How WSU is managing the unknown headed into the WCC tournament
LAS VEGAS – With his back turned to practice, Washington State coach David Riley began to talk about his team’s challenge this weekend, a date with three potential teams in the West Coast Conference Tournament.
It was Tuesday, and as his Cougars kicked off one of their first practices since they ended the regular season on a two-game winning streak, they didn’t know who they would face in Saturday’s third round: No. 10 Pacific, No. 11 San Diego or No. 7 Loyola Marymount. Part of the team’s approach, Riley explained, would involve reviewing film from WSU’s games against those foes.
The Cougars scratched two off by the end of Friday — the one that had given them trouble earlier in the season, Pacific, which was eliminated on Thursday with a loss to San Diego. The Toreros followed with a loss to LMU on Friday. Sixth-seeded WSU will play the Lions at 8:30 p.m. Saturday at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
With a win in that game, the Cougars would move on to face third-seeded San Francisco in Sunday’s quarterfinals.
It’s music to the ears of Riley, whose team dropped both its matchups with Pacific this season, first an overtime setback in Pullman before a regulation defeat in the Bay Area a few weeks later. WSU won its lone meeting with LMU on Dec. 30 in Pullman 73-59.
“Really just for us, you can just look at our statistics,” Riley said. “We’ve gotta get better at rebounding. We’ve gotta get better at taking care of the ball. And then, as far as just us being crisp with our stuff, there’s stuff to work on.”
The Cougars (18-13) do have plenty to work on, but they’re also coming off one of their most promising outings of the season, a road win over Pepperdine last weekend. Five players scored in double figures, highlighted by big men Ethan Price and Dane Erikstrup’s 15-point outings. The visitors also had just nine turnovers, a step in the right direction for WSU.
But the part that might encourage Riley the most came from somewhere else. It came from the Cougars’ bench, which produced a season-high 33 points. That group has struggled to score, which loomed especially large when the injury bug bit the team the hardest, playing a key role in WSU’s string of seven losses in nine games.
But to round out the regular season, forward ND Okafor scored a career-high 13 points and wing Rihards Vavers added 12, his highest total in a Cougars uniform. Reserve guard Parker Gerrits hit two 3-pointers for six points and freshman guard Tomas Thrastarson added four points.
“It’s great to have ‘Ri’ starting to get more comfortable,” Riley said. “I thought last week was the first week of practice where he’s looked more like himself. It’s cool to see that show right away in the game.
“ND is just getting more and more comfortable each game, Tomas has kind of moved on from being a freshman almost at this point in his experience. I think we’ve got a lot more depth coming off the bench. Those freshmen have got more experience. Parker has made some huge strides, looked more comfortable.”
Now WSU will try to keep that going against LMU.
In their only matchup of the season, which took place in Spokane in late December, WSU had an easier time dispatching LMU. The Cougs broke the game open in the second half with their defense. They forced 16 turnovers, including one from point guard Nate Calmese, who got the ball back for an alley-oop to wing LeJuan Watts on the other end.
The factor they haven’t been as consistent with – will the Cougars maintain their high-level play – might go a long way in determining how much longer their season goes.