Dick Bennett has this problem.
Two, actually. Well, maybe more.
The Washington State men’s basketball coach has spent a weekend watching his team score just 86 points in two losses to the Oregon schools. He suspended his backup center, senior Ezenwa Ukeagu, for two weeks because of a curfew violation in Eugene, Ore., and reserve forward, Justin Bellegarde, has temporarily left the team for a family problem.
Not only that, but the Cougars just aren’t playing well. And they play host this afternoon to Washington, which might be coming in with some confidence after notching its first Pacific-10 Conference victory of the season last Saturday, 103-99 against Oregon State.
Just two weeks ago, it looked surprisingly positive for the Cougars (2-4 Pac-10, 8-8 overall). They beat Cal on the road, then followed it up the next week by falling to UCLA by just three and then beating USC two nights later.
Now, WSU has fallen into the same doldrums it was in earlier in the season, when it managed just 36 points at Southern Utah and 29 at Fresno State.
“It’s a difficult group because they’re very quiet,” Bennett said. “The confidence level is not high. The season is pretty much going as we thought it might. We thought we’d have a lot of hard games and take steps backward. Then occasionally we’ll come out with a good one. That’s kind of who we are.”
Such is life when a new coach takes over, even one as heralded as Bennett. Known primarily as the coach who took Wisconsin to the Final Four in 2000, Bennett has been this route before, rebuilding programs at Wisconsin-Stevens Point and Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Perhaps Washington State is Bennett’s biggest challenge. The Cougars had won just two Pac-10 games in the last two seasons under Paul Graham and had lost 19 straight Pac-10 road games before beating Cal this season.
Bennett’s deliberate offensive system is a 180-degree turn from what Graham’s was, and it has shown. Bennett has said things would get worse before they get better, as the players adapt to his system and as he brings in his own recruits.
But for now, it’s bad.
“I wish I could tell you we’re playing consistent or that we’re having good practices, but that’s just not the case,” Bennett said. “As I’ve gotten older, my memory’s gotten worse, so I just tell the truth.”
Guard Marcus Moore has struggled the most. Moore, who considered submitting his name into the NBA Draft after averaging better than 18 points a game in 2003, is down to 12.9 a game now and is shooting just 38 percent from the floor.
Moore is the only Cougar who averages double figures.
Even so, the Cougs can give Washington (1-5, 6-8) some problems. Part of the reason WSU allows just 56.6 points a game is its slow, deliberate style of play, but it also is because it plays tenacious defense.
“The game is shortened; the margin for error is way down,” UW coach Lorenzo Romar said. “If you go play a team like Washington State and you have 20 turnovers, it’s going to be a long night. You’ve just got to do a lot of things right.”
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