PULLMAN – The Washington State Cougars had lost three in a row and five out of seven, so coach Ken Bone expected to see a determined group of players at the morning shootaround prior to Saturday night’s game with Arizona.
So much for that theory.
When Bone showed up, most of his players were sitting around chatting with one another.
“I thought, ‘Oh my goodness. What in the world is going on?’ ” Bone said. “That always scares you, because you’re paranoid already as a coach.”
Relax, Coach. The Cougars played with energy and focus in a 78-60 rout of Arizona.
“Our players did an outstanding job,” said Bone, who rated the performance WSU’s best of the Pacific-10 Conference season. A Friel Court crowd of 8,135 provided enthusiastic support and gave the home team a standing ovation in the final minute.
The Cougars were led by a game-high 19 points from DeAngelo Casto. That’s a career best for the sophomore post from Spokane, and he also led all players with four offensive rebounds, nine total rebounds and three blocked shots.
“He played real well,” Arizona forward Derrick Williams said. “He outplayed all of us.”
“He was making some good post moves that he normally doesn’t do,” Arizona point guard Nic Wise said. “We had a scouting report that he wasn’t a great post player.”
The Wildcats should have known better, since Casto scored 16 points – including the buzzer-beating basket to win the game – at Arizona last month. However, Casto had not scored in double figures since that game, averaging five points in eight games.
“I prepared a lot harder this week that I have in the past,” Casto said. “The coaches have been pushing me really hard.”
“He played real well because he was aggressive,” WSU guard Klay Thompson said.
Thompson, struggling with his shot of late, scored 14 points on 5-for-11 shooting. He made several slick passes and totaled four assists.
“We just tried to share the ball more tonight,” Thompson said. “It worked well.”
The Cougars shot 51 percent from the field, including 67 percent (14-for-21) in the second half. The Wildcats shot 42 percent, and their 60 points tied for the second-fewest allowed by WSU this season.
“We played good help defense, and that was huge,” Bone said. The Cougars had given up 70 or more points in eight consecutive games.
WSU (15-8, 5-6 Pac-10) led all the way after snapping a 24-24 tie with an 8-2 spurt at the end of the first half. The Cougars scored the first seven points after halftime, then poured in 12 points in a row after Arizona cut the deficit to six with five minutes to go.
Bone went to his bench earlier and more often than usual with Nikola Koprivica in foul trouble and Abe Lodwick fighting illness. Freshman forward Brock Motum had season bests of 10 points and 17 minutes.
Williams led the Wildcats (12-11, 6-5) with 16 points, seven rebounds and two blocks. WSU point guard Reggie Moore, who might be Williams’ main challenger for Pac-10 freshman of the year, again played well against the talented Wise and scored 12 points.
Marcus Capers defended Wise much of the time and helped limit the senior to 10 points, six below his average.
The Wildcats, young and undersized like the Cougars, needed to win to remain tied for first.
The Cougars needed a win to avoid falling into a tie for last with Stanford (10-13, 4-7). WSU visits the Cardinal on Thursday in a 7 p.m. contest that will not be televised.
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