Washington State cruises into Pac-12 Tournament semis with 79-62 rout of Stanford
LAS VEGAS — For a brief moment in Washington State’s win over Stanford, a 79-62 blowout Thursday for a spot in Friday’s Pac-12 Tournament semifinals, Andrej Jakimovski disappeared like a ghost, vanishing into the locker room.
The Cougars’ senior wing, playing through an injured shoulder for the past four games, needed to get his shoulder re-taped. On the court, WSU faced an early deficit, a recurring theme for this group. The Cougs needed Jakimovski, if only for defense and rebounding.
Jakimovski gave his team a lot more. He totaled 13 points on three triples, hitting his first deep ball in nearly two weeks, shrugging off any pain in one of his best games in recent weeks. It came at the perfect time for second-seeded WSU, which secured its third win over Stanford this year, using a scoring barrage to cruise into the tournament semifinals against third-seeded Colorado.
“I thought that was a great effort from our guys. The last three home games, we really had to grind and hadn’t been as sharp as we can be,” said WSU coach Kyle Smith, whose team is in the conference semis for the first time since 2008, also the last time the program made the NCAA Tournament. “We’re happy to get this one done and we have another one tomorrow night. And hopefully we can come out with the same energy and effort.”
“I feel way better,” Jakimovski added, “and you can see it out there on the court.”
The sterling game from Jakimovski, who shed his shoulder tape entirely late in the first half, mirrored a couple others from his teammates. Six Cougars scored in double figures, including guard Myles Rice, who totaled 14 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, stabilizing his team’s shaky second-half stretch with a steal and breakaway dunk. Wing Jaylen Wells knocked down four triples for 14 points and forward Isaac Jones led with 16 points.
But offensively, Jakimovski made the biggest difference, even though he posted 11 of his 13 points in the first half. In his group’s last game, a regular-season finale loss to rival Washington, he reaggravated his shoulder injury and missed all four 3s he tried. He clearly wasn’t himself, and the Cougs’ offense suffered for it.
WSU got nearly a full week off, which was enough rest to allow Jakimovski to return to form. In Thursday’s second half, he also drove to the basket for a layup, which ballooned the Cougs’ lead back to 20 with a shade under 5 minutes to play.
It added up to some of the most complete basketball Washington State has played all year. The Cougars also got 10 points from freshman center Rueben Chinyelu. On defense, WSU forced 11 turnovers for 13 points, racing to 17 fastbreak points. The scoring rarely dropped off for the Cougs, who shot 51% for the game, including 7-for-22 from beyond the arc.
“It was great. We’re an unselfish group,” Rice said. We love to see the next person win. I think that kind of went out and displayed tonight. We had 18 assists. It’s been a long time since we’ve been in that category. But it was just a great atmosphere for us to share the ball. And you could see everybody get going. So I think if we just keep doing that, the sky’s the limit for us.”
To rebound from its regular-season finale, that six-point setback to UW last week, WSU imposed its will — on both ends of the floor. Outside of a few defensive lapses, which allowed Stanford to trim a 24-point lead to 14 early in the second half, the Cougs acquitted themselves well on defense, getting two thunderous blocks from reserve guard Kymany Houinsou and one from Jones.
The Cougar now in sole possession of the freshman blocks record, Chinyelu, actually didn’t record any. What he did do was, well, most everything else. In 17 minutes, he registered 10 points and 4 rebounds, a sturdy presence on the interior who finished the game plus-10 in the box score. He came off the bench for the first time in four games, yielding to Oscar Cluff, who carded 1 point in 6 minutes.
But Washington State won this game on offense, much like it did in each of the teams’ two clashes in the regular season. Rice couldn’t find the net on four tries from distance — he has now missed his last 18 attempts — but he played some of his best ball recently, getting to the rim for four layups and finding Wells for a few treys.
For Rice, it was the latest installment in what has become a concerning trend. He hasn’t made a triple since his team’s last matchup with Stanford, back on Feb. 17, a stretch of now six games. For the season, he is now shooting 29% from 3.
It begs an interesting question: Can Rice get back to hitting one or two 3s per game? Either way, does it matter?
“Even if he doesn’t make it, he’s putting pressure on the defense. They gotta close out on him,” Wells said. “Leaving him open is just not smart. Regardless of if he’s making it, not making it, you gotta close out on him.”
The Cougs won, too, thanks to several key scoring runs. In the first stanza, WSU ran off 8 straight points: A Wells triple, a Houinsou flip shot, a Rice layup, a Housinou free throw. That helped WSU take a 15-9 lead, and moments later, it seized a 37-22 lead with 8 straight points.
In that way, WSU kept the pressure on in the second half. The Cougs rattled off 8 straight points, including two buckets from Chinyelu, to surge ahead, 51-31. Add in another 7-0 spurt, this one featuring another Wells long ball, and WSU was in control the whole way.
“Obviously our goal is to win it,” Smith said. And we’ve talked about embracing these. We’ve got two weeks, we’ve got another postseason coming. This is how you get better. And hopefully we handle — it’s tough to go back to back. And it’s tough mentally as much physically.”
Stanford fires Jerod Haase after game
Immediately after the game, Haase was relieved of his duties, the school announced. Haase had been the Cardinal’s head man for eight seasons, but he failed to lead the team to the NCAA Tournament. Stanford finishes this season 14-18 overall.
Rice dons Aron Baynes jersey undershirt during game
Rice wore long sleeves under his jersey on Thursday — except the undershirt wasn’t blank. It was a jersey of WSU alum Aron Baynes, a Cougar center from 2005-2009 who went on to play eight years in the NBA and eight overseas.
“Aron Baynes is a special guy,” Rice said.
The team got undershirts like that, Smith said, during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. That’s when, playing for his native Australian team, Baynes suffered a serious medical scare, a case of internal bleeding that put pressure on his spinal cord. It took months for him to recover.