COUGARS

There's probably no way Washington State could have begun Pac-10 Conference play any worse. The first 5 minutes of the game with Oregon was a stretch of turnovers and missed defensive assignments. The final 7 and a half were filled with missed shots and lack of intensity on defense. Heck, even the clock operator allowed 10 seconds to run off the clock during a timeout and no one caught it. So today's game will be 39 minutes, 50 seconds long. And, if the Cougars ever get it going, they might need those 10 seconds. As it is, they need some shots to fall. Klay Thompson is 1 for 7 from the floor, Reggie Moore 0 for 3. Combined, they are 0 for 6 from beyond the arc. The Ducks, who went on a turnover spree of their own near the end of the half, have hit 16 of 26 shots as WSU seemed disinterested on the defensive end at times. As the topper, Garrett Sim hit a buzzer-beating layup for the halftime margin, after Xavier Thames scored the last of his nine points, two free throws with 0.06 on the clock. We'll be back when we can after the game.

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