SEATTLE – Something about Washington seems to turn the Washington State men’s basketball team around. The Cougars have won just three Pacific-10 conference games, and two of them have been against the Huskies. It was the first time WSU swept Washington since 1994, and Washington State had lost its six games between the two meetings with the UW.
But Cougars coach Dick Bennett said he isn’t quite sure what it is about Washington this year that has allowed his team to pull off two of the biggest wins in Bennett’s three years as coach.
“Washington has not had their best games against us,” Bennett said. “For some reason, they have not played to their capabilities and we’ve played better in both second halves than we had been playing previously. I don’t know why that is, outside of the emotions of the games.”
Bennett said Washington is “a good team, but they’re not the same team they were last year. So we felt like we should be able to compete with them.”
You won’t find too many arguments from the Huskies about that fact. A year ago, Washington had Brandon Roy and Jamaal Williams coming off the bench, along with Joel Smith and Hakeem Rollins. This year, there clearly isn’t as much depth, with only Ryan Appleby consistently producing for the Huskies off the bench.
“Depth-wise, we probably had a little more depth last year in terms of guys who (had experience),” Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said. “We had more seasoned depth last year as opposed to this year.”
“They’re not as deep with the quality they had last year,” Bennett said. “They’re still a very dangerous team. They just played so well early that it was assumed they would continue.”
Bennett said the key for Washington State now is for the team to build on the win over Washington, which it did not do the first time. In the Cougars’ defense, of the six losses between wins against the UW, three were by two points and none were by more than 10.
“We didn’t exactly go into a tail spin,” Bennett said. “We just lost a lot of close games. We’ve not been beaten badly by anyone. We’ve had chances to win most games we’ve been in.”
Bennett said guard Derrick Low is close to returning from the broken foot he suffered on Jan. 6.
“I’m anticipating we’ll have him full strength next week,” Bennett said. “We may be able to work him into some practices (Tuesday). If that’s the case, he might be available for limited minutes (Thursday), but that has not been determined yet.”
Stanford the last hope: Stanford has the Pac-10’s last chance to pull off a big non-conference win when it plays at Gonzaga on Saturday. A victory over the Bulldogs would be huge for the Cardinal and would help the Pac-10 improve its floundering RPI, which is No. 7 in the nation right now.
Stanford coach Trent Johnson would not talk about the Gonzaga game, but the rest of the league coaches know that a victory by the Cardinal would be a big lift for the conference.
“We need that kind of bump after we didn’t get it done at North Carolina,” said Arizona coach Lute Olson, who’s team fell to the Tar Heels on Jan. 28. “Some things are needed to make up for those early-season losses.”
“It would dramatically effect the RPI ratings for them and hopefully for the league,” USC coach Tim Floyd said. “It would be tremendous for the league. Any league would like to have that type of win.”
Wildcats on the bubble: Arizona was the preseason pick to win the Pac-10, but like Washington, the Wildcats find themselves scrambling to get hot and get into the postseason.
Arizona has lost three in a row and is now 13-9, including 6-5 in the conference. The nine losses are the most for a UA team at this point in the season since the 1983-84 season, Olson’s first at Arizona. But there is reason for optimism. Arizona plays five of its final seven games at home, where the Wildcats are 8-1. They also have an RPI rating of No. 17, thanks to wins over Kansas, Virginia, Saint Mary’s, Utah and Western Kentucky.
Olson said he still feels his team is in a decent position and that there isn’t any loss in confidence.
OSU seeking the point: Oregon State’s point guard situation has gone from bad to worse. Already without starter Lamar Hurd, who is out with a groin strain, the Beavers also will be without senior backup Justin Fontenet for this week’s trip to Arizona. Fontenet “needs to reaffirm his commitment to the Oregon State basketball program,” coach Jay John said. John refused to elaborate. Fontenet has not left the team and the coach did not refer to the decision as a suspension.
The point guard job now is in the hands of freshman Brett Casey, who had seen very limited time until the last week.
John said there hasn’t been much progress for Hurd, and it’s unclear when or if he will return. The Beavers are 1-5 without Hurd and their shooting percentage has gone from a conference-best 50.2 percent to 38.7 percent. The team’s scoring average has also dropped eight points.
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