DENVER — Through the course of the season, Washington State’s players have heard some impressive halftime speeches from coach Tony Bennett.
Words of encouragement were handed out at Baylor, UCLA and, the granddaddy of them all, the second game of the season at Boise State. It was there the Cougars trailed by six in what the players termed a lackadaisical effort. So Bennett delivered his gold standard of motivational speeches. Which led to a 60-point second half. And an easy win.
So, when the Cougars headed to the locker room tied with underdog Winthrop in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday, Bennett was waiting.
“It wasn’t Boise,” Nik Koprivica said of the challenge the second-year coach laid down, “but it was close.”
And it worked.
The Cougars played what even the hard-to-please Bennett termed “one of our better halves,” holding Winthrop to 11 points, scoring 42 of their own and running away with a 71-40 East Regional win before 19,282 at the Pepsi Center.
“I don’t know if we could have played a better half of defense than we did today,” reserve forward Caleb Forrest said.
The Cougars clamped down and forced the Eagles to miss their first eight second-half shots. When the final buzzer sounded, Winthrop walked off the court having made just 16.7 percent of its shots (4-for-24) after halftime. That amounted to WSU’s best defensive half of the year. And the Cougars out-rebounded Winthrop 26-6.
All that after Winthrop had burned WSU’s pack defense in the first half with back screens, cross screens and ball screens. In other words, just about anything the Eagles ran, worked, allowing them to score on more than 50 percent of their possessions.
“We didn’t really play well at all in the first half,” said Robbie Cowgill, who finished with 14 points, one off his season high. “Offensively I thought we were all right. But defensively, it was just kind of a lackluster effort really. Giving up easy baskets (on) their gimmick plays, back screens, cross screens, then giving them second chance points.
“We call those losing plays.”
Although the Cougars weren’t losing — a Cowgill dunk off an inbounds play tied the score at 29 with a minute left before intermission — they had allowed 13th-seeded Winthrop to shoot 43 percent, grab five offensive rebounds and build confidence.
Only the offense of Kyle Weaver (12 points) and Aron Baynes (10 on three dunks and two close-in hoops) allowed the Cougars to keep pace with Taj McCullough (15 points) and the 22-12 Eagles.
“I was disappointed with the easy things they got,” Bennett said. “I knew it was going to be a dog fight, I really did.”
There was only one dog fighting in the second half.
Winthrop, which had 12 points in the paint before halftime, took its first four shots from beyond the arc. They all missed.
The Cougars (25-8 and seeded fourth in the East) took advantage, scoring the half’s first nine points, including Derrick Low’s first basket, a 3-pointer with 17 minutes to play.
“We needed a Derrick or someone to really cut loose offensively,” Bennett said.
Someone became just about everyone.
Low finished with 11 points, Weaver with 14. And Baynes continued to assert himself, hitting all nine of his shots for a game-high 19 points, most coming off Taylor Rochestie’s season-high 10 assists.
“That was just on the guys,” Baynes said of his highest point total since the Pac-10 season began. “They penetrated and they forced the defense to rotate over. My guy just helped up each time.
“I just had to step into the spot. They’re going to get me the ball in my hands. I just have to catch it and go up.”
“When we get production from our four and five, that helps us,” Bennett said of Cowgill and Baynes combining for 33 points and 14 rebounds. “There was a size advantage with Aron and a size advantage inside. … (Aron) does a pretty good job when he gets deep-post position. That certainly helped us.
“Then Robbie knocked down some shots (and) got a couple offensive rebounds in the second half. … But Aron, whenever he can score for us, we can spread it out, that’s big.”
The second-half offense was polsihed. WSU shot 65.4 percent (59.2 for the game, best since USC), grabbed six offensive rebounds, dealt 13 assists and committed just five turnovers. Still, it was the defense that sealed the deal, with an effort that surprised even Bennett.
“We’re not the kind of team that overwhelms people,” Bennett said. “We’re not gonna throw a knock out punch.”
So what were the 9-0, 14-0 and 13-0 second-half runs supposed to be?
“We got frustrated,” Winthrop coach Randy Peele said. “What happened is … when you struggle to score, it shows up on your ability to defend. And it showed up for us tonight, especially in the second half.”
With Cowgill locking down McCullough — he had two points after halftime — and Winthrop leading scorer Michael Jenkins a non-factor due to Rochestie’s defense, the Cougars exploded.
“Defensively, we try to talk about getting gaps,” Bennett said. “For us getting gaps (means) three stops in a row. Whenever we can do that, that’s a gap, then we start another one.
“We just kept trying to challenge them, encourage them, get another one. I thought they really responded. I could feel them getting some confidence.”
Now they take that confidence into Saturday’s 3:40 (PDT) second-round game against Notre Dame, a 68-50 winner over George Mason on Thursday. The Irish, led by Luke Harangody, are the fifth seed in the East and 25-7 overall.
“We’ll have to come out, whoever we play,” Bennett said, “and probably can’t have a first half like that.”
If they do, Bennett is always ready to deliver a halftime pick-me-up.
“I told our guys at halftime,” Bennett said, offering a glimpse into the locker room, ” ‘It’s one of two things, you’re either scared or you’re being overconfident.’ And I said, ‘You better figure out which one it is and make a change.’ “
They did.a
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