He carried a shield.
During a breakout freshman season in 2008-09, Washington State men’s basketball player Klay Thompson did everything and more for the Cougars but was always protected — from opposing defenses and from fans — by the presence of senior teammates Taylor Rochestie and Aron Baynes.
This year? When the season began, Thompson had a target on his chest the size of Pullman. Spending a few weeks as the nation’s leading scorer only illuminated the spotlight for the quiet-by-nature star.
So when Thompson and his surprising Cougars (14-6 overall, 4-4 in the Pacific-10 Conference) make their only trip to Hec Edmondson Pavilion for Saturday’s game against the University of Washington, it’s a pretty good bet that Thompson will take his share of abuse.
“It’s expected,” he said Thursday night. “But it’s part of the game. Good players should be able to handle that. It’s part of the college atmosphere.”
In his second season of college basketball, the 6-foot-6 super-soph has proven that he can handle being the center of attention. He currently ranks sixth in the country in scoring (22.3 points per game) despite scouting reports that are designed to take him out of games.
“It’s been a little more difficult, but it hasn’t been too bad,” said Thompson, whose scoring average is up 9.8 points from last season. “We have a balanced scoring attack. … It’s not like I’m the only option. It’s not like I have three guys guarding me every night.”
In addition to his cool exterior, Thompson has been able to handle the pressure because of a surrounding cast made up of overachievers like sophomore post DeAngelo Casto and freshman point guard Reggie Moore, one of the top first-year players in the Pac-10.
“It’s been huge because we lost Taylor from last year’s team,” Thompson said of the addition of Moore. “He handles the ball the whole game.”
Moore can shoot it, too, as proven by his 46.8 field-goal percentage and 14.4 points per game.
The immediate impact of Moore has forced opponents to concentrate on more than just Thompson this season.
“They’re awfully explosive offensively with those two guys — Klay Thompson and Reggie Moore,” said UW coach Lorenzo Romar, whose Huskies have won their past three home games.
Moore came from Romar’s backyard, having played at Rainier Beach High School, but opted to go across the state when the Huskies turned a blind eye. Romar said this week that the presence of underclassmen Isaiah Thomas, Venoy Overton and Abdul Gaddy in the Huskies’ backcourt made it unrealistic to recruit Moore.
“Obviously,” Romar said, “we would’ve loved to have had him.”
Still, the focus of the Cougars’ offense is inarguably the 6-6 sophomore swingman with the smooth moves and soft touch. Thompson has led WSU in scoring in 15 of the Cougars’ 20 games, proving that the bulls’ eye hasn’t slowed him down.
Thompson was the obvious choice for go-to guy at the end of last season, but things got a bit murky when coach Tony Bennett abruptly left to take a job at the University of Virginia. Thompson said he’d been watching Ken Bone from afar, so when WSU hired the Portland State coach to take over the program, the star sophomore didn’t need much reassurance.
“I knew I was in a good situation here,” Thompson said. “I played major minutes here, and there was no point leaving when I was already playing at a Pac-10 school.”
After a surprisingly good start — both in non-conference play and after the Pac-10 schedule began — the Cougars are rewarding Thompson for his decision.
“I knew we could (be competitive this year) because the Pac-10 hasn’t been as elite as in the past few years,” Thompson said. “By Pac-10 standards, it’s a down year. So I knew we had a chance.”
And as far as how long the Cougars can stay in the thick of the Pac-10 race, Thompson said that’s still to be determined.
“We’ll see come Saturday, and the start of the second part of the Pac-10,” he said. “Then we’ll get a better gauge of whether we can compete all the way.”
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