Crowd shows out, Cougs don’t, losing to Gonzaga 84-63

WSU’s freefall continues in front of a sold-out crowd.

In front of a sold-out crowd for the first time in 15 years, the Washington State Cougars showed up for about 13 minutes before bowing out to the rival Gonzaga Bulldogs. The Bulldogs closed the final seven minutes of the first half on a 27-9 run to silence the crowd and cause the Cougar team to check out entirely. The Bulldogs defeated the Cougars 84-63.

It’s not that it was expected for WSU (16-12, 6-9 in conference) to win this game, but as soon as Gonzaga (21-8, 12-3) started to apply pressure, the Cougs just straight up folded. The offense turned it over seven times, hit just 33% of their shots from the field, and looked totally flat defensively. Nate Calmese and Dane Erikstrup combined to go just 2/17 from the field in the first half.

The Cougars were up to the task early on. Isaiah Watts knocked down a trey for WSU’s first points. LeJuan Watts took the torch and got the crowd on its feet with a poster dunk before knocking down a three-pointer of his own for an 8-0 Cougar run.

LeJuan Watts seemed to be the only Coug who could find any success in this game, finishing with 19 points.

Gonzaga immediately responded with a 9-0 run to calm the ferocious Beasley crowd. The Bulldogs put the pedal to the metal from there on. GU dominated in the paint, scoring over half of their first half points inside while scoring 10 points off of their six offensive rebounds. WSU countered with turnovers, a stagnant offense, and zero answer for the Bulldog offense. As the crowd began to fade out, so did WSU.

The Cougars did put up a bit more of a fight in the second half, limiting Gonzaga’s runs and playing a much better brand of basketball, but it was far too little and far too late.

This loss marks WSU’s seventh loss in their last eight games and their 10th in the last 13.

Again, it’s not the fact that WSU lost a game that they were very much expected to lose. It’s the fact that they looked so flat as soon as Gonzaga started to throw punches and asked them to respond. And yes, it is hard to win when your best player is not on the floor and hasn’t been since before Thanksgiving. But when the story of each game is the same and the same mistakes that have plagued you throughout this freefall continue to hurt you, it’s inferiating to watch. Especially when we’ve seen what this team can be when they don’t constantly be their own worst enemy.

You saw it in the second half. Riley rolled out a lineup that competed hard, limited the mistakes, and played a whole half of basketball in which they actually outscored the Bulldogs 35-34 in the final 20 minutes. LeJuan Watts, Isaiah Watts, Ethan Price, Tomas Thrastarson, and Kase Wynott led the Cougars in minutes in the second half. Thrastarson impressed in his time on the court. He hit all four of his shots from the field, including a pair of treys, and also showed off his bag with a nifty underhand layup at the rim.

Unfortunately, it was just those early self-inflicted wounds and stretches of poor effort that dug WSU a hole that even a strong effort couldn’t dig them out of. Hell, this was one of the best second halves WSU has played in a while!

It’s a shame that WSU finally got a sell-out crowd for the first time since 2010, and they were treated to not just a blowout loss to a rival, but such a really weak seven minutes of effort that completely flipped the game.

The Cougars will host Santa Clara on Saturday.