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WSU women's hoops (11-6,3-3 Pac-12) took to the hardcourt Wednesday afternoon for a matinee makeup game with Oregon State (9-5,2-2 Pac-12). The Cougs stifling defense held the Beavers to just six points in the opening quarter, which proved to be enough to win the ballgame. Though they had a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter, OSU is a very scrappy team and made a run at Wazzu going down the stretch. The Beavs were forced to put up more shots from behind the arc than they would have preferred. Clearly that isn't a strength of their team as they finished making just one out of twelve attempts.
Washington State had balanced scoring with four out of the five starters tallying double-digits. Junior Johanna Teder paced the way for WSU with 17 points. Surprisingly, Charlisse Ledger-Walker was the only starter to not reach at least ten points on the stat sheet.
Coach Kamie Ethridge had this to say after the win. "Just thought it was a great 40-minute game from us. Obviously had some highs and lows in it. That is a good Oregon State team that has a lot of weapons and versatility. I thought we managed the game incredibly well. It's so exhausting to get a win. I know our team is exhausted, but I thought they were so good on the defensive end. That carried us, and of course, making shots was a big factor. You hold that team to 51 points, you've got to talk mostly about how good the defense was." -
Wazzu men's hoops (11-7,4-3 Pac-12) took to the same Friel Court later Wednesday evening. The Cougs earned a victory over Utah (8-13,1-10 Pac-12) by a final score of 71-54. Though the margin of victory was seventeen points, the game wasn't even that close. No question the Utes are going through a rebuilding process compared with WSU who is beginning to come into its own. At one point after intermission, Washington State went on a 22-3 run. Clearly, WSU is a team that goes as their defense goes. Andrej Jakimovski and Tyrell Roberts scored 15-points apiece to lead the way in scoring. But it was the Cougar defense that forced 19-turnovers and outrebounded the Utes 39-29.
POSTGAME NOTES
• With the win, the Cougars:
o Improved to 11-7 on the year and 4-3 in Pac-12 contests
o WSU won its second-straight game against the Utes and improved to 6-27 all-time against Utah
First time the Cougs have swept the two-game season series against the Utes and the
second time all-time WSU has won back-to-back games against Utah (last time 2013 &
2014).
• WSU held its opponent to under 60 points for the 5th time on the year – second straight game, third time in
Pac-12 play
• WSU led at halftime for the 16th time on the year
• The 17-point win was the largest margin of victory for the Cougs all-time against the Utes
• The Cougs had 12 of 13 active players available for the contest
o Cougs were without Dishon Jackson for the third-straight game due to injury
• WSU used its 10th starting lineup of the season (Flowers, Roberts, Williams, Jakimovski, Gueye)
o Flowers and Gueye have started all 18 games for the Cougs on the year
o Jakimovski with his first start of the year and first since at ASU, Feb. 27, 2021
• Andrej Jakimovski tied a team-high with 15 points
o Fifth double-digit scoring game in the last second contests – 13th of his career
o Led the team in rebounding for the third time on the year
• Tyrell Roberts scored 15 points, all in the second half
o Team-best 9th double-digit scoring half of the season – 10th double-digit scoring game
o Team-best 7th time leading the WSU in scoring
• Noah Williams scored 10 points, all in the first half
o Was the first to double figures in the game
o 12th time on the year - 40th time in his career in double figures
o 2nd time on the year against Utah scoring double figures
o 4th double-digit scoring half of the season
• TJ Bamba scored 10 points
o 7th time on the year – 11th time in his career
• Cougs forced 19 turnovers, tying a season-high
o 2nd time forcing 19 turnovers in the last three games, last time against Stanford
o WSU forced 10 steals, second-time on the year with double-digit steals, the first time since posting 11 vs New Mexico State
• Cougs shot 15-of-16 (93.8%) from the line
o First time over 90% since at ASU Feb. 27, 2021 and best FT shooting% since going 94.4% (17-of-18) vs Washington Feb. 15, 2021
• Cougs grabbed 18 offensive rebounds, most in Pac-12 play, and tied for the second-most on the year behind the 19 grabbed against Alcorn State to begin the year
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 ...
