fourth-ranked Arizona
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Is tonight going to be the longest night? We know there’s gonna be a showdown in Tucson and, for the losing team’s fans, it looks as though there’ll be more pain. Which group’s fans, WSU or Arizona, will need to be saved from the suffering?
•••••••
• Are we an aficionado of obscure – are there any other kind 50 years after they were written? – Electric Light Orchestra lyrics? Maybe.
But Jeff Lynne’s words may just fit the Cougars tonight (8, FS1) in what some are billing as their chance to ensure an NCAA at-large berth.
It’s a showdown, all right. In Arizona. With first place in the Pac-12 on the line. Who would have thought we would be writing such things before the season began? Maybe Kyle Smith. Or that guy down the street with the ratty Cougar sweatshirt he bought in 2008, the one with the NCAA tourney logo on it. But other than that, not a lot of folks.
Tough part about tonight is there is no way the Cougars, winners of 20 games and nestled comfortable in second place in the standings, can surprise the fourth-ranked Wildcats. Not after beating them at McKale last season. Or after winning in Pullman a few weeks back. Nope. This is going to be one of those games where pain, as Lynne loved to warble about, will turn your heart to stone – or you’ll lose.
This one is not about emotion or pregame speeches. To win in the hostile environment of the desert, the Cougars will have to execute. Be precise. Play through adversity. Defend. Rain down 3-pointers. Every darn cliché you’ve ever heard about road wins. And then maybe do some things that will become cliché if they can get them done.
The Wildcats are, like WSU, on a roll. They have won six consecutive games since their shocking upset loss at Oregon State in late January. Three of those wins have come at home, where they are 13-0. More importantly, for the future of former Gonzaga assistant Tommy Lloyd’s squad, three have come on the road in tough places: Oregon and the mountain schools.
The OSU loss seems to have served as sort of a defibrillator, shocking them to life and getting them up and running.
Lloyd, who loves up-tempo offense, has to be happy the Wildcats have scored no fewer than 82 points in the six-game streak, topping 100 twice. The defense has improved too, especially in McKale, where tighter play is almost-always allowed, at least for UA. In the three recent home wins, the Wildcats have yielded about 65 points on average.
Into the cauldron comes the 21st-ranked Cougs. In their seven-game winning streak, they’ve won high-scoring affairs – to wit, defeating Washington 90-87 in Seattle – and taut, tough, defensive battles – for example, their 62-56 victory in Eugene 12 days ago.
It’s been since 2008 that Washington State has played a game with these stakes. Heck, even then, the Pac-10 was so stacked, after January, the Cougs, who would make the Sweet 16, were not in a position to win the regular season crown. It’s uncharted territory with only one certainty.
It’s going to be the longest night.
• There is another showdown tonight, this one a little closer to Spokane.
Eastern Washington’s women will be trying to pull themselves completely out of the hole they dug Jan. 27 while playing in Flagstaff, Arizona. At that point, the Eagles were leading the Big Sky Conference and seemed destined to race to the title. But they fell behind by 15 in the fourth quarter to Northern Arizona, rallied to tie but lost in overtime. They also lost their next game against Montana State. Ever since, they’ve been the hunter. Tonight (6, ESPN+), the prey marches into Reese Court.
EWU and the Lumberjacks are tied atop the standings – NAU lost early to Montana and recently to Sacramento State, both at home – with just four games left. A win tonight and the Eagles have the inside track to the all-important conference tournament, though nothing is assured. Even after a showdown.
•••
WSU: The stakes are high tonight. Greg Woods defines them in this preview. Then he’ll define the outcome in his game story tonight. … Kirk Schulz is dealing with even higher stakes (maybe), as he tries to keep Washington State at the highest level of NCAA competition. He spoke with Jon Wilner on Tuesday for this story. … Those stakes were part of a legislative hearing yesterday, covered by the S-R’s Tom Clouse. … Tonight’s game in Tucson is so big – “How big is it” Johnny, to dip back 50 years once more – USA Today has a story on the Cougars. … Out of Tucson, there is this story on the Cougs’ Oscar Cluff. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, Wilner also has his Best of the West rankings in the S-R. … Washington, suffering from another mediocre year on the court, learned some bad news this week. Key inside player Franck Kepnang will miss the rest of the year with a leg injury. … Oregon only has eight healthy scholarship players as it embarks on the Bay Area trip. … KJ Simpson might be the best player in the nation no one knows. … One player has emerged recently for Utah and other teams are taking notice. … Could a 7-foot center emerge late for Arizona State? … On the women’s side, Stanford is once again firmly entrenched atop the conference’s power rankings. … Oregon State is next, and face the Washington schools this weekend. … Despite Colorado’s current troubles, the Buffs are still gathering award notice. … Utah may still have enough time to move into the top four NCAA seeds and host tournament games. The Utes’ push for those heights has to start in Los Angeles. … UCLA is passionate about playing defense. … In football news, Colorado has a new defensive coordinator. … Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham believes there is no reason to complain. … There are a lot of issues at Arizona but the future could be bright.
Gonzaga: The Zags travel to Portland knowing they have little margin for error. Lose to the Pilots (314 in the NCAA’s Net rankings, making this Quad 4 game) and GU can kiss an at-large berth goodbye. Jim Meehan previews the game and has the key matchup. … The women are safely into the NCAA tourney, not just because they clinched the WCC regular season title last week. In fact, maybe despite of playing in the low-rated conference. But they have 26 wins, are ranked 13th in the NET and are trying to earn a top-four seed and host the first weekend of the NCAAs. Greg Lee has a notebook covering the area women’s programs, leading with tonight’s visit to the Kennel by San Francisco. … Elsewhere in the WCC, Saint Mary’s Joshua Jefferson will miss the rest of the season. … Finally, we pass along this story on San Diego State for two reasons. One is the Aztecs won in McCarthey earlier this season. The other is, well, it’s San Diego. Everyone loves San Diego.
EWU: We’ve been locked in on the Eagles’ recent defensive shortcomings, and so is coach David Riley. He talked with Dan Thompson about them and the upcoming road trip, which starts tonight in Flagstaff. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Montana found out running back Nick Ostmo is returning for his sixth season. … Montana State will host Portland State’s men tonight.
Preps: Dave Nichols had to search the record books over the past few days. He was trying to determine if Emily Peabody’s 51-point performance in Rogers’ District playoff win on Feb. 13 was a Greater Spokane League record in girls play. No one knows for sure. As Dave writes, though, it was an impressive performance, record or not.
Idaho: It was kind of funny seeing Spencer Barrera’s picture this morning holding up his Big Sky track medals. And to read John Blanchette’s story on the Vandals’ record-setting 400-meter runner, in which Barrera says he misses playing basketball. They are related. We watched Barrera play often as a youngster in Spokane’s AAU hoops program.
Seahawks: We are at that point. Should the Hawks keep Tyler Lockett? How about paying up to keep Jordyn Brooks? Both are productive but are they worth the cost?
Mariners: Emerson Hancock is ready to help the M’s win whenever they call on him.
Storm: The recent star additions to Seattle’s roster face a lot of expectation.
•••
• We liked a handful of ELO songs back in the day. The group did some decent stuff but we weren’t about to spend the $10 or so necessary to see them in concert. That was a lot of money. We did, however, own a couple of 8-tracks. And played “Showdown” a lot on the ride back to college because it was catchy. Heck, we still could sing parts of it this morning. Badly. Just like back then. Until later …