Dave Boling: Cougars leave no doubt they’re the team to fear at the Pac-12 Tournament

Washington State’s Rueben Chinyelu rebounds against Stanford in the first half of Thursday’s Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinal in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS – For any number of reasons, this game could have been a competitive minefield for Washington State.

The Cougars were supposed to beat Stanford easily, being much higher seeded and having scored double-digit wins over the Cardinal twice this season, which all could have served as bait in a trap game.

Human nature and all that.

And maybe that’s why the Cougars’ 79-62 win in the Pacific-12 Conference Tournament quarterfinals Thursday seemed more impressive. They didn’t have to be great, but they did have to be themselves. They were exactly that.

Consider it another example in the growing number of reasons why Kyle Smith is a great coach for this team.

Stanford had come from 18 points behind to beat California in overtime the night before, so they were surely eying an upset of the No. 2-seeded Cougars.

The Cardinal zoned and manned and pressed, and the Cougars were ready to adapt to every situation. They sometimes doubled in the post, and Isaac Jones flew over them for 16 points, several on dunks where he seemed to float up in the vicinity of the shot clock.

The Cardinal tried to close hard on the perimeter shooters, but Andrej Jakimovski, and Jaylen Wells combined for seven 3-pointers.

“(Coach Smith) prepares us mentally and physically for this kind of game,” said Wells, who was one of six Cougars scoring in double figures.

The danger of looking past Stanford, apparently, was never a real concern. “ ‘Cougs vs. Everybody’ is our slogan,” Wells said. “Coach also preaches that we’re not the underdog anymore, we’re the ones with the target on our backs.”

The whole strategy of the varied motivations of the hunter versus the hunted becomes a regular topic this time of year.

It’s something that has to be experienced and learned. The Cougars had never won the conference tournament, never been to the final game. There’s pressure in that.

But knowing their second-place finish in the conference standings had earned them a certain at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament might also have tempered the competitive fires a bit.

It certainly didn’t seem like it Thursday night.

WSU hasn’t been to the NCAAs since 2008. And Smith has never coached in the NCAAs.

New territory for everybody.

Wells said that the coach didn’t have to get too deeply in their heads to keep them sharp for this one.

“As a team, we have so much to prove, so many great stories,” Wells said, citing the Cougars’ varied backgrounds and numerous hardships overcome. “So every time we’re on the court we’re out to prove ourselves, and we always keep our foot on the gas.”

All teams become reflections of their coach. Even in the little things. The small details.

What I noticed with Smith that seemed unique was how he responds when a timeout is called. Rather than waiting for the Cougars to circle around him at the bench, he strides well out onto the court and starts delivering congratulatory pats or immediate instructions to players who need them.

By hurrying out there, he may be buying an extra 10 or 15 seconds of coaching during every timeout.

It seems like he doesn’t want to miss any seconds of coaching them. There’s so much to say, so little time.

When a coach handles a detail to such a degree, visibly during a game, it surely only hints at how many of these little advantage-makers he creates every day in practice.

“He just gets us so locked in on what we have to do to play as a team every game,” Jones said.

Asked if Smith’s ambulatory timeout technique was common, Jones laughed. “Every time. It’s huge,” he said. “That shows you how dedicated he is and invested in us, and that all rubs off on us. He’s so consistent with everything he does that it’s how we all become consistent.”

The Cougars were more talented and athletic than Stanford. They didn’t fall victim to any of the mental lapses and pressurized circumstances that sometimes dooms higher seeds this time of year.

This game might have been the start of a streak of games that are the most important in recent team history. And they were ready.

They seem locked in, loaded with talent, and impeccably coached.