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WSU put out an embarrassing effort Tuesday night in Spokane, falling 83-53. The 53 points scored were the Cougs’ lowest scoring output of the season.
Three early turnovers had the Cougs down 12-6 four minutes in, but Ri Vavers nailed a three and Morton made three free throws to keep the game in reach.
A similar story to the contest in Pullman, WSU couldn’t keep the Zags out of the paint and trailed 21-13, including 14-2 in points in the paint, at the 11:57 mark.
However, this time the Cougs just rolled over. The turnover bug was back, and it was ugly: nine total turnovers through 12 minutes, all of them pretty inexcusable. It was 29-13 Gonzaga, and the Cougs didn’t score over a five-minute stretch.
And it kept getting worse, turning into one of WSU’s worst games of the year, as they committed 10 turnovers and trailed 30-6 in the paint late in the half.
At halftime, it was 48-21 in favor of Gonzaga. The Cougs were 2-13 from three, and had 11 turnovers compared to just three for the Zags.
The Cougs’ offense looked a lot more confident to start the second half, but they weren’t able to string together enough possessions without turnovers or get enough stops to cut into the lead.
Despite better play, WSU still trailed 56-33 with 12 remaining. They were never able to turn it around, and Gonzaga’s energy ticked back up.
Gonzaga went on a 20-2 run to go up 74-37, a score that caused me to vomit in my mouth slightly as I typed it.
Nothing eventful happened in the final minutes, as WSU scored some last-minute points to arrive at an 83-53 final score.
Jerone Morton had a valiant effort with 15 points, but quite literally none of his teammates picked him up.
Eemeli Yalaho played easily his worst game of the season, going 0-5 from the floor, 0-4 from three, and committing five of the worst turnovers known to man.
Ace Glass wasn’t as efficient as usual, going 4-13 and being held scoreless from three. The Zags did a really nice job of blitzing WSU’s guards as they rolled off of screens, which is a common way Glass gets to his three point shot.
WSU finished with 21 turnovers, which the Zags turned into 31 points, essentially the final margin of victory. Gonzaga attempted 62 field goals; WSU only managed 46.
Washington State continues to miss Tomas Thrastarson, who has been out for over a month, and Emmanuel Ugbo, who served the fourth game of his undisclosed suspension tonight. Without Thrastarson’s size on the wing and Ugbo’s minutes, WSU is just too small to compete with a team like Gonzaga.
GU got up as much as 39, shooting 55% from the floor despite going 3-13 from three, and out rebounded WSU 37-21.
Graham Ike continued his dominance over WSU, scoring 20 points on 8/10 shooting and snagging 7 rebounds. He made it look really easy tonight.
Davis Fogle was outstanding for Gonzaga, going 8-11 for 17 points and coming up with 3 steals. It felt like 10 steals, he was everywhere and a huge energy off the bench for the Zags. Their second unit, including Fogle, was in the game when they broke it open.
I have defended David Riley this season, but this was an unacceptable performance. The players simply didn’t show any effort tonight, and that can’t happen against a rival or an opponent of Gonzaga’s quality.
The Cougs have lost a ton of close games, but last weekend’s loss to Santa Clara might have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. Hopefully, I am wrong, but that looked like a team that had quit. Sure, Gonzaga is immensely talented, but the turnovers were largely unforced. Even at the free throw line, you could tell WSU just wasn’t all there.
WSU falls to 11-16 and 6-8 in the WCC. Two weeks ago, it seemed likely WSU would be able to climb into the fourth seed of the WCC. Now it seems like they could fall into the bottom third of the conference.
As Washington State transitions into the new Pac-12, I imagine this is a result that President Cantwell and AD Jon Harlow aren’t going to love. The Cougs are running out of time to prove themselves, and tonight is going to be a hard picture to forget.
Washington State mercifully gets a week off before taking on Pacific at home next Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN+.
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