Washington State basketball: Cougars head into final homestand hoping to gain late-season momentum

Feb. 16—PULLMAN — Fresh off a rivalry win, Washington State looks to close its home schedule on a high note and build momentum heading into the final stretch of its regular season.

WSU (11-15, 6-9 Pac-12) hosts Oregon State at 8 p.m. Thursday at Beasley Coliseum . The Cougars snapped a two-game skid on Saturday and improved to 8-3 on their home court, gutting out a 56-51 victory over visiting Washington.

The Beavers (10-16, 4-11) are also coming off a rejuvenating home game. They recorded their best win of the year, upsetting USC on Saturday.

But OSU is just 1-11 this season outside of Corvallis and 1-26 in road/neutral games over the past two years. The Cougars opened as 10 1/2 -point favorites.

"They'll be itching to prove themselves against us," WSU coach Kyle Smith said.

WSU wraps up its home schedule at 4 p.m. Sunday on senior day against the Oregon Ducks . A sweep of the Oregon schools this week could set the Cougars up for a late-season surge. WSU concludes its season with three winnable games on the road.

"It's where you want to be late in the season — try to have a good push here and be playing our best going into the conference tournament," Smith said. "Thursday will be a good indicator."

Recent trends indicate that it may be a defensive battle between the Cougars and Beavers. WSU allowed a season-low 51 points and surrendered just 18 field goals, also a season low, against the Huskies. The Cougars held three of their past six opponents under 60 points, and gave up just 63 points in a close loss Jan. 26 to Arizona — one of the best offensive teams in the nation.

"Before that Los Angeles stretch, we'd really been guarding," said Smith, whose team lost 80-70 to USC on Feb. 2 and 76-52 to UCLA two days later. "Five out of our last seven games, our defense has improved."

The Cougars rank 50th nationally in defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com, and 55th nationally in scoring defense (65.2 ppg). The Beavers limit opponents to 66.2 points per game — 80th nationally. OSU held USC under 60 points and limited the Trojans to a 32% shooting mark.

"They're good defensively," Smith said. "They've made a dramatic turn from where they were last year. They're pretty young, but they're very physical. They'll play five frontcourt guys, so expect them to use all those bodies and do everything they can to try and be physical with us. Obviously, they had a really good win against USC, and I thought they played well against UCLA (a 62-47 loss in Corvallis on Feb. 9)."

The Cougars and Beavers sit at 10th and 11th in the conference, respectively, in scoring offense and field-goal percentage. OSU ranks 343th nationally at 61.4 ppg and WSU is 291st (66.9 ppg). The Beavers are No. 315 in field-goal percentage (41.4%) and WSU is one spot higher on the national rankings at 41.54%.

The Beavers shot only 31.3% in their win over USC, and WSU hit a season-low 29.3% of its field-goal attempts against the Huskies. The Cougars avoided turnovers and dominated on the offensive glass to hold off UW.

"If we don't turn it over and we offensive rebound, we're going to win," Smith said Tuesday during his weekly coach's show of the game plan versus UW. "We shot 29% and won. We had to guard really well."

The Cougars should have an advantage on the glass. WSU ranks fourth in the Pac-12 in offensive rebounding (11.4 per game) and OSU sits at the bottom of the conference .

Leading the Beavers is true freshman guard Jordan Pope, who averages 12.9 points per game.

"He's a bucket," Smith said, "a tough little combo guard who is a really good shooter."

Pope was high school teammates at Prolific Prep in Napa, California, with standout Cougars post Mouhamed Gueye.

Gueye is coming off a 17-point, 15-rebound effort against the Huskies — the 6-foot-11 sophomore's 11th double-double of the year. Gueye ranks 11th in the country and tied for first in the Pac-12 in double-doubles.

"It's been a tremendous amount of growth (for Gueye this year)," Smith said. "His usage is nearing 27%, which, for a forward/center, is really high.

"If 'Mo' plays well, we've got a good chance. That's the best way to put it. It gets a lot tougher if he doesn't play well. ... I thought he was really good against U-Dub. I expect him to play well every game now. That's what it takes."

WSU's other captain, guard TJ Bamba, has rediscovered his scoring touch after a rough three-game stretch between Jan. 26 and Feb. 2, during which he averaged eight points per game and shot 21.4% from the field. Bamba, who has been playing through a hand injury for a month, scored a combined 39 points on 11-of-25 shooting from the field over the past two games.

"He's compromised physically for the rest of the year. I don't think it's a secret with his hand, and he's managed it well," Smith said. "He has to guard the toughest perimeter guy every game, and he's leading us in scoring (14.7 ppg).

"He's broken through in the last couple of games, scoring the ball better. He's our captain, he's a two-way player and he's still getting to where he's comfortable in that role, going from a 22-minutes per game guy ... to our main perimeter guy."

Senior day participants

Smith expects starting forward DJ Rodman and reserve center Jack Wilson to take part in senior day festivities Sunday.

Rodman, who has one year of eligibility remaining, indicated during a recent interview with The Spokesman-Review that he is leaving the door open for a return, but leaning toward starting his professional career.

The fourth-year Cougar has appeared in 103 games at WSU, starting 34 — including 22 this season . Rodman is averaging nine points and 5.7 rebounds per game.

"I think we're honoring DJ regardless of what he does next year," Smith said. "He's given us an unbelievable four years. He's a guy that opted in without a visit and really wanted to be a part of this program, and has really laid a foundation."

Wilson joined the program midway through the season after spending a couple of years as a backup offensive lineman on WSU's football team. The 6-11, 325-pounder has made six appearances for the basketball team, averaging 2.5 minutes per game. Wilson could opt to return next year.

Mullins stops slump

Junior guard Jabe Mullins had a good start to the year but got stuck in a shooting funk that lasted a month. He went 4 of 25 from 3-point range over eight games before the UW game.

The Snoqualmie, Washington, native hit two 3s midway through the second half, both of which were crucial in the Cougars' low-scoring win.

"It's nice to see the ball go in the basket. It energizes the team, it energizes you," Smith said. "That's part of the process. (Mullins has) made so many shots, that he goes higher up in the (opponent's) scout. It was nice to see that."

Mullins, who averages 9.2 ppg, still leads the team in 3-point percentage (42.7%).

Smith on Pac-12 parity

The conference has been competitive and somewhat unpredictable this season.

Eight Pac-12 programs are top-70 teams nationally, per KenPom. UCLA and Arizona are far above the rest of the pack, but six other conference teams sit between No. 43 and 66 and can't be overlooked as the Pac-12 Tournament draws near. WSU is ranked No. 65.

The Beavers rank 11th in the conference at No. 201 nationally. They've endured their share of blowout losses, to be sure, but have had a number of solid showings against favored opponents. The same can be said of lower-ranked programs like Washington and Stanford. No. 97 Stanford knocked off 13th-ranked Arizona last weekend.

"Top to bottom, we're pretty darn good," Smith said of the conference. "Even Oregon State ... they're good. They're coming on and they had a good win against USC. It kind of hurts our league as far as getting more teams in (the NCAA Tournament)."

Despite a 15-11 record, Oregon comes in at No. 43 on KenPom's rankings. Like WSU, the Ducks have been plagued by health issues and have struggled to field a consistent lineup.

"They're closer to getting there," Smith said of Oregon. "They have a different look than what we played the first time. Their perimeter is really talented and their bigs are really talented.

"They haven't put it together and haven't been healthy, but on paper, they look really impressive."

Oregon beat visiting WSU 74-60 on Dec. 1 . The Ducks were missing senior guard Jermaine Couisnard and 7-footer Nate Bittle, both of whom have started the past nine games. The Cougars played without Mullins and veteran forward Andrej Jakimovski due to injuries.

Every Cougars player was available against the Huskies. Asked about the team's health heading into its final homestand, Smith said WSU "came out of the U-Dub game with some nicks. Hopefully, we'll get closer to healthy (for Thursday's game)."