PULLMAN — With an 11-day layoff in the rearview mirror, the Washington State men’s basketball takes to the road once more — to play a home game.
For the fourth time this season, the Cougars will play away from Beasley Coliseum but be listed as the home team. They face The Citadel tonight in the Cougar Hardwood Classic at KeyArena in Seattle.
“We know it’s been hard to be a (Cougar) basketball fan in Seattle,” WSU head coach Tony Bennett said this week. “It’s tough to make it (to Pullman for a game). Playing in Seattle really made sense.”
During the longest layoff in the Tony Bennett era, the Cougars dedicated themselves to improving in a few key areas Bennett felt had been slipping of late.
“There are three areas where we have to be as close to excellent as possible, and transition defense is one of them,” Bennett said. “If we’re not almost flawless in that, that’s a breakdown on our part. If we’re not very good on the defensive glass — sometimes you can’t control great offensive rebounders — but we have to be really good at that, and then taking care of the ball. … When we’re good in those areas, we’re in almost all of our games, no matter what.”
Listening to Bennett, it might be tough to believe WSU is 9-0 and ranked seventh in the nation.
An examination of the season statistics shows the Cougars, after nine games this year, are better in rebounding and just as good in taking care of the ball as they were a year ago. The third — transition defense — is not covered by any statistical measure, but evidence suggests WSU, which was 8-1 after nine games last season, has been worse (Baylor comes to mind) and better (Gonzaga), depending on the game.
The area in which the Cougars have made the most strides is rebounding.
With 6-foot-10, 270-pound junior Aron Baynes leading the way (5.8 rebounds per game), WSU is plus-4.1 in rebounding margin after being minus-1.1 through nine games last year. Last season Baynes missed the first five games after undergoing offseason ankle surgery.
“Aron is a big part of (the improvement),” senior wing Kyle Weaver said, “taking up a lot of room down there, getting those big guys (on) the other team out of the way and allowing us guards to sneak in and get a few at times, too.”
Though opponents’ offensive rebounding has hurt the Cougars at times, WSU actually is doing a better job in that area as well. In the first nine games last season, the Cougars’ opponents had more than nine a game. This year it’s nearly one less per contest.
At the same point last year the Cougars had 106 turnovers. After nine games this season? 106.
But it’s the type of turnovers that stress Bennett — and the Cougar defense. A recent string of unforced errors gave opponents extra possessions, something WSU knows it must limit in Pac-10 play.
“I wouldn’t say it’s something I’m worried about,” Weaver said. “It’s something we’ve got to keep working on. (We need to) get a little more familiar with each other and just try to stay on the same page.
“Maybe at times we try to get a pass early that might not be there, when if we’re patient it will be there. It might be there early, too, but we’ve got to know when it’s the right spot to do certain things.”
The final area Bennett underlined, transition defense, is one that Weaver sees as a key, especially after the first of the year.
“We think it’s pretty important,” he said, “especially in our conference. Pretty much most of our teams in our conference like to get up and down and try to get a lot of easy buckets from transition. It is important for us to instill that early, to get back and set up our defense.”
Still, when it comes to the defense, Weaver isn’t worried.
“Our defense is pretty much our foundation,” he said. “I’m not really worried about us ever worrying about how many possessions we guard, because we do it all day, every day. That’s what we lean on.”
Notes: The Citadel Bulldogs come into tonight’s game with a 4-5 record. Fourteen of their 16 players are either freshmen or redshirt freshmen, with only senior Demetrius Nelson and junior Jonathan Brick keeping the Bulldogs from fielding an all-rookie squad. “They’re obviously young,” Bennett said. “But I know they played Davidson close for a while and I think they are playing better ball.” The Bulldogs have played one Pac-10 team, USC, losing 74-47 at home early in the season. … Nelson, who is second on the team in scoring with a 12.1 average and leads in rebounding at 5.7, probably won’t play. He injured his foot in a loss to Tennessee-Chattanooga and isn’t expected back until later this month. … There is going to be a busy halftime tonight. Not only will new football coach Paul Wulff be introduced to the crowd and quarterback Alex Brink honored, there will be a special presentation to former Cougar Tony Harris’ family. Harris, who played for WSU in the early 1990s, died recently in Brazil.
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