SEATTLE – As soon as Washington State’s Jeff Varem took the inbounds pass, Bobby Jones, Will Conroy and Tre Simmons surrounded him in spearheading Washington’s fullcourt press.
Varem and Cougar coach Dick Bennett have engaged in a series of rows this season regarding the issue of whether the muscular Varem is a ball-handling guard, as Varem believes, or a power forward, as Bennett asserts.
The ease in which Jones knocked the ball away from Varem and the result should give Varem a clue. Conroy picked up the ball and softly laid it up to give the No. 10 Huskies a 39-21 lead.
Sunday’s Apple Cup of men’s basketball was billed as a contrast of styles – Washington State’s deliberate offense and resolute defense against Washington’s fast-breaking, high-scoring attack.
That the Huskies mustered just 68 points Sunday may indicate that the Cougars won the battle of styles, but it was Washington’s defense, especially its swarming, trapping press, that made the difference.
”Our will was broken,” Bennett said after his team’s 66-48 loss. ”It looked like a mismatch.”
Washington State’s sluggish pace was effective in keeping the score down, but the Cougars could do nothing to counter Washington’s quickness on the defensive end.
WSU committed 16 turnovers, but because of the way the Cougars play, it limits the number of possessions, rendering each possession more crucial than it would be in other, quicker styles.
Therefore, 16 turnovers represent a veritable avalanche, and the fact that the Cougars could shoot just 32 percent from the floor (19-for-59, including 3-for-21 from the 3-point arc) makes the outcome as expected as daylight.
”I’d give us about a 9,” said UW guard Joel Smith, when asked to rate the Huskies’ defense.
Varem finished with six points, nine below his average, and turned the ball over three times – a low number, considering the amount of time he spent on the bench, in Bennett’s doghouse.
”He’s good when he dominates,” Bennett said. ”He has to learn how to play with other people.”
Washington’s defense more than made up for the Huskies’ own offensive difficulties. Going into the game as the highest-scoring (89.4 points a game) and best-shooting team (50.6 percent) from the floor in the Pacific-10 Conference, Washington shot just 36 percent from the field.
Again, that was partly because of Washington State, a team that often forces an opponent to play 34 seconds of defense on a 35-second shot clock. The Huskies had no delusions that this game would be a cakewalk, simply because WSU is a nightmare to play against.
After all, the Cougars allow opponents to shoot 38.7 percent from the floor, best in the conference. Before Sunday, WSU yielded 53.9 points a game, second-lowest in the nation.
”We knew we weren’t going to have a 90-point game, unless something miraculous happened,” forward Jamaal Williams said. ”We knew we’d have to tough it out and play a slow game. We had to execute our halfcourt offense.”
The Huskies love to play a halfcourt offense about as much as they love final exams.
It was on the defensive end where they could have some fun, cause turnovers, pick up easy buckets and run the Cougars out of Hec Ed. Eventually, the Cougars physically wilted.
”We were able to sustain pressure,” Conroy said. ”They didn’t have their legs at the end. Their shots came up short. All that stuff wore them out. That was the game plan.”
By the time the two teams meet Feb. 19 in Pullman, expect Varem to chuck the point guard act, rather than spend another game as a victim of the Huskies’ game plan.
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