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The WSU Cougars will face the Oklahoma St. Cowboys in a NIT second round match-up in Pullman Monday evening. The game will start at 8:45 so it can be televised live on ESPN2. The Cougars (20-12) will be playing at home for the second game in row. The Coliseum should full with the Zoo Crew and students back from spring break. That should help Cougs get fired up early unlike the rather slow & quiet start at Beasley last game.

The Cowboys will be on the road for the second time after traveling to Boston to play Harvard earlier this week. Oklahoma State (20-13) beat a good Harvard team so this will not be a match-up like Long Beach State. In fact, the cowboys have been to the NCAA’s the past couple of years and sport a similar record as the Cougs coming into the NIT’s. Coach Travis Ford also brings legit NIT experience after winning the NIT Championship while coaching at Massachusetts in 2008.

This should be an interesting march-up between the #2 (WSU) and #3 (OK St) NIT seeds. The Cougars will have to keep tabs on Junior guard Keiton Page who is a high percentage pure shooter from the 3-point range. At 5’9″,  Page is a lot like UW’s Isiah Thomas so the Cougs have some experience with this type of player. When Page is not draining 3’s, he is feeding Senior forward Marshall Moses. Moses, who has over 1000+ career points, has made a living on “put back” points. The Cowboys have two other “bigs” in Matt Pilgrim and Jarred Shaw. They are very good on the “glass” but can get themselves in foul trouble while banging under the basket. WSU should exploit this fact and employ a slashing attack to the basket.

The Cougars have had some time to rest and have not had to travel this week. This should help Reggie Moore’s foot and Coach Bone put together a good game plan. If WSU can keep Page from lighting it up from the 3-pointers and can limit Moses on the put back points, the Cougs should be able to beat the Cowboys but they will have to play with the focus they had against UW this season.

Go Cougs!

The WSU Cougar men’s basketball team beat an over-matched Long Beach State NIT team tonight 85-74. The #2 seed Cougars easily defeated Long Beach in a some what sloppy, cold shooting, first half by both teams. WSU went into the locker room leading 36-18 in front of a quiet home crowd with students on spring break.

In the second half, Long Beach State came out and played with a lot more intensity. Casper Ware, heated up the Long Beach team with several key 3 pointers. The Cougs countered with DeAnglo Casto down low and decent free throw shooting at the line.  Long Beach came back on a couple of runs to close within 5 points before Klay Thompson and Faisel Aden started stroking the 3’s. Reggie Moore, playing on a sore angle, put the final dagger in Long Beach by hitting a big 3 pointer with 2:41 left in the game. The Cougars overcame final trapping and foul pressure by Long Beach State to win the game.

This was must win for WSU to continue their March post season play. Next up, Oklahoma State in Pullman. Game will be played next Monday night at 8:45 pm in Beasley.

Go Cougs- Nice win!

The WSU Men’s basketball team (19-12), was invited to the NIT tournament after being passed over by the NCAA Tournament on Sunday. The Cougars will host a first round NIT game as the #2 seed against Long Beach State (22-12), in Pullman Wednesday evening. The WSU team will feature the PAC’s leading scorer, Klay Thompson, who set a new PAC-10 “tournament” record for the most points scored in a game with 43. The Cougars have never lost a NIT game at home (3-0) will go on to play, the winner of Oklahoma St.(19-13) vs. Harvard (23-6) game should they get past Long Beach State. The location of game #2, if the Cougars win, will be played at the campus site of the highest seed. NIT semifinals and finals will be played at Madison Square Garden in New York City, March 29 and 31.

This year, WAZZU fan expectations are high after being a NCAA bubble team most of the season. Based on the play of Thompson & crew, many believe that this team could make it to NYC for the semi’s. The 1995 Cougs made it to the quarter finals and recent teams have a couple invites in the past 3 years. CAL (17-14)#4 seed, was the only other PAC-10 team invited NIT. However, new PAC-12 member Colorado (21-13) will be playing in the the NIT as #1 seed. The Cougs would not face until the championship game based on the bracket seeds.

Long Beach State, winner of the Big West Conference, will come to Pullman with head Coach Don Monson as “conference coach of the year.” Many NW sports fans will remember Monson as a former Gonzaga head coach. The Forty-Niners will also bring a talented team with all five starters have been named to the 2011 Big West All-Conference team. Junior point guard Casper Ware is one of the team stars and was 2011 Big West Player of the Year & also 2011 Defensive Player of the year.

The 2011 Cougars are playing well even after losing close games to UCLA and UW. WSU will have to put together a strong defensive effort because Long Beach is a team that can put points on the board. If the Cougs can “dial-up-the-D” and get some scoring help from Reggie Moore or Fasiel Aden, the Cougars should be able to beat Long Beach St in front of the ZOO CREW home town crowd.

Go Cougs!

WSU’s mens basketball team lost a heartbreaker game 89-87 against arch rival UW at the PAC 10 tournament. Like UCLA who lost to Oregon today after beating them twice earlier this year, the Cougars failed to overcome the odds of a team beating another team 3 times in a row. The Cougars did play well and led through most of the game. WSU’s Klay Thompson shot the lights out setting a new PAC 10 scoring record with 43 points breaking Pro great Reggie Miller’s previous record at 41 points.

With their NCAA chances fading, UW started playing full court defense. The Cougars struggled with the pressure and seemed to lose focus in the game. Both teams traded turnovers as the game pace picked up. UW went up by 6 points before the Cougars came back under red hot shooting by Klay Thomaon to tie the game. UW hit a couple 3’s leaving the Cougars down with Reggie Moore trying to pull out a three point play. Reggie banked the first shot off the glass and grabbed the put-back for two. However, the ball went back to UW with .04 on the clock. UW ended the game with the ball making it the first win agaist the Cougars this season.

The Cougars now return to Pullman to see if they get invited to the NIT after the NCAA dream was crushed tonight. Right mow the odds are looking good but the Cougs will have to wait until teams are selected for the dance. Klay Thompson’ personal redemption and record setting night are made for TV so that should seal the deal.

Go Cougs- NIT bound!

The WSU Men’s Basketball team lost a very close game in OT to UCLA 58-54 in Pullman over the weekend. Current events set the stage for this to be a coaching duel from the opening tip-off.  WSU Coach Ken Bone was without the services of 2 of his 5 starters with point guard Reggie Moore out to an injury & leading scorer Klay Thompson suspended for breaking team rules. UCLA coming to town is also a tough match anytime & Coach Ben Howland prides himself on coaching the game through timeout & game situation play.

While both teams started out cold before UCLA finally put in the first bucket. WSU saw early success running a high post with a cutting man under the basket. UCLA seemed to have no answer early to the smaller and quicker Cougs making shot after shot. WSU stretched the lead to 15, before UCLA Coach Ben Howland starting taking key timeouts to cool off the hot shooting Cougs.  In the meantime, Coach Bone had the Cougars ready to play. The defense was terrific and the ball movement under the basket was spot-on leaving the UCLA big men standing there with cement in their shoes. First half coaching winner- Coach Bone for player rotation & offensive/defense game plan.

As soon as the second half started it was clear that UCLA made adjustments. They shut down the WSU cutting game under the basket and forced the Cougars to start shooting from outside. UCLA also picked up the game pace and started to run a fast breaks to the paint. Coach Howland went to his “bigs”and played and inside-outside game that the Cougs could not stop. UCLA put together a 15 run to tie the game before taking a small lead. The Cougs came back & tied it with Faisel Aden hitting a big 3 to send the game to overtime. Second half coaching winner- Coach Howland & UCLA for game adjustments.

In OT, UCLA came out and clearly had momentum. They ran the floor and put in the first couple of buckets early. The Cougars looked flat and did not have a game plan to match the up-temple game in overtime. WSU came back and tied it up with a couple of minetes remaining. The Cougs who had played most of the game at their pace was unable to stop the Bruins on the run. After both teams traded typical end-of-game fouls, the Cougs had a chance to put a couple points up on the Bruins. The Coug’s Aden failed to deliver key free throws when the team needed them the most. UCLA’s Malcom Lee, who was injured earlier in the game, came in made his free throws putting UCLA up by 4. The Cougars had one last chance but turned over the ball on a sloppy in-bounds pass. UCLA snuck out of Pullman with a victory knowing they had dodged a bullet. OT advantage- Coach Howland for time management & situation play in OT to win the game.

Overall it was a very good game for the Cougars with the team playing above their talent & fan expectations. Brock Motum had a great game scoring 15 points in the early part of the game. WSU’s Faisel Aden, ended up with 14 points but struggled most of the game. DeAngelo Casto added 9 points after being”doubled” most of the game. Abe Lodwick also put in 9 points & Capers closed out the game with 5. Statistically, the game was fairly evenly matched with the exception of rebounding. UCLA grabbed 34 to the Coug’s 24 and was the only other factor other than Coaching the game.

The Cougars needed the win to advance their changes to the NCAA’s. The loss dropped them to 7th in the PAC 10 (9-9, 19-11 overall) and makes winning at the conference tournament critical. The Cougars will need to have starters Thompson & Moore back as they are matched up to play the Huskies in their first tournament game.

Go Cougs!