After getting ‘punked’ in rebounding battle, WSU looks to shore up issues on glass ahead of home tilt with first-place Saint Mary’s

PULLMAN – Sitting courtside after his team’s latest setback, Washington State coach David Riley sounded frustrated when he explained one of the key reasons the Cougars took a blowout loss to Santa Clara Thursday night.

“They punked us on the glass,” Riley said in a postgame radio interview.

Sure enough, Santa Clara abused WSU on the boards, winning the overall rebounding battle 41-31. The Broncos also turned 18 offensive rebounds into 19 second-chance points. The Cougars played decent first-shot defense, but their inability to finish possessions with a rebound spelled doom, leading to their third loss in five games.

WSU doesn’t get much of a respite on that front since first-place Saint Mary’s visits Pullman for a 5 p.m. tip-off Saturday. In fact, it’s quite the opposite for the Gaels, who lead the conference in rebounding, averaging nearly 42 per game: 26.5 defensive rebounds (third) and 15.1 offensive boards (first).

Saint Mary’s (17-3, 7-0 WCC) is second nationwide with an offensive rebound percentage of 41.7, leading the conference in that category as well. Three Gaels lead that charge: 6-foot-8 forward Paulius Murauskas leads the team with 8.5 rebounds per game; 6-10 bruiser Mitchell Saxen is second with 8.0 per game; and 6-6 veteran wing Luke Barrett is grabbing 7.3 rebounds a contest.

In that way, it’s not only a critical Quad 1 opportunity for WSU (15-6, 5-3 WCC). It’s also a challenge to the Cougars’ big men, who got only seven combined rebounds from Ethan Price and Dane Erikstrup on Thursday. Backup forward ND Okafor secured three boards in 10 minutes, tied for his shortest outing all season.

But WSU wing LeJuan Watts did his part, which might bode well for the Cougs on Saturday. With an electric outing of 20 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, Watts logged just the second triple double in WSU men’s hoops history, joining former guard Kyle Weaver, who accomplished the feat in 2007. Watts labored to the finish line, grimacing through banged up ankles and knees, but it didn’t stop him from leaving his footprint all over Thursday’s game.

“I thought he had a good game of playing with pace,” Riley said. “We talked about it. I thought he had some good stuff in the second half of the Portland game, and was able to build on that. When he’s playing with pace and gets downhill, he’s a monster. He looks like Magic Johnson out there. We’ve gotta fix the turnovers. But pretty dang impressive game for LeJuan.”

The turnover issues that plagued Watts, who had six on the game, mirrored the same types of problems that have followed WSU around all season. The Cougars committed 17 , including 12 in the first half alone, which the Broncos turned into 28 points. WSU did well to limit them in the second half, committing only five, but it was too many to overcome.

It’s another area that the Cougars will have to pay close attention to. Saint Mary’s is second in the WCC in turnover margin, at plus-2. WSU is second to last at minus-2.6. The Gaels, who have won seven straight and eight of their past nine, are also second in the conference with a defensive turnover percentage of nearly 18%.

Saint Mary’s is pulling that off by turning its defense into one of the best nationwide. The Gaels are holding opponents to a 3-point percentage of 27.4% and 40.2% on shots inside the arc, both tops in the WCC. Their block rate of 10.9% is also first in the conference, getting more than a block per game from Saxen, who is fourth in the country with an offensive rebound percentage of 18.2%.

Is there a way for WSU to crack the defense of Saint Mary’s, which is coming off a blowout win over San Francisco? If there is, it will need to come from point guard Nate Calmese, who is fresh off his most forgettable outing in his Cougar career: On his birthday, he managed just 3 points on 7 shots, playing only 25 minutes as he slogged through foul trouble.

But overall, the Cougs can help themselves out most by taking better care of the ball, which has been the case all season. On Thursday, WSU shot 45% overall and made 9 of 23 triples, including three from transfer wing Ri Vavers, who returned from injury after being out since Dec. 2 with broken bones in both hands.

All the Cougars, though, will likely need to get in on the rebounding battle. Saint Mary’s might punish them if not.

“The message,” Riley said of his postgame speech, “was, we got out-toughed tonight, and we’re gonna go play the toughest team in the league on Saturday. We better get our stuff right and get ready to go.”