Twilight. Clinton vs Obama. Taylor Swift’s “Fearless”. Iron Man.
That is what was on the minds of the last students to watch the Cougs win an NCAA tournament game. The drought was snapped just a week before – appropriately – its Sweet 16.
No. 25 WSU men’s basketball (25-9, 15-7 Pac-12) beat Drake (28-7), finding just enough offense late after struggling all game. The Cougars triumphed by a score of 66-61.
The final game of the night in Omaha was between a Cougar team amid a rough stretch and a Bulldog team coming off a conference championship. While the Cougs were the higher seed, few picked them to advance.
For most of this game, those doubters looked right. The Cougs took an early 15-9 lead but gave up a 12-0 run to flip that 6-point lead to a 6-point deficit. The Cougar offense was struggling, losing turnovers that led to easy baskets for the Bulldogs.
On defense, they were holding up but not well enough to feel safe. The Cougs did a good job making the Bulldogs settle for jumpers, and they were only called for three fouls, one of them a shooting foul, in the whole first half.
An 18-8 run to close the half powered the Cougs into a 33-29 lead. The Cougs were 20-0 when leading at half-time coming into this game.
Isaac Jones and Jaylen Wells led the Cougs in the first half with nine and eight points respectively. Each shot 75% on four attempts, and Wells made both of his 3-point attempts.
Drake was feeding Atin Wright and Tucker DeVries. Wright took six shots in the half while DeVries took seven; each of them made four shots and one 3-pointer. Interior threat Darnell Brodie had two fouls already, a serious worry considering that he was the only Bulldog starter who had a positive +/- with +3.
The second half started fast, with Drake proving just how precarious a lead can be in March basketball. Three layups and a free throw gave them a 36-33 lead before three minutes had elapsed.
The Cougar offense could not get anything going, but they knew who to call. Jaylen Wells opened the half with a 3-pointer, a tip-in and a midrange jumper, scoring seven straight right when they needed it most.
He was singlehandedly keeping the Cougs in it, but that did not last forever. That last jumper gave them a one-point lead, and when Drake took advantage back they kept and grew it.
Just four points in six minutes for WSU allowed the Bulldogs to get up to a 54-46 lead with 6:33 left in the game. At a certain point, it started to look as though the Cougs were outmatched, unable to score on a team much shorter than them and unable to stop Brodie inside.
Suddenly, life was injected back into the Cougs. A quick 9-1 run tied the game at 55-55 with 4:28 left, but Drake responded with a 3-pointer. A layup and a free throw later and the game was tied 58-58, and Jones managed to draw a fifth foul on Brodie, sending him to the bench.
Shortly after Brodie fouled out, Isaiah Watts committed a foul of his own, sending a Bulldog to the line. He made one of his two free throws, giving Drake the lead with 2:15 left.
On the following possession, the ball ended up in Watts’ hands. He passed it to Wells, who fired it back to him a moment later. Watts stood at NBA range with a defender staring him down from just a few feet away.
Maybe he felt bad for giving up that lead. Maybe he was frustrated that he was being held scoreless despite playing much of the game. Whatever it was, he knew he had to take matters into his own hands.
“I feel like that’s a shot I’ve hit pretty much all year, that wing. It felt like a routine shot,” Watts said. “So I just shot it.”
The shot was true, the reverberating swish of the net announcing a 61-59 lead. The Cougs followed his make with a pair of stops, and with 34 seconds remaining in the game, Watts was fouled. As he stood at the line with a chance to ice an NCAA tournament game, the broadcast flashed a graphic: 54.5% free throw shooter.
He must not have seen it, because he made them both.
From there it was a game of fouls. The Cougs made their free throws and closed the game out with a five-point lead. The final score was 66-61.
Leading the Cougs in scoring was Isaac Jones. He had 20 points, shooting under 50% from the field but making up for it by shooting 80% from the free-throw line. He played huge stretches of the game at center and finished with four fouls because of it. That paid off, though, when he managed to foul Brodie out in the final minutes.
Jones also had 11 rebounds, making him the first Coug ever to have a double-double in the tournament. Wells was right behind him in both points and rebounds, with 17 points and nine rebounds. He finished the game having hit 3-of-4 from 3-point range, and his run at the start of the second half kept the Cougs afloat to set them up for the comeback.
No other Cougs scored in double-digits. Myles Rice struggled again, shooting only 25% and briefly heading to the locker room after being fouled hard. He re-entered the game but continued to have little impact offensively.
Three Bulldogs scored in double figures, and their offense was generally successful throughout the game, but there was one fatal flaw: they missed eight free throws. In a game with a margin as tight as this one, that is all it takes.
Regardless of why it happened, the Cougs advanced. Now, they face the Iowa State Cyclones in the Round of 32.
The Cyclones are a two-seed, coming off a 17-point win over South Dakota State in the first round. They have allowed the fourth least points per game in the country, and have caused the second most turnovers.
To get a single win in the tournament is already a huge deal, and Iowa State is a much better team than Drake is. For the first time since the second Arizona game, the Cougs are not expected to win.
Maybe, that’s exactly what they need.
That game, potentially the last of the season for the Cougs, tips off at 3:10 p.m. Saturday in Omaha, Nebraska. It will be broadcast on TNT.
