As WSU embarks on NCAA Tournament, how can Myles Rice emerge from his shooting slump?

OMAHA, Neb. – Myles Rice sees a future in which he knocks down a big 3-pointer in No. 7 Washington State’s NCAA Tournament matchup with No. 10 Drake on Thursday night. A timely 3-pointer that turns the tide, an emergence from the slump in which he’s mired.

“It’s only gonna be a matter of time before one drops, and I believe that the first one I hit is gonna be a big one – and when we need it,” Rice said. “My teammates have trust in me, so I’m gonna keep shooting.”

As Rice tries to wrestle out of his monthlong 3-point-shooting drought, WSU coach Kyle Smith might hope Rice is a visionary.

During the past month, he’s been a liability.

Rice, more comfortable from the midrange and at the basket, has missed his last 24 3-point attempts, dating back to WSU’s home win over Stanford on Feb. 17, when he misfired on his last two attempts in a 2-for-7 outing.

Since then, he has gone seven games without making one, dragging his season percentage down to 27%, including 25% in conference play.

Here are his 3-point showings since that win over Stanford: 0 for 4, 0 for 2, 0 for 2, 0 for 2, 0 for 2 and 0 for 4, the last two games in WSU’s 1-1 stretch at last week’s Pac-12 Tournament. He’s shot them from straight away, the wings, the corner.

In no spot has he found the rhythm he enjoyed at the beginning of the season.

Some of the disparities might raise eyebrows. In nonconference play, Rice shot 39% on 3-pointers, which would make him statistically the team’s best shooter today. In conference play, he’s shooting 25%. In the first eight Pac-12 games, he connected on 33% of his 3-pointers.

That’s about when he fell into this current slump. Except, to Rice, he’s doing everything the same.

“I just have to trust my craft and trust the work that I put in,” Rice said, “because the same 3s I was making at the beginning of the year, middle of the year, and versus these last six games, nothing has really changed. If you’re making shots, you have to trust your craft. If you’re missing shots, you have to trust your craft.”

Smith said he feels it’s important to find Rice more pockets of rest. He played 37 minutes last week against Colorado, 31 the day prior against Stanford.

He closed out the regular season playing 33, 38, 39 and 30 minutes. He’s averaging 33 minutes per game, second on the team, and he’s played 82% of the team’s minutes, also second on the team.

It’s a balancing act for Smith. He knows Rice needs rest, and he even thinks it’s played a part in his recent slump. But Rice, like most players, would play all 40 if allowed. He’s one of the Cougs’ best players, and really their only reliable ball-handler and shot-creator.

So how does Smith strike the right balance?

It might start when Rice makes a bad decision, such as one of the two giveaways he committed late against Colorado last week.

“I think it’s a fatigue factor, probably mental a little bit. Probably playing too many minutes,” Smith said. “That light has gotten bright for all of us. We were competing for a Pac-12 championship. I’m telling you, we were getting different coverages and different things. You kind of gotta go through it.

“That’s usually a tell – when he has a bad decision. That’s when I need to probably (say), ‘Hey, get over here, get rested up, get back out there.’ You get these long media (timeouts) and you’re like, ‘Hey, he’s gonna be rested.’ It’s hard to take him out, but he probably – a little bit of that. Probably fatigue. He’s a first-year player playing both sides of the ball.”

For WSU to make anything resembling a run in this year’s tournament, the program’s first since 2008, Rice might have to rediscover his form. The fewer 3s he makes, the more hesitation he shows on the looks. Defenses adjust accordingly, sagging off a tad and shrinking the floor.

That makes it harder on guys like forwards Isaac Jones and Oscar Cluff to operate around the basket. If defenses don’t respect Rice’s 3-point shooting, they feel more comfortable double-teaming the Cougar posts, the kind of trend that had a hand in WSU’s loss to Colorado last week. It wasn’t exactly a blueprint for beating Washington State – Rice, still a capable shooter, could break out any day now – but it resembled one.

A reliable Rice 3 might unlock the Cougs’ offense, at least more so than in recent games. WSU made 4 of 19 3-pointers against Colorado, 4 of 24 against Washington in the team’s regular-season finale. In between, the Cougars hit 7 of 22 in a win over Stanford, but recent trends aren’t promising for WSU.

“You just have to keep doing what you’re doing,” said WSU wing Andrej Jakimovski, who is playing through a shoulder injury, finding himself in his own slump. “Just get in the gym, get shots up, work on your craft. You can’t make every shot. If you see one go in, you’re going to keep shooting. That’s it. Just be confident in yourself. That’s the main thing.”

Rice has never had an issue with that. The Cougs will hope that helps him put an end to his drought.