Cougs go on the road again

The schedule is the schedule and there’s no control over it, which Washington State men’s basketball Head Coach Ernie Kent understands. After falling to No. 9/8 Gonzaga on the road Wednesday, the Cougars (4-5) will hit the road again this weekend to face off against Santa Clara University.

Kent said after the loss to Gonzaga (8-1) he is aware it’s currently dead week for his players and finals week is just around the corner. With the amount of work being thrown at the team on and off the court, Kent said the number one thing to do is to protect his team mentally.

“We’re going from Gonzaga to Santa Clara so there’s not like you’re going to a bee’s nest (loud crowd), but you got to go in focused,” Kent said. “The biggest thing for this team is confidence, energy and their mental focus right now.”

The first-year Cougar men’s basketball coach will have two days to prepare his team for the Broncos (4-4) on Saturday.

“We’re going to take dead week and prep for our basketball game,” Kent said. “Play our game on Saturday and use the basketball game to prep for finals coming the next week, and that’s just a mental conditioning thing they need right now.”

In the 81-66 loss to Gonzaga on Wednesday, the Cougars shot 52.1 percent from the field and 50 percent from behind the three-point line. It was the second consecutive game Kent’s team has shot over 50 percent from the field. It’s been an adjustment period for this team learning Kent’s system, but nine games into the season, Kent said his team is starting to figure it out.

“I think they’re very comfortable with me, I don’t know if they’re as comfortable with the system yet, but they’re getting better at it,” Kent said. “This team was last in the conference in field goal shooting, three point shooting, all of those things and we’ve had some tough games this year, but all of a sudden to me I see a team that’s starting to grow up and get its legs, get its confidence and figure out where the shots are coming from and starting to shoot the ball better and that’s an encouraging sign.”

The game at Santa Clara this Saturday will be the seventh road game for the Cougars this season. Santa Clara enters this game on a two-game winning streak including an 11 point win in their last game on the road at San Jose State.

The Broncos are led by their backcourt which includes senior Brandon Clark and sophomore Jared Brownridge — both of them averaging double figures in scoring so far this season. Clark is the leading scorer for Santa Clara with 17. 3 points per game and Brownridge is second on the team with 14.3.

The Cougars also have relied on their backcourt this season. Ever since sophomore guard Ike Iroegbu was switched to play off the ball instead of running the point guard position, he’s picked up his game and averaged 12.6 points a contest. Iroegbu has also been effective pushing the ball on the fast break. He said after the Gonzaga game that when he his driving down the court, he enjoys going against a plethora of defenders who are trying to defend the fast break.

“Especially when I’m pushing up the court I try to look for who can pass up the court or when I’m driving I see trees (defenders)…I just try to do my best to finish around them or find my open teammate,” Iroegbu said.

Freshman point guard Ny Redding has been a major contributor in the Cougar backcourt as well. Since starting at the point guard position against Rice in late November, he’s averaged 8.8 points and 5.2 assists a game.

So what do the Cougars need to do if they want to win at Santa Clara on Saturday?

“I think we need to come out with a fast start and focus on running the bigs up and down the floor and getting easy layups because that’s going to be the easiest way to score,” WSU sophomore forward Josh Hawkinson said after the Gonzaga game on Wednesday. “And then obviously we need to contain the shooters from the outside and their bigs as well.”

Tip-off between the Cougars and Broncos is at 7 p.m. on Saturday and the game will not be televised.