There is good news and bad news to share this morning. Let's get things off to a good beginning and start with the good news.
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WSU women's hoops traveled down to California to take on UC Davis. Trust me when I say that their trip home was a happy one after knocking out a solid 71-49 victory. The Cougs are now 6-1 on this young season. They have yet to begin conference play.
Coach Kamie Etheridge got balanced, effective scoring from her roster. Her Cougs were led by Bella Murekatete scoring 14-points, Charlisse Leger-Walker added 13-points, while Krystal Leger-Walker and Michaela Jones both contributed 11-points. WSU was a sizzling 43.5% from behind the arc and only turned the ball over nine times. After the final buzzer Coach Etheridge had this to say, "I'm really happy for our team on getting this win. I thought we played a complete game. We had a lot of spread-out scoring and I thought Ula (Motuga) was really great for us. Krystal had a great game, and the bench did much better. I felt good about bringing people in and out of the game. It's a dominating win on the road against a very good team."
POSTGAME NOTES
Washington State collects its first win at UC Davis with this afternoon's victory.
The Cougars move to an even 3-3 all-time against UC Davis.
Washington State is now an even 3-3 in true non-conference road games under head coach Kamie Ethridge. WSU has now won three-straight road games against non-conference foes.
WSU led for 37:37 of today's contest, which is the second-longest amount of time the Cougars have led in a game this season.
Redshirt junior Michaela Jones scored a career-high 11 points and made a career-best three 3-point field goals.
Redshirt fifth-year senior Krystal Leger-Walker dished out five assists against the Aggies. She now has passed out at least one assist in each of her last 46 games.
Senior Ula Motuga made her first start since the Nov. 12 contest against Northern Arizona. -
Men's hoops didn't fare as well, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory as they lost a Pac-12 game to #20 USC by the final score of 63-61. Some suggested that Wazzu was bidding for an upset. Watching the game, that's ridiculous. WSU matched up very well athletically with the Trojans making the game theirs to win or lose in Beasley Coliseum. The Cougs are now 6-2 overall and 1-1 in conference play. ''They're tough, they're able to switch things, and like I said their size and length,'' Coach Kyle Smith said of Southern California. This one came down to the final shot, a three-pointer launched by Noah Williams in rhythm. ''We just weren't fortunate tonight to get that one to drop,'' Smith said of Williams' final shot.
Leading at the half by a bucket, WSU was lulled into playing one-on-one basketball most of the second half. Their opponent was much more effective running their offense which led to the Trojans shooting 50% from the floor for the game. Wazzu only managed to make 37.9% of their shots, though they were a sharp 40% from behind the arc. The Cougs also out-rebounded USC 34-32 as a result of constant hustle.
https://www.khq.com/sports/washington_state_university/noah-williams-game-winner-falls-short-washington-state-loses-pac-12-opener-to-no-20/article_8b6aa98c-6141-58b8-96cc-5ec3559bd085.html -
By several reports, it appears WSU football Coach Jake Dickert has found his guy to become the new offensive coordinator. Eric Morris, current head coach of FCS Incarnate Word University, is expected to be confirmed any time now. Here's a brief 247Sports.com article:
https://247sports.com/Article/Washington-State-targets-Eric-Morris-as-new-offensive-coordinator-per-report-177322305/
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 ...
