In WSU’s first matchup in the WCC postseason tournament as the No. 8 seed, the Cougars lost 74-68 to the Portland Pilots.
Head coach David Riley stated in a practice session before the regular season ended that the season had not met his expectations.
“We’ve not done what we expected to do up to this point, but I think with where we’re at in the season, we know we can play with these teams,” Riley said in a postgame interview.
In what was a very winnable game with a lead at halftime of 29-25, poor shooting, game plans and clock management ended the Cougars season.
Stars of the game included freshman standout of the Ace Glass who broke both the single season scoring record as a freshman at WSU along with most 3’s made as a freshman, both previously held by Klay Thompson. Glass, who was sick during the game, ended with 19 points leading the Cougars.
It was a tale of two halves, with the first being a defensive clinic put on by both sides. WSU was held to just 29, but to their credit they played some of the best defense this season. They only gave up 25 points on only 35% shooting.
The second half is when the game got twisted. While the first half was the best defensive performance of the year, the second half was one of the worst. The Pilots felt the March magic, and scored 49 points in the half. Portland was led by Garrett Nuckolls who finished the game scoring 23 points and finishing the comeback for Portland. Nuckolls averaged 6.7 points per game this season.
WSU put up a better offensive half themselves scoring 39 points, but it could not keep up with Portland’s highly efficient output of 55% shooting in the second half.
Statistically, it doesn’t seem like WSU should have lost this game in the fashion they did. The Cougars finished with 21 assists, 34 rebounds and only seven turnovers. A big difference between them and Portland was the fouls. WSU fouled Portland 18 times giving the Pilots nine more free throws made than WSU.
Other key performers for WSU were ND Okafor who had 12 points and six rebounds, and Eemeli Yalaho who had 11 points with six boards as well. Rihards Vavers, who had come into the tournament shooting very well, had a disappointing performance of 5 points and one shot made on eight attempts.
Game plans for defense have been the Achilles heel for Washington State all season long. In multiple games that are close or they have the lead, switching between zone and man defense has found ways to kill both offensive and defensive momentum.
Despite the less than ideal season from Riley, there is no indication changes will be made, per John Canzano.
“We have a lot of work to do as a program to get back on track. We will, we absolutely will,” Riley said.
The Cougars season ended with the loss, bringing their final record to 12-20 and 7-11 in conference play.
