- WSU men's hoops began their season conference campaign last night in Tempe. They come home with a 51-29 win. To say the win was ugly is really putting a positive spin on things. That said, I'll take an ugly win over a beautiful loss any day of the week. Heck, there were some new records racked up so that is definitely a good thing. The biggest concern for Cougar Nation is the plain and simple fact that this team struggles to run an offense. Any offense. Catching a team like ASU on a bad night allows for winning a game with only 51-points put up. There aren't many other teams in the Pac-12 where they can expect to get away with lackluster offense and come away with the win. So for the moment, savor the 6-1, and 1-0 record.
POSTGAME NOTES
• With the win, the Cougars:
o Improved to 6-1 on the year and 1-0 in Pac-12 Conference play
o WSU allowed the fewest points in a conference game in program history (59-37 win at Cal, 1/14/88)
o WSU allowed the fewest points since holding Mississippi Valley State to 25 points in a 76-25
season-opening win (11/15/08)
o WSU held ASU to its lowest point total since 1946
o WSU held ASU to a 21.1 field goal pct., the lowest FG pct. allowed since holding Oregon to 20.8
(2/12/08)
o WSU held an opponent under 40 points for the first time since holding Idaho State to 39 (12/29/12)
• WSU (18) and Arizona State (10) combined for 28 points, the fewest combined points in a half in a
conference game since 1996 (according to Stats.inc which started in 1996)
o WSU held ASU to a 16.7 field goal pct in the 1st half, the best single half Field Goal pct. defense by
WSU since 1996 (date started in 1996)
• The Cougs used the same starting lineup as their season-opener
• WSU Head Coach Kyle Smith recorded his 200th career win
• Dishon Jackson recorded his 1st career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds
• Mouhamed Gueye recorded a career-high 10 rebounds, recorded 2 blocks for the third-straight game
• Noah Williams finished with a game-high 14 points along with a career-high 3 blocks
• WSU forced (15), has forced double-digit turnovers in all seven games this season
• WSU blocked a season-high 8 shots
• WSU grabbed 53 rebounds, their most rebounds since grabbing 53 against Northwestern State last
season
POSTGAME QUOTES - Kyle Smith
-
Opening Statement
I'm really proud of the way our guys competed, it was obviously a really odd game. But we played really well and it was a great defensive effort. I didn't expect that at all but I'm really pleased. -
On what went wrong offensively in the first half
We got off to a 10-0 start. ASU's quickness has always given us a lot of problems, we were just trying to survive and not turnover. We had nine turnovers, we missed four free throws, we missed the front end on the one-on-one, but we stayed in there and sustained it by just guarding them back. -
On what it says about their defense to only score 18 in the first half
It's tremendous. We thought going in this year we would be really good defensively, and we haven't been for whatever reason. The second half of the Eastern Washington game was a really poor effort on our part, we gave up 47 in the second half to them. We regrouped and it's nice having Noah (Williams) back. He brings a lot, there's a lot of areas he helps us in both offensively and defensively. Like I said, anywhere on the road and Pac-12 is always a joy. -
Coug Center offered up some effusive praise for the Wazzu defense. Though they gave credit where credit is due, they gloss over the obvious. If Coach Kyle Smith can get his guys to run plays on the offensive side of the court, they are going to be very tough to beat. The game last night would have been over at the half were it not for lazily expecting one-on-one play to win the day.
https://www.cougcenter.com/wsu-cougars-basketball/2021/12/1/22813273/wsu-cougars-vs-arizona-state-sun-devils-basketball-recap
COUGAR FOOTBALL
- Former WSU WR Michael Bumpus weighed in on the hiring of Jake Dickert to lead the Cougar football program. As a great player and a successful coach, Bumpus' opinion carries some clout.
https://sports.mynorthwest.com/1537925/bumpus-why-wsu-made-right-call-giving-jake-dickert-the-hc-job/
Go Cougs!!!
- It seems fitting to put together a list of coaches who branch off of the Mike Leach coaching tree. Perspective on his football genius can easily be determined by a cursory glance:
Dave Aranda/Baylor head coach – Graduate assistant coach under Leach from 2000-02 at Texas Tech
Neal Brown/West Virginia head coach – Played under Leach in 1998 when Leach was offensive coordinator at Kentucky
Sonny Cumbie/Louisiana Tech head coach – Played under Leach at Texas Tech from 2000-03 and later served as a graduate assistant coach under Leach
Sonny Dykes/TCU head coach – Coached wide receivers and later was the co-offensive coordinator at Texas Tech under Leach from 2000-06
Josh Heupel/Tennessee head coach – Played under Leach at Oklahoma in 1999 when Leach was the offensive coordinator for the Sooners
Dana Holgorsen/Houston head coach – Coached alongside Leach as assistants at Valdosta State from 1993-95, then served as a wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator under Leach from ...
- The news of former WSU Coach Mike Leach passing at the young age of 61 is very, very sad. I had the pleasure of writing about the Cougs when Leach was at the helm. To say that he was a unique person doesn't begin to describe the multi-faceted dimension of the man.
In terms of coaching football, Leach led his teams in a way that had most other coaches scratching their heads. His offensive creativity gave a multitude of defensive coordinators ulcers. To say that his techniques for molding student-athletes into football players were unusual would be accurate. Making guys run sprints in a sand pit named "Leach Beach" is a prime example. Crazy as that sounds, his players had fewer ankle injuries over the course of the season than any team in football. Only Mike Leach could get players to hit the beach. And if you look at the coaching tree that branches out from Leach, you'd find a myriad of men who owe him for their start in the profession.
When you examine the way Leach represented the schools ...
- Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, so Wazzu's loss yesterday to UNLV by a score of 74-70 was just that, a loss. However, there were plenty of reasons to applaud both the performance and the progress the Cougs are making over the past few games. Let's get the bad observation out of the way. WSU turned the ball over a ridiculous 22 times. No one is going to beat many teams with such wreckless play, especially against a team that posted a 9-0 record going into the contest. Some of those errors might be attributed to Coach Kyle Smith going with a different lineup almost every game because of player injuries. Facts are facts and when there isn't a steady lineup, players struggle to play team ball. On the bright side, Wazzu shot a respectable 54.2% from the field, coupled with a very nice 56.5% from behind the arc. On defense, WSU held UNLV to just 30.4% from behind the arc and 50.9% overall. The Cougs outrebounded the Rebels by a margin of 33-20. Despite being down by ...
