WSU 92, Portland 70: Quick Recap

The Cougars got just the kind of win they needed when they ran away from lowly Portland in the second half to pick up their fifth WCC win of the season and remain in the log jam for second place in the conference. (Which, stunningly, now includes Gonzaga, which lost its second consecutive game last night — this time, at home to Santa Clara.)

The Pilots were able to get out to an early lead thanks to some blistering hot 3-point shooting; when Austin Rapp (yes, brother of Ryan) hit from deep for the second time with 11:37 to go in the opening half — Portland’s 5th make from 3 to that point — the Pilots held a nine-point lead at 25-16.

That would be Portland’s final bucket for more than seven minutes. A 7-0 spurt keyed by a Dane Erikstrup 3, a steal on the inbounds by Ethan Price, and (three passes later) a layup by Erikstrup pulled the Cougars within two. Portland interrupted the run with a pair of free throws, but WSU reeled off six more unanswered points to lead by two.

Portland would never lead again. The Pilots broke their bucket-less drought with a Chris Austin 3 ball, but WSU finally created the separation it needed thanks to relentlessly attacking the paint, both in their regular offense and in crashing the offensive glass. An 11-0 run opened up a 12-point lead near the end of the half.

The lead hovered right around 10 for the first 10 minutes of the second half … and then the wheels just fell off for the Pilots. The Cougars were ready to pounce. A 13-5 run keyed by nine points by LeJuan Watts pushed the lead to 17; the game finally got all the way in hand when WSU followed up back-to-back scores by the Pilots with a 15-0 run featuring Portland turnovers and WSU layups to turn it into a laugher.

In A Minute

• Cougfan recap by Friend of the Podcast Jamey Vinnick

• Stats

• Line o’ the night: Nate Calmese with 23 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals … and just 1 turnover!

• One stat to tell the tale: The Cougars shot 69% on 39 attempts inside the arc, including 48 points in the paint fueled by 17(!) layups.

Highlights

Three Thoughts

1. Exactly what we needed

Portland is a very bad team. But so was Pacific, which beat WSU at home last week. And so was San Diego, whom the Cougs needed a comeback to beat on Thursday. This one threatened to have an “oh no, here we go again” vibe when it seemed like the Pilots couldn’t miss from deep, and WSU trailed by nine.

To that end, it was great to see two things. First, the Cougars made a few adjustments defensively to more or less shut down Portland’s 3-point spree; offensively, they relied on Erikstrup’s shooting and Nate Calmese’s crafty ability to get into the lane and finish around the basket — he hit a few floaters that would remind you of Steph Curry, which softened the defense considerably. Without a hint of panic, they grabbed a firm hold of the game by the end of the first half. Then, after absorbing whatever the Pilots had left in the tank, the Cougs turned on the jets down the stretch to make sure Portland could never really get back in the game.

We’ve seen this team struggle in the second half from time to time, and it was encouraging to see them finish strong and pull away from an inferior opponent — particularly with a huge week on deck. It was an incredibly mature performance that was reminiscent of when this team was at its best earlier in the season.

2. Turnovers, revisited

Following three consecutive games in which WSU turned the ball over on more than 22% of their possessions, the Cougars turned it over just 10 times — 13.5% of their possessions, their third lowest mark of the season.

Virtually gone¹ were the very silly turnovers, allowing the Cougars to get up plenty of shots, which they either made or rebounded themselves: WSU corralled more than one out of every three of its own misses. All told, the Cougs attempted 12 more shots than the Pilots, and WSU would finish with its third-highest points per possession of the season (1.25) despite shooting just 8-of-27 (30%) from 3. Shot volume for the win, yet again.

Here’s to hoping something David Riley said has finally gotten through. It should resonate with the players that their third best offensive performance coincided with their third best turnover performance.

3. Very, very important week

With a road game at Santa Clara and a home game against Saint Mary’s, this week is huge on a couple of fronts.

First, in the standings: The Broncos are tied with the Cougars in that logjam of folks who are a half-game behind San Francisco for second place; the Gaels are undefeated and two games clear of everyone. As PJ Carlesimo² noted on the broadcast, finishing in the top four is paramount, thanks to the WCC’s odd conference tournament format.

And, second: If the Cougs are going to make a move for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, this week presents a tremendous opportunity. Both games are Quad 1 for the selection committee’s purposes; if WSU can somehow win both, it would fully recharge their resume after the stunner against Pacific. If they can just win one — particularly over Saint Mary’s — it puts them in position to make some noise with a strong finish as they get healthier.

Lose both, and a promising season starts to feel like it’s slipping away — at least, from a postseason perspective — and it puts you behind the 8 ball a little bit in the standings.

Up Next

Santa Clara will be hosting WSU on Thursday coming off its biggest win in quite some time, having traveled to Spokane and walked out of The Kennel with a stunning 103-99 win. I suppose there are two ways to look at that.

One way: Oh dear, Santa Clara must be very good and now we are scared of the Broncos!

Another way: The Broncos will be primed for a letdown after an extremely emotional victory.

I lean more toward the latter. Santa Clara is good, but I’m not sure we should convince ourselves that they are somehow better than they are. They lost at Loyola Marymount on Thursday, and it took an otherworldly 3-point performance³ to defeat the Zags. They will be riding high, and the Cougars will be hungry.

Will WSU have Isaiah Watts back? It looked like he was still wearing a protective brace on his left hand yesterday, but it seems to still remain a possibility that he will practice this week and contribute this weekend.

Tip off is scheduled for 8 p.m. PT on CBS Sports Network. No ESPN+ subscription required this time!

1  Not totally, however. One infuriating moment came on a fast break in which a back court pass was thrown, one handed, nowhere near the intended recipient and straight out of bounds. Another came off of what was basically a blind entry pass into the post. SEE THE PASS BEFORE YOU THROW IT, GUYS.

2  By the way: What a treat it is to have him doing our games from time to time. He clearly does his homework in advance, and unlike so many other former coaches, he’s able to translate what he’s seeing on the floor into something easily understandable for fans. He is an absolute hidden gem in the broadcasting world, and I can only assume it’s because he picks and chooses the games he wants to travel to from his home base in Seattle. It’s super weird to generally get better broadcasters on ESPN+ than we used to get in our games on ESPN’s cable properties, but that’s what we’ve gotten.

3  18 of 38 (47%) overall, and 12-of-17 (70%) in the second half.