Cougars guard against letdown

So Washington State has beaten Gonzaga and is riding high after thrilling its biggest home crowd in more than a decade.

Tonight, we’ll find out what happens next.

“Some people say when you have a mountaintop experience or success it can soften you a little bit. And it can,” WSU coach Tony Bennett said. “But also, I hope that it can motivate you to want to play again and keep things going in the right direction.”

The Cougars (8-1) will play another local squad – this time, it’s a road game at Idaho – and it’s a near lock that there won’t be many similarities between Tuesday’s game against the 8-2 Bulldogs and tonight’s contest against the 1-7 Vandals.

For starters, the game will probably end up starting around 10., a scheduling quirk that is a result of graduation ceremonies as well as a women’s game that will be played before it at 7:30.

This game was once slated for Idaho’s Memorial Gym, a smaller venue, but a shift to Cowan Spectrum made necessary the late start time.

In comparison to the 10,755 in attendance at Friel Court earlier this week, tonight’s crowd is sure to be a bit more reserved.

“It’ll be kind of weird,” WSU junior Kyle Weaver said. “It’s a later game with the time, the scheduling and everything. I think it’s a game where we’ll have to come out and get ourselves energized as a team, getting each other hyped before the game.”

Most of all for the Cougars, though, this game will be about proving the 77-67 victory Tuesday wasn’t a fluke. Given its record, WSU has a chance to enter the Pac-10 season with a full head of steam, but an upset loss tonight might negate the positives that came out of the upset win.

Last year, the Cougars scored two major upset wins over archrival Washington. But both times they failed to follow up those wins with continued success, losing six straight the first time and then eight of nine the next.

Bennett said he didn’t think those troubles would be applicable this time around.

“This is a different team and a different year,” he said.

It also won’t hurt that, unlike last year’s Pac-10 competition, the Vandals don’t seem to pose as great a threat. Idaho lost by 21 points this week to an Idaho State team that WSU dispatched fairly easily earlier, and there is little evidence to suggest an inexperienced Idaho team can compete with what has become a veteran Cougars roster.

But as WSU knows, surprises can and do happen – and if it’s not careful, it might find itself on the opposite end of things.

“When you’re rebuilding a program you’ve got to get some big upset wins, if you can call it an upset win,” guard Taylor Rochestie said. “And you’ve got to take care of the games you need to take care of. You need to go into a team like Idaho, who on paper we should beat.”

Eastern at Portland

Eastern Washington starts a two-game road series tonight against West Coast Conference opposition, facing Portland.

The Eagles (4-4) go to Santa Clara on Monday.

EWU is still looking for its first win away from Reese Court.

“This week’s games are an opportunity to prove we can win on the road,” Eagles coach Mike Burns said. “Both teams we play are quality opponents who both do a good job of protecting their home courts.”

The Pilots (2-8) are coming off a 72-56 home loss to Weber State.

Eastern started a string of four straight road games with a 102-98 loss at Cal State Northridge, the third consecutive high-scoring shootout for the Eagles.

They are averaging 90.8 points a game but allowing 85.

Rodney Stuckey paces the Eagles at 27.8 points a game to go with 4.6 assists and 2.5 steals. Paul Butorac, who has the school record for career blocked shots, is the top rebounder at 9.9.

Portland is a different kind of test, averaging 56.8 points and giving up 66. The Pilots have good size with 6-foot-7 sophomore Jamie Jones averaging 11.6 points and 7.2 rebounds. Ben Sullivan, a 6-10 center, averages 9.2 and 6.0.

The status of senior guard Darren Cooper is uncertain because of a hamstring injury. Cooper, who played at EWU as a freshman, had off-season knee surgery and then injured his hamstring after playing in the first two games.