There’s always next year… upcoming calendar year that is!
Good afternoon, and happy New Years Eve!
Today, your Washington State Cougars took on Colorado down in Boulder to close out their mountain roadtrip, after losing to Utah on Friday. Despite some closer calls in the second half, they couldn’t quite pull off a victory today either- falling 74-67.
Colorado, who is 11-2, 2-0 in conference play, was always favored to win this matchup. But the Cougs (now 9-4, 0-2 in Pac-12 play) held on to their best ability- let’s take a look at what you missed in todays game.
Things kicked off well with a layup from Rueben Chinyelu, but slowed from there, with Colorado heading on a 9 point run.
WSU trailed 14-25 with 7 minutes left in the half, when Andrej Jakimovski was able to claw the Cougs back up, bringing the score up 25-29. Jakimovski hit a layup to bring the score to 16, then hit a 3, then another 3, then ANOTHER 3- which does in fact math correctly. It was also glorious.
Jakimovski for THREE! The veteran is on fire and has buried his last three triples. Andrej has now scored in double figures three-straight games against the Buffs.#GoCougs // #CVE // @Pac12Network pic.twitter.com/DzSrPEvz5K
— Washington State Men’s Basketball (@WSUCougarsMBB) December 31, 2023
Unfortunately, a foul on Myles Rice to Colorado’s KJ Simpson brought the Colorado lead from four points up to seven, 25-32. The first half would wrap up 29-39, Buffaloes.
Oscar Cluff had a strong opening to the second half, making a free throw and a layup, and along with buckets from both Kymany Houinsou and Isaac Jones, the Cougs were trailing the Buffs 40-45. Hope was even further solidified with two Jones free throws and a layup from Chinyelu, and WSU was only down by three.
The end of the second half brought a harder push by Washington State, determined to keep up with Colorado. Rice made two free throws to camp WSU out at 64 points with three and a half minutes left, but Colorado ran away from there- taking their one point lead eventually back to 10 points, 64-74. But Cluff hit a three point buzzer beater, deciding he didn’t want to lose the game by 10, and that 7 would be better- bringing the final score 67-74.
Again, we didn’t expect to blow this game out of the water, but there were still some frustrating calls and mistakes. Overall it’s still early, so don’t lose hope yet!
Remember our friend Jeff? The one who used to run this website (and probably did a better job, but I digress)- he’s got some words of wisdom on how we might be able to make a run for the Big Dance in March, and you can check it out here. Also, while you’re there, subscribe to his newsletter please! You won’t regret it.
Hope everyone has a safe and fun night tonight, remember to mix in some waters. We’ll start the New Year off on a much stronger foot, I just know it! Go Cougs!