Arrow-right Camera

Color Scheme

Subscribe now
WSU Men's Basketball

WSU focused on limiting guard Lamar Washington ahead of second matchup with Pacific

PULLMAN – Earlier this month, when Washington State coach David Riley rewatched his group’s games against Pacific and San Francisco, he noticed one reason why both opponents got huge individual outings: They saw a few shots go down early in the game.

Pacific guard Lamar Washington, who capped his 40-point outburst with an overtime buzzer-beater to down WSU, certainly enjoyed that. He knocked down a jumper and a 3-pointer in the first few minutes. By the time halftime rolled around, Washington had 16 points, more than he had scored in eight of his previous nine games.

The Cougars never quite cooled off Washington, which is why the Tigers handed WSU a costly Quad 4 loss. In Riley’s view, it all came back to Washington’s hot start.

“That’s where it really starts to become difficult,” Riley said. “The basket gets bigger for him.”

As WSU prepares for a two-game Bay Area swing this weekend, traveling to face Pacific on Thursday and San Francisco on Saturday, it’s at the top of mind for Riley and the Cougars (15-7, 5-4 WCC). With four losses in six games, Washington State has all but fallen out of contention for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid, but the Cougars still have plenty to play for.

To get the most out of the season, WSU can start by getting revenge on Washington and Pacific, which has dropped to No. 308 in the NET rankings, making it another Quad 4 game for the Cougars. The Tigers (6-17, 1-8) have lost four straight and 13 of their past 14, their only victory in that stretch coming over the Cougars on Jan. 9.

WSU, No. 89 in the NET rankings, will likely be paying closer attention to Washington this time around. The Cougars didn’t always double Washington in the teams’ first clash, and while Riley played things close to the vest as usual, it’s clear his team will focus on Washington.

“Initially, we got to do a better job,” Riley said of Washington, who has scored 13, 14, 11 and 11 points in his four games since going for 40. “We gotta throw a few things to try to break that. We gotta have a couple of schemes. We gotta do better on the ball. We gotta do better as far as not letting him get out in transition. We gotta kinda just do a few of those deals.”

It’s unclear whether more reinforcements will be on the way for WSU. Guard Isaiah Watts has been out since Dec. 18 with an injury to his nonshooting left hand. He’s been gearing up for a return, and while he warmed up prior to the Cougars’ home loss to Saint Mary’s on Saturday, he re-emerged from the locker room in street clothes. It was his 10th missed game.

Watts had not been cleared for live action, Riley said, which is why he warmed up but did not play in Saturday’s game. Riley largely stayed mum on Watts’ potential availability for Thursday’s contest against Pacific, saying only the team is “still waiting. We’ll see.”

The team’s best perimeter shooter, Watts was averaging 12.5 points on 39% 3-point shooting in 12 games before he went out with the injury, removing a critical scoring punch from the lineup. He’s also one of the team’s best perimeter defenders. The Cougars have missed his impact on that end as well, whether in wins or losses, in allowing Washington to score 40 points or San Francisco guard Malik Thomas to score 27 in the first half on Jan 4.

On the sidelines during games, Watts has been wearing a protective cover/cast on his left hand. It seems to be covering the entirety of his index finger. The nature of the injury has remained unclear, only that it’s on his left hand.

With or without Watts, though, Riley has been trying to instill in his team some mental toughness.

The Cougars have lacked in on occasion, Riley has said, leading him to say his group showed “mental weakness” in their loss to the Tigers earlier this month.

Riley still thinks it’s possible for a team to turn that around in the middle of a season, ahead of a tough two-game road swing.

It’s why he switched things up a little bit during Tuesday’s practice, implementing a few rules designed to keep his players on their toes. In a few scrimmages, he wanted his guys to focus on keeping opponents out of the paint, so points were docked from the defending team if the offense got to that area.

Riley and his coaching staff have tinkered with other rules like that, such as removing points for allowing opponents to grab offensive rebounds, a key reason for WSU’s lopsided loss to Santa Clara last week.

“There’s little ways like that,” Riley said. “We’ll shorten the floor in different ways if we’re trying to play out of a certain area. I just think you can do drills, you can walk through stuff, but if you’re competing, while also really in the back of your mind, really trying to focus on this one area, I think that helps.”