As No. 22 WSU embarks on Pac-12 Tournament, Cougs are adjusting to ‘different type of pressure’

Kyle Smith tends to wander when he talks. Washington State’s head coach might start talking about one player, then veer into chatting about another, then swing right into waxing poetic about the weather.

When he began talking about guard Myles Rice’s extended slump from beyond the 3-point line, it came as no surprise when he wound up making a bigger point about the reason behind some of his team’s recent struggles.

“We’re playing for a title. It’s a different type of pressure,” Smith said. “We can talk about it all we want, like, ‘Hey, you’re the hunted, not the hunters.’ I think there’s some of that, and I don’t know if there’s a better way to get through it than to experience it a little bit – and there’s a different pressure.”

WSU will play with a different type of pressure this week. The second-seeded Cougars will take on 10th-seeded Stanford (14-17) in the quarterfinals on Thursday night in Las Vegas, the site of this year’s Pac-12 Tournament, the last one as we know it.

The biggest indication the No. 22 Cougs (23-8) are playing with pressure is the most obvious one. By finishing second in the Pac-12, they earned a first-round bye, beginning play on the tournament’s second day for the first time since 2008 – also the last time they made the NCAA Tournament, and like that year, WSU is a lock.

For Washington State, the tournament is less about making an NCAA Tournament case and more about boosting it. The Cougs are projected to earn a No. 6 or 7 seed, according to most national predictions, but to land at the Spokane host site, they will likely need to play their way up to the No. 4 or 5 line.

WSU is also hoping to get the most out of senior wing Andrej Jakimovski, who is playing through an injured shoulder.

Add in the reality that WSU could capture its first conference tournament title – the program has never made the title game, falling in the semifinals in 1988, 2007 and 2008 – and you begin to understand the pressure under which the Cougars are operating. They might still play into the underdog mentality, the approach most WSU teams take, but the truth is that this year, WSU is more like a favorite.

“Watching them do it has been awesome,” Smith said. “Maybe that’s maturity (from) me as a coach – we’ve done our part. We’ve prepared them. Now it’s getting a group that just runs with it. They love each other. And hopefully, we can stay in that space and do it and just enjoy these two weeks.”

WSU’s first conference tournament foe, Stanford, lost both conference games to the Cougars this season. Washington State looked nearly flawless against Stanford in both matchups. In the first, Rice set a program freshman record with 35 points, helping WSU secure a 89-75 win by scoring in all manner of ways, hitting five 3-pointers and using his lightning-quick dribble to get to the basket for easy layups.

The Cougs’ fortunes didn’t change in their home win – they prevailed 72-59 – but Rice’s did. He managed 14 points on two 3-pointers, handing out five assists against six turnovers, a problem that has plagued him at times: He averages 2.5 turnovers per game.

But the biggest change in his game since then has to do with his long-range shooting. Rice hasn’t hit a 3 since the second win over Stanford, slogging through a 0-for-14 stretch in the five games that have followed. Some of the problem seems to involve confidence – he showed little hesitation going up for 3s in the Stanford game. Afterward, he shared that teammates encouraged him to let it fly – and some of it seems to involve what the whole team is dealing with.

Pressure.

“(I’m) confident Myles will be fine there,” Smith said of Rice, who is shooting 30% from deep, including 25% in conference play. “It’s a long season. It’s his first year through it. If he’s not fine, it’s OK, too. He’s gonna be fine. He’s competing, he’s trying to win. Excited to be a part of his run and our run.”

To succeed at the tournament, the Cougars must learn to play with pressure. No matter how their stay in Vegas goes, the pressure isn’t going away anytime soon.