LAS VEGAS — A wide smile washed over Nate Calmese’s face as he looked to the sideline. Washington State’s starting point guard locked eyes with teammate ND Okafor, who was waiting on the bench, so as the Orleans Arena crescendoed with the Cougars making up a deficit against San Francisco, they leaped into the air and collided in celebration.
Everything was going right for WSU in Sunday’s WCC tournament quarterfinal: Down as many as 11, the Cougars pulled to within two, using a nine-point surge to generate meaningful momentum. They had weathered the kinds of storms that had doomed them earlier in the season. They were squarely back in the game.
But sixth-seeded WSU’s season came to an end with an 86-75 loss to third-seeded San Francisco because the Cougars could not sustain that momentum. They pulled to within single digits on several occasions late in the game, but their worst habits bit them when it mattered most, and they headed back to Pullman with a 1-1 outing at their first WCC Tournament.
WSU forward Ethan Price tallied 26 points and forward LeJuan Watts added 20, but their team couldn’t maintain any offensive rhythm. Forward Dane Erikstrup left the game for good with an apparent head injury in the first half, and Watts went to the bench with his fourth foul some 90 seconds into the second, allowing USF to maintain a cushion much of the night.
A key reason why the Cougars couldn’t take the lead in the second half: They couldn’t grab rebounds. All told, USF pulled down 21 offensive rebounds for 21 second-chance points. On one sequence late in the game, the Dons secured four before sticking back a miss. One of WSU’s biggest weaknesses all season showed up in the worst way.
Another did too: turnovers. For the game, the Cougars committed 13. The Dons parlayed those into 18 points. Calmese lost five, Watts had three and freshman guard Tomas Thrastarson had two. It added up to costly mistakes for a WSU team that needed all the momentum it could get.
Washington State had plenty of issues on defense, too. With USF first-team all-conference guard Marcus Williams out due to an NCAA rules violation, the Dons leaned on their two other guards: First-teamer Malik Thomas totaled 18 points, and fellow guard Ryan Beasley — whose status was questionable because of an ankle injury — erupted for a career-high 29 points, including 21 in the second half.
The Cougars, whose season ends with a 19-14 mark, had no answers for that tandem. A quick-twitch athlete, Beasley found his way into the lane nearly at will, which is where WSU’s lack of rim protection loomed large. The Dons totaled 40 points in the paint. They owned that area in general, winning the overall rebounding battle by a 49-25 margin, including 21-5 on the offensive glass.
WSU also got little from sophomore guard Isaiah Watts and wing shooter Rihards Vavers, who left his footprint all over the Cougars’ win over LMU on Saturday. In that one, he tallied 16 points on four triples, his highest scoring output in a WSU uniform. Midway through Sunday’s second half, Vavers drilled a key 3 to pull his group within one, but he was quiet otherwise.
For the first time all season, Watts went scoreless. Late in the second half, he sprung open for a wide-open 3-pointer on the wing, but he left it much too short. Moments later, off to the side, he screamed to himself in frustration. Watts was whistled for a flagrant 1 foul in the final minute as well. If he elects to leave WSU this offseason, his last game in a Cougar uniform will likely have been his worst.
The Cougars now enter the kind of offseason that many teams do in today’s college basketball: Who will stay and who will go? Price and Erikstrup have exhausted their eligibility. Star wing Cedric Coward, who missed nearly the entire season with a shoulder injury, has his sights set on a pro career.
That leaves several Cougars with options. Can they retain players like Calmese, Watts, Okafor, Vavers and Isaiah Watts? What about Thrastarson, who registered a promising freshman campaign? Fellow freshman guard Marcus Wilson, who also missed most of the season with an injury? In 2025, keeping players often means stepping up on the NIL front, which puts WSU’s Cougar Collective at center stage this spring.
All things considered, WSU coach David Riley’s first season looked like a roller coaster. His Cougars raced to a 13-3 start, including 3-0 in WCC play, vaulting to the top of the conference standings. Then they lost seven of their next nine games, a five-game slide sandwiched in between. His team was riddled by injuries, which changed the complexion of their season. Now they have to contend with who will join their program this offseason – and who will exit.
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source link
