Cougars Strive to Avoid Letdown Against Bears
By Todd Milles, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.
Feb. 10–PULLMAN — A flu scourge has overrun the Washington State University men’s basketball team in recent weeks, leaving key personnel less than fully healthy.
Now, it’s coach Tony Bennett’s turn.
The bug weakened the first-year coach so badly Thursday night, he spent portions of pre-game meetings laying down in the locker room.
With much significance surrounding WSU’s first 20-win season in more than a decade after the Cougars beat Stanford, 58-45, Bennett was asked if he would be celebrating the milestone later that night.
"No, I’m going home and going to bed," he said.
A good night’s rest did him some good, but Bennett still sniffled and wheezed his way through WSU’s 90-minute practice Friday afternoon at Friel Court in preparation for the Cougars’ game today against Cal.
"Yeah, now coach has got it," said Kyle Weaver, who battled the flu on the team’s trip last weekend to Arizona.
Bennett wasn’t so under-the-weather that he couldn’t pinpoint an area where WSU looked vulnerable following the Stanford game: offensive execution.
Despite one of their best defensive efforts of the season, the Cougars needed a late second-half scoring surge to put away the flailing Cardinal.
"We were stagnant," Bennett said. "We didn’t cut hard or set good screens, so we needed to work (Friday) on movement without the ball."
Maybe it was because Bennett did not feel well, or maybe it is one of those dog-day stretches in the Pacific-10 Conference season, because the Cougars conducted a lighter-than-usual workout Friday for starters and key reserves.
They ran offensive drills, reviewed some of the Bears’ base sets and went to one end and shot free throws.
WSU is playing the second game of a three-games-in-seven-days stretch, wrapping it up with a trip to Seattle to face the Washington Huskies on Wednesday night.
The Bears must feel like they are playing an elite program every night. Mired in a five-game losing streak, Cal will be playing a ranked team for the fifth time in the past six games. The Bears lost the previous four.
No secret, the Bears want to get forward Ryan Anderson involved. He leads all Pac-10 freshmen in scoring, at 16.9 points per outing, and led the Bears with his 17 in an earlier 73-56 loss to WSU in Berkeley last month.
"He’s a load," Weaver said. "He hurt us in that game, in and out."
Anderson can score in the paint, and from the 3-point line. Bennett said he will match Robbie Cowgill and Ivory Clark on him, depending on where he roams.
Post players generally give WSU fits, but Bears coach Ben Braun noted after Cal’s loss to the UW on Thursday, "our guards are going to have to do an effective job of getting into the post a little better."
Bennett knows WSU cannot afford any letdown today against a Cal team that is 6-6 on the road and captured the title at the Great Alaska Shootout in November.
"It’s the Pac-10, and they’re capable," Bennett said. "They’re playing people close, and they can really score."
WSU Men’s gameday
CALIFORNIA (12-11, 4-7 Pac-10) at NO. 14 WASHINGTON STATE (20-4, 9-3)
Tipoff: 2 p.m., Friel Court, Pullman.
TV: None. Radio: 850-AM, 1090-AM.
Series: California leads, 67-43, including series sweeps in 2005 and 2006. This season, the Cougars won, 73-56, on Jan. 11 in Berkeley, Calif., and are in line for their first sweep since 1994-95. WSU’s last home victory came three years ago, 70-58.
Statistical leaders: For California, F Ryan Anderson (16.9 ppg., 8.3 rpg.) and G Ayinde Ubaka (4.7 apg.). For WSU, G Derrick Low (14.9 ppg.) and G Kyle Weaver (5.5 rpg., 4.9 apg.).
Scouting report: On a five-game skid, the Golden Bears are facing a ranked opponent for the fifth time in their past six games. Their last game was a 79-71 loss at unranked Washington on Thursday in Seattle. Ubaka did not start against the Huskies because of an intestinal virus, snapping a string of 53 consecutive starts dating to 2004-05. He still led Cal with 20 points, and he leads the Pacific-10 Conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.47). … Mention the conference’s top freshmen and Anderson heads the list. He is the rare inside-outside threat at 6-foot-10, and some think he’s a better version of Arizona’s Ivan Radenovic. … Cal made nine 3-pointers against Washington and has 177 for the season. The school record is 198, set in 2003.
Next: 7 p.m. Wednesday at Washington, Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
Todd Milles, The News Tribune
Pac-10 women
Through Friday
Pac-10 Overall
W L Pct. W L Pct.
Stanford 12 1 .923 20 4 .833
Arizona St. 12 2 .857 22 3 .880
California 8 5 .615 18 6 .750
USC 8 5 .615 14 9 .609
Washington 8 6 .571 15 10 .520
UCLA 7 6 .538 13 12 .520
Oregon 5 8 .384 13 10 .565
Oregon St. 3 10 .230 8 14 .363
Arizona 3 11 .214 9 17 .346
WSU 1 13 .071 5 19 .357
Today
UCLA at Southern California, 11 a.m. FSN
Washington at Stanford, 1 p.m. FSN
Oregon at Arizona, 2 p.m.
Washington State at California, 2 p.m.
Oregon State at Arizona State, 3 p.m.
Pac-10 men
Through Friday
Pac-10 Overall
W L Pct. W L Pct.
UCLA 10 2 .833 21 2 .913
WSU 9 3 .750 20 4 .833
Oregon 8 4 .667 20 4 .833
USC 8 4 .667 18 7 .720
Stanford 7 4 .636 15 7 .682
Arizona 7 5 .583 16 7 .696
Washington 5 7 .417 15 8 .652
California 4 7 .364 12 11 .522
Oregon St. 1 11 .083 9 16 .360
Arizona St. 0 12 .000 6 17 .261
Today
UCLA at West Virginia, 10 a.m. Ch. 7
Arizona at Oregon, 12:30 p.m. Ch. 4
California at Washington State, 2 p.m.
Arizona State at Oregon State, 3 p.m. FSN
Sunday
Stanford at Washington, 4 p.m. FSN
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Copyright (c) 2007, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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