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Sorry for the late posting today. Unfortunately, we encountered technical difficulties that took a few hours to resolve. Looks like we're back up and at 'em!
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Wazzu men's hoops accomplished something yesterday they haven't done since the days of WWII, 1946 to be exact. The Cougs (9-6,2-2 Pac-12) took down the Utes (8-8,1-5 Pac-12) on their home court! The key to the win centered around the Cougs playing up to their potential. They moved the ball around on offense and were smothering on defense. It's usually fun to watch the final seconds tick off the clock when WSU is leading. That wasn't the case in this game. There was about a two-second differential between the shot clock and the game clock with under thirty seconds to play. Typically the team with an insurmountable lead dribbles out the clock. It seems that Noah Williams isn't interested in following that protocol. With about four seconds left, Williams dribbled down the lane and tossed in a layup. Truly bad form on his part. Not only will the Utes remember that classless play when they come to Pullman, but the rest of the conference will also take note. The misstep by Williams was the only significant one of the game though. Here's some notes from the contest:
• With the win, the Cougars:
o Improved to 9-6 on the year, 2-2 in Pac-12 contests
o The win was the second all-time in Salt Lake City for the Cougs and the first since 1946 (2-18 on the road vs the Utes)
o WSU improved to 5-27 all-time against the Utes
o The win snapped a 13-game skid against Utah dating back to 2014
• WSU led at the break for the 14th time in 15 games on the year, improving to 9-5 in those games
• The 77 points were the second-most points scored all-time against the Utes, most on the road
• WSU used its 8th starting lineup of the season (Flowers, Roberts, Bamba, Gueye, Abogidi)
o Noah Williams came off the bench after missing WSU’s game at Colorado Thursday night
• WSU put five in double figures for the third time on the year, the first time since vs Northern Colorado, Dec. 18
• Tyrell Roberts led the Cougs in scoring for the third straight game scoring a game-high 17 points
o 3rd straight double-digit scoring game – 7th of the season
11 points in the second half, team-best 8th double-digit scoring half of the season
o Made a career-high 5 three-pointers
o Grabbed a career-high 6 rebounds
• Michael Flowers scored 12 points to go with a season-high 6 assists
o 10 points in the second half, 6th double-digit scoring half of the season
o 10th double-digit scoring game of the season, 95th of his career
• Mouhamed Gueye scored 11 points, a Pac-12 best for the freshman
o Scored all 11 points in the first half, the first double-digit scoring half of the season
o 4th double-digit scoring game, first since vs Weber State, Dec. 8
• Noah Williams, returning from illness, scored 11 points
o 4th consecutive double-digit scoring game, 11th of the season, 39th of his career
• Andrej Jakimovski scored 10 points on 3 of 5 shooting from deep
o 3rd double-digit scoring game in the last four contests
o 3 three-pointers marked a season-best
o Led the Cougs in rebounding with 7 including three offensive rebounds
• WSU hit 12 three-pointers, tied for the most on the road in a Pac-12 game under coach Smith
o 7th double-digit three-point game of the year
• 16 assists, third-most in a game on the year and most in a Pac-12 game to date.
• Colorado’s 20 made FT were season-high against the Cougs
https://wsucougars.com/news/2022/1/8/mens-basketball-washington-state-gets-win-at-utah-77-61.aspx -
The picture of who will be the WSU starting quarterback heading into fall camp may become clearer Monday night at 5 p.m. PST. That is when 4-star QB Cameron Ward is planning to make a choice of schools to transfer to for next season. According to CFC.com, Ward has narrowed his choices down to WSU, West Virginia, Ole Miss, and a potential return to Incarnate Word. The latter school doesn't make much sense and likely is just a polite gesture to an institution that has offered him a free education up to this point. If Ward doesn't choose WSU, it's a little more likely that Jayden de Laura will return for his sophomore year. It should be noted that if de Laura is looking for a school that utilizes the run-and-shoot offense he flourished in last year, he isn't going to find many choices. Departing Pullman may come down to an emotional decision rather than a football decision.
- 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 ...
