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WSU women's hoops (19-10,11-6 Pac-12) were upset by sixth-seeded Utah (19-10,8-7 Pac-12) in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinals by a final score of 70-59. The Cougs ran into a hot-shooting team at the wrong time. Couple that with their top scorer, Charlisse Leger-Walker, going cold at the wrong time and you have an early exit for Wazzu from the tourney. Charlisse averages over 16-points a game, but was limited to just six.
The game was decided by the end of the first half. Utah blitzed the Cougs 45-25, then cruised to victory over the final two quarters of play.
Looking for a highlight for WSU in the loss, Cougar Nation should note freshman Tara Wallack's 16-point performance establishes a new career-high for the guard. She has set her personal-best scoring mark in back-to-back games after posting 14 points in last Saturday's win at California. Wallack certainly is part of a bright future for Washington State.
https://www.king5.com/article/sports/ncaa/ncaaf/cougars/utah-women-upset-no-3-seed-wsu-70-59-in-pac-12-tournament/281-65a473de-a898-4fc2-bf81-7fdc4471907f -
Turning to Wazzu men's hoops (17-13,10-9 Pac-12), they defeated Oregon State (3-26,1-18 Pac-12) on Thursday night to complete a season sweep of the Beavers. The final score of 71-67 is a good indicator of just how close this game was. Neither team held much of an advantage on the scoreboard.
To be honest, it was a surprise that Wazzu didn't put the Beavers away early given the facts that OSU was coming in with a 15-game losing streak and they only had six scholarship players available for the contest. Credit OSU Coach Wayne Tinkle with getting his guys prepared to play their best.
Many were left scratching their head because WSU Coach Kyle Smith struggled to find an effective combination of players to put on the court at one time. However, he did have his guys ready to close out the game with a win, something that hasn't come easy for the Cougs this season.
WSU closes out regular-season play at home against Oregon on Saturday on a rare appearance on CBS at 1pm. -
Washington State baseball (7-3) opened play at the Frisco College Baseball Classic with a dominant 11-6 victory over Texas A&M (6-3) Friday evening. Grant Taylor started and worked into the sixth inning, allowing just two earned runs on four hits and struck out a career-high seven to earn the win. The Cougars collected a season-high 12 hits, received three-hit games from Justin Van De Brake and Kodie Kolden, and three players drove in multiple runs to power the offense.
Wazzu managed a 3-0 lead going into the fourth when the Cougars blew things open. Hylan Hall got things going with a one-out double past a diving third baseman down the left field line to put runners on second and third. Kyle Russell followed with a two-run single through the left side. A run scored after Van De Brake was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and another came home on a Collin Montez bases-loaded walk for a 7-0 lead. Following a pitching change, Jack Smith punched a 2-2 pitch the other way down the right field line to drive in two runs and Kolden followed with a two-run single into left for an 11-0 advantage.
The Cougars continue Frisco College Baseball Classic play Saturday against Wichita State with first pitch set for 10 a.m. (PT).
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 ...
