At times, it seemed as if the Washington Huskies never missed a shot at crunch time Sunday.
The Washington State Cougars begged to differ. They felt the problem was second-chance points fueled by the Huskies racking up 12 offensive rebounds in the second half of a comeback, 75-65 victory.
“They got offensive rebound after offensive rebound,” WSU guard DaVonte Lacy said.
“We’re not big and athletic like other teams,” WSU guard Faisal Aden said, “but 20 offensive rebounds is ridiculous.”
Actually, the Huskies grabbed 22 of their 46 rebounds off the offensive glass.
WSU had just 24 total rebounds, including a mere four on the offensive end – only one of which came in the second half.
“They’re out there playing volleyball,” muttered Aden, referring to Washington’s ability to keep the ball alive after missed shots.
Aden, a lean 6-foot-4 senior, was the only Cougar with more than three rebounds. He tied his career high of seven boards on a day when 6-10 starting posts Brock Motum and Charlie Enquist combined for two rebounds – both by Motum.
Except for a tie with lowly Utah, the Cougars have been outrebounded in all five of their Pacific-12 Conference games. The Cougars won the rebounding battle in the last seven nonconference games.
Rebounding is more difficult when playing zone defense. The Cougars have played a 2-3 zone most of the time since their man-to-man defense was torched by Oregon in the Pac-12 opener.
“It’s hard to do that (rebound out of a zone),” Aden admitted, “but we just have to stay locked in.”
FASTBREAKS
The Cougars, who have lost three in a row, play in Pullman for the first time since Dec. 18 when Pac-12 co-leader Stanford comes to town Thursday (7:05 p.m., no TV). … The 6-6 Ross had one more offensive rebound (five) than WSU’s entire team. … Bone drew laughter when he slipped on a wet spot on the floor and – in his own words – “bit it” when attempting to call a time-out in the second half. … Aden led the Cougars with 18 points, one more than Motum, who had 13 points in the first half. … Enquist, who played only nine minutes Sunday, went scoreless for the second time in league play. He scored just two points in each of the other three league games.
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