In their penultimate home game of the season, the Cougars fell 109-79 to the Santa Clara Broncos, in a game where it felt like Santa Clara simply could not miss.
“That was one of the best offensive first halves I’ve ever seen in my life for Santa Clara,” said WSU head coach David Riley after the game.
The Broncos shot 79% from beyond the arc in the first half, making 15 of 19 attempts. They made nine of their first ten shots from beyond the arc and had built a 14-point lead five minutes into the game.
“The basketball god’s weren’t with us tonight,” said Riley.
Riley admitted the Cougs looked burnt out, as they lost their ninth game out of their last twelve.
“When I look in the season, we look a little bit burnt out,” said Riley. “I’m looking at some of our guys that we really rode hard … they might have lost a little steam.”
He said the team will continue making tweaks and trying to find a way to get better going into the West Coast Conference tournament, which starts in two weeks.
After the Cougars loss to Gonzaga on Thursday, Isaiah Watts had said the team was going to put that loss behind them to prepare for Santa Clara.
“We don’t hang our heads for nothing,” said Watts. “It moves by too fast.”
The Cougars will need to take those words to heart as they prepare for their final two regular-season games against Pepperdine and San Diego. WSU can still clinch the sixth seed in the WCC and earn a first-round bye in the WCC tournament, but they will need to win each of their final two games to do so. The good news is that they have already beaten both Pepperdine and San Diego.
The last time the Cougars lost by 30 points was on January 14th, 2021, when the team lost 91-61 on the road against a UCLA team that went on to reach the final four in the tournament that year. The last time the Cougars lost by 30 or more points at Beasley Coliseum was on January 18th, 2017, in an 88-47 beat down from Utah. The 109 points WSU allowed was the most they’ve given up since Oregon scored 115 on them in 2002. For their part, Santa Clara’s 23 three’s broke the WCC single-game record.
“WSU has had bad stretches of basketball this season. This might take the cake,” wrote CougFan.com on X.
The Cougars next head to the road to take on Pepperdine, who they previously defeated by a point in a comeback win at home.
