-
Sunday was a busy day for Cougar basketball. Wazzu women's hoops (13-6,5-3 Pac-12) tipped off against the UW team (5-9,0-6 Pac-12) in Seattle at noon. In what has become a delightful trend, WSU took down the Dawgs for the fourth consecutive meeting. This time around the final score was 57-43. Actually, the game didn't feel as close as the scoreboard would indicate. The Cougs were led in scoring by sophomore Charlisse Leger-Walker who racked up 19-points in 39-minutes of playing time. Her contribution was nearly matched by junior Johanna Teder with 16-points including three from behind the arc. The smothering Cougar defense forced the Dawgs to commit 18 turnovers. Coupled with 11 WSU steals, that was your basic difference in the ballgame.
Coach Kamie Ethridge had this to say after the contest:
"I'm beyond excited for this team. We had a horrible travel day yesterday, and it was so impressive the maturity and disposition our team showed having to go through that. That tells me a lot about our program and our players to overcome adversity over that. It translates into games. We weren't perfect. Emotionally, we lost some momentum that allowed them to come back. I'm proud of the reaction and competitiveness of this team. We're growing and developing every single game."
Next up for Wazzu is a tilt with Colorado in Boulder this coming Friday, February 4th at 6pm. You can watch the telecast on Pac-12 Network.
https://wsucougars.com/news/2022/1/30/womens-basketball-cougs-reign-in-seattle-contiunes-with-a-57-43-win.aspx -
Roughly five hours after Wazzu women took down the Huskies, WSU men (12-7,5-3 Pac-12) took to the hardwood against a very, very young and inexperienced Colorado team (13-8,5-6 Pac-12) in Beasley Coliseum in Pullman at 7pm. This game was never in doubt. The Cougs led from start to finish. The only question in this one was what the final score would end up being. Michael Flowers topped the stat sheet with 16-points that included four rainbow jumpers from behind the arc. Andrej Jakimovski added 14-points and 10-rebounds for a hard-earned double-double. Efe Abogidi nearly had another double-double with nine points, 11-rebounds, two blocks, and a steal. The Cougar defense forced Colorado to shoot a season-low 28.6% (16 of 56), while getting outrebounded 39-30, and committing 16-turnovers which WSU converted into 26-points.
POSTGAME NOTES
• With the win, the Cougars:
o Improved to 12-7 on the year and 5-3 in Pac-12 contests
o Ties the best 8 game stretch to start Pac play since the 2007-08 season
o WSU snapped a 3-game skid against the Buffs and won their first game in Pullman against Colorado since 2019
o First time sweeping the Mountain Schools as home on a weekend in program history
• WSU held its opponent to under 60 points for the 6th time on the year – third straight game, the fourth time in Pac-12 play
o 43 points given up was the 2nd lowest total for the Cougs on the year
o 18 points given up in the 1st half was the lowest total relinquished to the Buffs in any half in the all-time series
• WSU led at halftime for the 17th time on the year
o 21 point halftime lead was the largest halftime lead of the year
• The 27-point win was the largest margin of victory for the Cougs all-time against Colorado
• The Cougs had 11 of 13 active players available for the contest
o Cougs were without Dishon Jackson for the fourth-straight game due to injury as well as TJ Bamba being a late scratch.
• Michael Flowers led the team in scoring for the 5th time with 16 points
o 13th double-digit scoring game of the season – 98th of his career
o Tied a Pac-12 best 4 three-pointers
o 16 points marked a Pac-12 high
o 25-straight games with a three-pointer
• Andrej Jakimovski recorded his 2nd career double-double with 14 points, 10 rebounds
o 3rd straight double-digit scoring game, 6th in the last 8 games
o 2nd double-digit rebounding game of the season
o Tied a season-high with four three-pointers
• Tyrell Roberts scored 10 points
o 11th double-digit scoring game
o Tied a career-high with 2 steals
• Noah Williams scored 10 points
o 13th time on the year – 41st time in his career in double figures
o Led the team with three steals
• Efe Abogidi led the team with 11 rebounds
o Season high rebounds
o Career high 7 offensive rebounds
• Double digit three-pointers (12) for the 8th time
• Cougs shot just 6-of-9 from the line
o No free throw attempts in the second half, first time without an attempt since at Arizona Feb. 25, 2021
• Season high in Pac-12 play shooting 49.1% (26-53)
Next up for WSU is a meeting with Stanford on their court this coming Thursday at 6pm in Palo Alto. The game will be telecast on Pac-12 Networks. -
Here's recruiting news from Colton Clark of S/R:
WSU added a verbal commitment from Tony Carter, a versatile defender for the Mandarin Mustangs, led all players at Jacksonville schools with 151 tackles as a senior last season, and earned all-region honors. The 6-foot, 195-pound three-star prospect played both safety and linebacker. Also an accomplished wrestler at the Class 3A level, Carter is considered a top-200 prep prospect at the LB position, per 247Sports.com. Carter received an offer from the Cougars last week and took an official visit to Pullman this weekend. His other offers included Maryland and Western Kentucky. WSU secondary coach Jordan Malone spearheaded his recruitment.
running back Jaylen Jenkins announced over social media that he’ll be joining the Cougs’ roster next season after a productive senior season at Allen, a traditional high school heavyweight on a national scale.
Wazzu also picked up a verbal from running back Jaylen Jenkins who announced over social media that he’ll be joining the Cougs’ roster next season after a productive senior season at Allen, a traditional high school heavyweight on a national scale. Jenkins, at 5-8 and 180 pounds, registered 1,519 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns last year, averaging 10.1 yards per carry for the 11-win Eagles, whose season ended in the Class 6A quarterfinals. Despite his efficiency against some of the country’s best prep teams, Jenkins seems to have fallen under the recruiting radar. He doesn’t own a star rating on 247Sports.com, and his only other FBS offers came from Group of Five programs Utah State, Hawaii, Arkansas State, Tulsa, UTSA and Western Kentucky.
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 ...
