Washington State Basketball

The Washington State Cougars have no seniors on their roster this season. They do have eight juniors, five of whom see more than 20 minutes of playing time. That means in two years, the Cougar roster will undergo a major renovation.

That can be toned down if the Pac-10's leading scorer, Klay Thompson, decides to go to the NBA after this season.

Fact: The Cougars have not reached the NCAA Tournament while Thompson has been a member of the Cougar roster the two previous seasons.

Opinion: The Cougars will not make the tournament this season.

Klay Thompson is not the problem. Believe me when I say I'm not trying to run Thompson out of town. He's already individually put up career numbers that have him ranked amongst the greatest players to ever put on a Cougar uniform.

Last night, during a 79-70 loss to No. 12 Arizona, Thompson scored 30 points, which moved him into third place on the all-time WSU scoring list with 1,568 points.

However, it was the fourth time this season that the junior has scored 30 or more in a game. The Cougars have just one win in those four games.

I've watched this team rely on Thompson for too long, dating back to last season. No moment stands out more to me than during a loss to Oregon in last season's Pac-10 Tournament.

The Cougars were down 82-80 with 11 seconds left, and then-freshman Reggie Moore held the ball, looking only for Thompson. However, Thompson was never able to shake free the Oregon defender, leaving Moore to hoist a 30-foot prayer that fell short as the buzzer sounded, effectively ending Washington State's season.

This play came after a timeout. Where was plan B? Plan C? Did Cougar head coach Ken Bone think that Oregon was going to let Thompson get the ball with ease?

Thompson's numbers have improved in literally every statistical category from last season, proving that he's continuing to grow. But don't you think the NBA, without the distractions of academics, would help improve his game more rapidly and against better competition?

There's no telling where the Cougars would be this year without Thompson. They've already surpassed last year's win total of 16 with 17 victories and at least five guaranteed games left, including the Pac-10 Tournament.

But it's scary to think that in two years, only four current players could still be here that right now see at least six minutes a game.

Sophomores Reggie Moore and Brock Motum, along with freshmen Patrick Simon and Dre' Winston Jr., combine to average just 21 points a game. However, Moore and Winston Jr. are both 6'1" point guards, and Motum and Simon are both over 6'8" and like to shoot perimeter jump shots. Point being, these four players will never be seen on the court at the same time.

If Thompson chooses to go to the NBA, questions will arise about this Cougar basketball team regarding the scoring. Where will it come from? Why not answer that question sooner than later, or at least get an idea of what you're working with?

Junior college transfer Faisal Aden was brought in specifically to replace Thompson's scoring had Thompson decided to go to the NBA following last season.

At Hillsborough Community College, Aden averaged nearly 23 points a game. This year, he's scoring just under 13 per game, including just over 10 a game in conference play.

Obviously, if Thompson was absent from this team, the shots would be there for others to take. But they're not, and if Thompson stays, they won't be there next year either, which will stunt this program's growth to be a yearly Pac-10 title contender.

If Klay Thompson stays for his senior season, enjoy the ride, as he will have the opportunity to dazzle Cougar nation and place himself on top as the Cougars' all-time leading scorer. But in two years, when he leaves, along with other key players such as DeAngelo Casto, Marcus Capers, Abe Lodwick and Faisal Aden, don't look so shocked when the Cougars take a major step back and start the rebuilding process.

According to bracketologist Joe Linardi of ESPN, the Washington State Cougars are one of the last four teams in to the field of 68 in this year's NCAA tournament.

He has them matched up in a play-in game against Missouri State where the winner would take on Missouri in the first round in Tucson, AZ.

Just because the Washington State name is in print doesn't mean the Cougars can relax.

They have seven games remaining, four at home including two starting Thursday against Stanford before taking on California on Saturday afternoon.

The Cougars won impressively back on Jan. 30 against the then 17th ranked Washington Huskies, 87-80. But the Huskies followed up their loss by dropping both games down in Oregon last weekend and dropping out of the top 25.

The Cougars can't rely on teams they've beaten in the past to win out and boost their RPI rating. The Cougars must handle their own business.

But after a 69-43 blow out loss a week ago against the Oregon Ducks, a sub .500 team at the time, handling their own business is easier said than done.

Around the Washington State campus, questions are starting to arise about Klay Thompson and whether or not he'll return for what would be his senior season next year or opt to put his name in the NBA draft.

The 6'6" swingman out of Ladera Ranch, Calif. has been in a slump the past two weeks.

In three of his last four games, Thompson has scored no more than 12 points and has turned the ball over at least five times in the past four games. Something he'd only done five times in the first 19 games of the season.

Thompson holds the key to success for the Cougars and their chance at their first tournament berth since 2008.

Despite his slump, he still leads the Pac-10 in scoring (21.2) and finds himself in the top five in assists (4.4), steals (2.0), three point percentage (42 percent), and is also among the top 10 in categories such as free throw percentage, blocked shots and assist to turnover ratio.

Like I previously said, the Cougars have four of their seven remaining regular season games at home where they've only lost twice. However, three of the four teams traveling to Pullman this month (California, USC and UCLA) already beat the Cougars earlier this season, and now the Cougars must return the favor to keep the dream alive of dancing in March.

On Thursday, the Cougars will host Stanford, a team they beat in Palo Alto 61-58 back on Jan. 15. In that game the Cougars were down by 9 at halftime but roared back behind Thompson's 21 points to go along with Faisal Aden's 20.

That game also featured the absence of Cougar guard Reggie Moore, as he was suspended for a misdemeanor charge or marijuana along with possession of drug paraphernalia.

However that one game absence did not ruin the hot streak that Moore is currently on. He's reached double figure points in his past eight games including a team high 14 in a must-win game last Saturday against Oregon State. A game in which Thompson scored just six points and grabbed two rebound before fouling out.

Stanford is giving up just a conference low  62 points a game which is 12 points less than the Cougars average on offense.

If the Cougars are serious about making a run late into March, they must beat Stanford, a team that has only one victory away from home, on Thursday night.

When it was all said and done, and the fans left the court they had rushed after watching their team beat their rivals, the Washington State Cougars realized that this season is far from over; there is work still to be done.

Sunday night in Pullman, a sellout crowd watched the hometown Cougars beat the No. 17-ranked Washington Huskies 87-80, in a game that was the first step towards the Cougars making it back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2009.

"Our goal is to try to get to the NCAA tournament," Cougar head coach Ken Bone said. "This is one of those games we felt we really, really needed."

Coming into the game, the Cougars had lost four straight to their foes from the western side of the state. In fact, no one on the current Cougar roster had tasted victory over the Huskies before last night. Juniors Abe Lodwick and Charlie Enquist were redshirting in 2008 when the Cougars beat the Huskies twice.

The crowd inside Beasley Coliseum was insane, to put it mildly, and the Cougars fed off that energy.

Unlikely performers stepped up, as the Cougars were plagued with foul trouble all night.

With more than 10 minutes remaining in the second half, the Cougars found four players with four fouls. Four key players. Starters Klay Thompson, DeAngelo Casto, Abe Lodwick and reserve center Brock Motum.

At the time of Thompson picking up his fourth foul, the Cougars were up 63-58, following three free throws by Washington's Justin Holiday.

And that was as close as the Huskies ever got.

Thanks to offensive highlights from players such as Patrick Simon and Enquist, who average just 11 minutes and two minutes of playing time, the Cougars were able to keep the Huskies at a healthy distance until Thompson was able to come back in to seal the deal.

Thompson was coming off just a nine-point performance a week earlier against Arizona and coming into the game against Washington; much was made of Thompson's struggles against Washington.

In four career games, Thompson had scored a combined 29 points.

In his fifth game, he went off for 25, including nine points in the final 5:57 where he played the remainder of the game with four fouls.

Another big reason for the Cougars upset was sophomore guard Reggie Moore.

The Seattle native scored a season-high 18 points, including going nine of 10 from the free-throw line.

Moore also provided the highlight of the night early in the second half during a 10-1 Cougar run, when Moore received an alley-oop pass from Faisal Aden and slammed it down to give the Cougars their biggest lead at 55-44.

Looking towards this game, I said the Cougars would need to stop penetration of the Washington guards, because that would create three-point opportunities for the Huskies, who shoot 39 percent from beyond the arc.

That didn't happen.

Isaiah Thomas frequently penetrated the Cougars' 2-3 zone they played throughout the night, and when the Cougars collapsed down, Thomas kicked out to wide-open three-point shooters.

The Huskies fired away at will, 31 times in fact, and connected on just 11 of them. Overall, the Huskies shot just 37 percent from the field, the third time they've been held below 40 percent, and in all those games they lost.

Washington State's 2-3 zone took away Matthew Bryan-Amaning. The senior scored a season-low six points on one of eight from the floor in 33 minutes.

The Cougars zone defense gave more than just Bryan-Amaning fits, it flustered the Huskies as a whole. They turned the ball over a season-high 24 times, twice as much as their average of just 12.

Thomas himself had a season-high seven turnovers.

"That's my fault," said Thomas. "I take the blame for this loss."

Now the Cougars find themselves at 15-6, with four winnable games over the next two weeks. This Thursday in Eugene, Ore. starts a weekend pair of games in Oregon, before returning home the following weekend to take on California and Stanford.

The Cougars are higher than all these teams in the conference standings and, should they win all four, will have won 19 games and control their own destiny of making it to the NCAA Tournament.

Thompson believes that's a real possibility.

"The first half of the Pac-10 season didn't go exactly how we wanted it," Thompson said. "We think we can be the best team in the league and I think we showed that tonight."

I've already seen fans lined up outside Beasley Coliseum for tomorrow night's matchup between the Washington State Cougars 14-6 (4-4) and the No. 17 Washington Huskies 15-4 (7-1). And the game is still 29 hours away.

Washington is coming into the game outscoring Pac-10 opponents by an average of 25 points per game.

If the Cougars want to win this game, they must be darn near perfect in every category.

The game will feature four players who are in the top 12 in scoring in the conference including three of the top five. Washington State's Klay Thompson (22.2), Washington's Isaiah Thomas (16.9), and Washington's Matthew Bryan-Amaning (16.2).

Washington State's Faisal Aden is averaging 14.1 points a game, but he's been held to eight points or less in five of his last eight outings. The Cougars have gone 4-5 during that stretch which includes a victory against Arizona State where Aden sat out resting a sore knee.

It might seem weird to hear me say that country's ninth leading scorer is a wild card in this game, but that's exactly how I'm labeling Klay Thompson.

Last Saturday against Arizona, Thompson had his worst shooting game of the season by far and based on last year's second half swoon, no one can tell me that he'll be his old self on Sunday.

Last Saturday, he was held to just nine points and connected on only one three-point field goal in seven tries. It was just the third time this season that Thompson didn't make at least two three-point field goals, and the Cougars are 1-2 when that stat is presented.

Washington is fast. There's no denying it. Guards Venoy Overton along with Thomas are fearless when they take it into the lane, and that causes defenses to converge on the penetration allowing for kick outs to their multiple threats from beyond three-point territory.

Both guards are in the top five in the conference in assists per game, are ranked two-three in assists to turnover ratio per game and Washington as a whole has connected on more three-point field goals than any team in the conference, averaging nine makes a game from downtown.

This team is scary.

Because while they've always had good perimeter players, one of the questions coming into this season was the play of senior Matthew Bryan-Amaning. Could he be a dominant force on the inside?

Yes he can, and yes he has.

Averaging 19 and nine in the first eight games of league play earned Bryan-Amaning his first player of the week honor of his career back during the first week of January. Teammate Isaiah Thomas has won the award twice in the past three weeks.

Last Saturday, Bryan-Amaning went off for 30 points and nine rebounds against Arizona State while going eight for eight from the free-throw line.

I was not able to watch the Husky game against Stanford back on Jan. 13, when they lost 58-56 in Palo Alto so I can't pinpoint visually what the Cardinal were able to do to keep the Huskies to their lowest scoring output of the season.

On the other hand, the 58 points the Huskies gave up was their second best defense scoring game.

Looking at game totals for the Huskies side by side, it's noticeable that the Huskies only went to the free-throw line 12 times as a team against Stanford while during the season they average 20 attempts a game. Last weekend against the Arizona schools, they averaged nearly 30 attempts for both games.

For the Cougars to win this game, they simply must outscore the Huskies. Sounds elementary but it's the truth. The Huskies have more size, more depth and their style has them better conditioned.

The Cougars will most likely stick with the two-three zone they've played throughout most of the season and continue to double down the team's low-post force every time he gets the ball. In this case, Matthew Bryan-Amaning.

The Cougars dedication to the zone has seen them allow just 64 points a game, and they have the No. 1 field goal defense in the conference. They are holding opponents to just 38 percent, and they're the only team holding their opponents below 40 percent on the year.

Because the Cougars like to clog the lane and also have conference-leading shot blocker DeAngelo Casto lurking around, it's no surprise the Cougars have allowed the most shot attempts from downtown of any team in the Pac-10.

For the Huskies who shoot 39 percent from beyond the arc, that might be a good thing.

When it comes to rebounding, the Huskies have the edge, and it's not even close. I almost don't even want the Cougars to crash the offensive boards. They're grabbing fewer than nine offensive boards a game, and with the Huskies wanting to run the ball all game, it seems it would be smarter to let the Cougars fire away and just immediately rush back on defense.

That seemed to work when the Bennetts had their success.

I can see either team winning this game, but if I had to pick a winner, it would be the Huskies. They have no weakness that the Cougars can exploit and run with for the entire game.

When Washington lost to Stanford, they shot a season low 36 percent, way below the 49 percent they average, which is ninth in the country. They also dished out only 11 assists, seven below their average of 17.7, eighth in the nation.

Based on those two statistics, the key to success for the Cougars is this. Stop penetration by Thomas and Overton. They are as crafty as any two guards in the country, and if they can find the cracks and get close enough to the basket causing the Cougar defenders to drop down, that'll leave three-point specialists like Justin Holiday, Scott Suggs and C.J. Wilcox, who are all shooting above 41 percent from three-point land, to fire away.

The Huskies have beaten the Cougars four consecutive times following seven straight victories for the Cougars dating from January 2006 to March 2008.

After the Washington State Cougars lost their opening two Pac-10 games to UCLA and USC back in December, I called their next two against the Oregon schools must wins.

And now I'm doing it again.

On Thursday, the Cougars dominated from start to finish in a comfortable 78-61 victory over the Arizona State Sun Devils. It was their fourth win in their last five games, and they were preparing for a battle with the ranked Arizona Wildcats on Saturday night.

Against Arizona State, Cougar forward DeAngelo Casto went off for a career high 25 points, taking advantage of Arizona State's lack of physicality early and often.

Right behind Casto was Klay Thompson with 22 points, to go along with eight rebounds and nine assists. It was the fifth time in the past six games that Thompson has recorded eight or more rebounds. A big part for the Cougar recent momentum.

Everything seemed lined up for a victory against the Wildcats coming into last night.

Thompson was leading the charge. Reggie Moore had returned from his suspension to pick up where he had left off, scoring 11 points with five assists. And reserve guard Faisal Aden was back after missing a game with a sore knee.

The Wildcats were coming off a loss at Washington in a game that was closer, for the most part, than the score would indicate.

However, in Pullman on Saturday night, the lasting image for me will be watching Klay Thompson standing at the free-throw line after the final buzzer sounded, with his hands on his heads, wondering how he had missed that shot and letting Arizona win 65-63.

The Cougars started the game comfortably building a 22-10 lead, despite Thompson collecting two fouls in the first five minutes of the game. Head coach Ken Bone decided to leave him in.

Smart move or not, I'm not sure. Thompson only picked up one more foul the remainder of the game in which he played 38 of the 40 minutes.

But his offense struggled. His shots were not falling in. Thompson scored a season-low nine points on 4-16 shooting, including one of seven from beyond the three-point line.

Faisal Aden also struggled to find his shot, scoring just five points on two of seven shooting, including one of six from three. Aden, who early on complemented Thompson in the scoring department and is known for his accuracy from beyond the three-point line, is just 3-19 in his past four games from downtown, just 16 percent.

Arizona was led by sophomore Derrick Williams, who scored 17 points to go along with a season-high 19 rebounds. His physical presence inside and ability to get to the free-throw line wore out the Cougars, and the Wildcats were able to walk out of Beasley Coliseum with a win.

But as big of a win this may have been for Arizona, it was an even bigger loss for Washington State and their hopes at returning to the NCAA Tournament.

Now the Cougars must regroup and face their next opponent, crosstown rival Washington, next Sunday, Jan. 30, in Pullman.

Other than a small hiccup in Palo Alto, against Stanford, the Washington Huskies have been winning, winning comfortably, and will be in the top 20, if not the top 15 when the new rankings come out on Monday.

With the Cougars loss, they drop to 4-4 in the conference and 14-6 overall with 10 regular season games remaining.

It's my belief that a benchmark the tournament selection committee looks at is that 20-win season that teams usually have when they are invited to play in the Big Dance.

If the Cougars want to reach 20 wins before the Pac-10 tournament, they must win six of their final 10 games. Looking at the schedule, it's hard find those six wins.

The Cougars lost their mulligan with the Huskies when they were defeated by California 10 days ago in overtime.

Now they must beat the Huskies to maintain that sliver of a chance that would have them dancing.

The Pac-10 is hard to figure out. After watching the Cougars handle the Oregon Ducks a few weeks ago, I silently predicted that the Ducks would not win a game in conference all season. And then they beat USC, a team that had no problem overpowering the Cougars in Los Angeles.

So what does that mean?

When a conference has a clear-cut top dog, and then the rest of the conference beats itself up against each other, it makes the conference overall look weak, giving national media a reason to think the conference is down.

Had the Cougars beaten Arizona, they would've been 5-3 in the conference and not atop a middle portion of a conference that can't get out of each other's way.

Another thing the selection committee looks at is out-of-conference quality wins.

Before the season started, the Cougars looked at their schedule and saw Gonzaga, Kansas State and then possible matchups in Hawaii at the Diamond Head Classic, where they ended up playing Baylor and Butler.

Gonzaga this year is not the Gonzaga of old, and at this point, if they make the NCAA tournament, it will be because of a championship in the West Coast Conference Tournament, after back to back losses to Santa Clara and San Francisco before getting ready to take on No. 21 Saint Mary's tomorrow night.

Kansas State has deeply disappointed Wildcat fans lately, having lost four of their past five, and have just one conference win. Even though the Cougars lost to the Wildcats back on Dec. 3, as a Cougar fan, you would still want Kansas State to roll on proving that they were a great team instead of what has happened.

Baylor has also hit a bump in the road, losing two in a row before beating Oklahoma State last night.

And then there's Butler. Last year's runner-up to the national championship.

Butler handled the Cougars with ease back in Hawaii in the final of the Diamond Head Classic. And now the Bulldogs are 14-7 overall, more losses than the Cougars, and today Butler lost to Milwaukee for the second time this season, a team that's below .500.

The Cougars' fate is in their own hands. They must beat Washington on Sunday in Pullman. If they don't, they must win six of their final nine games as they go through Round 2 of the Pac-10 conference; it's hard to look at the schedule and find six wins.

Not even at Oregon.

Do I think they're better than Oregon? Yes. But that doesn't mean it's a victory. I think the Cougars are better than California, and somehow they lost to them.

I don't want to put all the pressure on Klay Thompson, but he is what makes this team goes. Exhibit A was last night. You would like to say Aden is the secondary option when a score is needed, but whether it's because of an ailing knee or whatever the reason, he's just not locked in right now.

The Huskies are playing their best right now, and the injury to Abdul Gaddy might have been a blessing in disguise as it's created an even bigger monster in Isaiah Thomas. Since he's been given the reigns to the offense back on Jan. 6, he's averaging over nine assists a game.

If the Cougars are going to win this game on Sunday, they need to be clicking on all cylinders offensively and defensively.

If they're not, start looking ahead to the Pac-10 tournament or even further down the line, the NIT.

The Washington State Cougars are 3-3 in the Pac-10 and their next three games are in Pullman, two against Arizona and Washington, the top two teams in the conference and both in the Top 25.

At halftime of the Cougars most recent game this past Saturday at Stanford, the Cougars were down 32-23 and looking like they were about to drop their fourth straight conference road game.

But thanks to 13 second-half points by Klay Thompson, the Cougars were able to steal a win from the Cardinal and stay within two games of the Huskies and Wildcats heading into the meat of their schedule.

The Cougars are 6-1 in Pullman at Friel Court and play Arizona State Thursday night.

On paper, that should be a victory for the Cougs as statistically Washington State finds themselves superior to the Sun Devils in almost every category.

Last year, Arizona State swept the Cougars including a 25-point blowout in Tempe, where the Cougars scored just 46 points, the lowest scoring output in Ken Bone's short time as head coach.

On Saturday night, the Cougars will host the Arizona Wildcats who will be coming off a hard battle with Washington. If the Cougars want to hold on to any chance of competing for a Pac-10 title, they must win this game.

This game will feature who I think are the top two players in the conference in Arizona's Derrick Williams and Washington State's Klay Thompson, the top two scorers in the conference and both account for over 25 percent of their team's scoring average.

A big factor will be the eligibility of Reggie Moore. The sophomore point guard has been suspended indefinitely and missed the game at Stanford but was seen on the bench in street clothes. This suspension comes from an arrest back in December on charges of marijuana possession. No timetable has been made for his return.

Due to his absence against Stanford, junior transfer Faisal Aden was inserted into the starting lineup and dropped 20 points, a number he hasn't produced since back on December 22nd against Mississippi State.

After a blazing start, Aden has cooled off and prior to the Stanford game, he had been limited to six points or less in three of the previous four games. The second leading scorer on the Cougar roster is averaging 14.6 points a game and will need to find his stroke once more to make up for Moore's absence.

Aden is averaging just nine points in the Cougars five losses this season proving that he needs to be that complimentary scorer to Thompson for the Cougars to have any success.

Reggie Moore was finally beginning to play like the Reggie Moore of old before the suspension kicked in. Prior to him sitting out, Moore had scored in double figures in three straight games and averaged almost six assists per contest.

Arizona's Derrick Williams is coming off his second Player of the Week honor after dropping 31 points and 10 rebounds on the Sun Devils last Saturday.

However, last year the Cougars held Williams in check as the then-freshman scored just 13 points in their first meeting, and 16 points in their second, both resulting in Cougar victories.

The Cougars have won five of the past eight meeting against the Wildcats and three of the past four in Pullman and currently three in a row. But they have a long ways to go if they want to match Arizona's longest win streak against the Cougars when they won 38 consecutive games dating from 1986 to 2005.

Junior forward DeAngelo Casto last year averaged 17.5 points and 9.5 rebounds against Arizona and will need to put up similar numbers for the Cougars to hang around.

Both teams shoot the ball extremely well but at the same time both hold their opponents to low percentages from the field so it'll be interesting to see who comes out on top.

I believe two factors will be beneficial to the Cougars. The home court and Arizona will spend a lot of energy on Thursday night against Washington.

Whether that really makes a difference, we'll just have to see.

Can a game of any sport be described as ugly and exciting in the same sentence? Those two adjectives seem fitting for a 84-70 Washington State win over Oregon State last night in Pullman.

A slow game with a combined 40 fouls and 50 free-throw attempts saw the Cougars pull ahead by as many as 19 in the first half. The Beavers clawed their way back to within four at 61-57 with 7:33 remaining in the game before the Cougars finally solved the Beavers' pesky 1-3-1 defense and pulled away to bring their record to 11-4 overall, 1-2 in the conference.

Klay Thompson, who earlier on Thursday was named one of the 30 midseason candidates for the Wooden Award, dropped 29 points on 9-of-19 shooting, and for the second straight game he recorded a double-double with another 10-rebound performance.

Another big contributor to the victory was guard Reggie Moore, as he scored 11 points and dished out a season-high nine assists to go along with five rebounds. All above his average on the year.

The excitement came after the wily Cougar began breaking the half-court traps and finding easy lay-ins thrown in with some thunderous dunks by DeAngelo Casto.

But it was Thompson who brought the house down with about two minutes to go when he found himself near the top of the three-point circle and—for a brief moment—saw the lane just part like the Red Sea. Thompson, wasting no time, drove to the basket and flushed an uncontested tomahawk jam that was the nail in the coffin for any Beaver believer thinking their team could come back.

Thompson, publicly seen as a quiet player on the court with the sweet jump shot, has made waves like this before. The first time was against Stanford as a freshman. His quiet demeanor is what makes his dunks all the more spectacular—they don't come often, but you better have your camera ready for when they do.

Along with Thompson and Moore, Faisal Aden scored 15 and junior Marcus Capers notched a season-high 12 points, eight of which came from the free-throw line as he was the target of Oregon State's late fouls to try to creep back in the game in the closing minutes.

In my previous article, I wrote that Brock Motum needed to get more playing time; however, head coach Ken Bone seems content on letting this team run with perimeter players. Motum saw just 15 minutes of action and scored eight points on 3-of-4 shooting while grabbing five boards.

Tomorrow the Cougars host the 7-8 Oregon Ducks, who are still winless in the conference in three attempts after coming off an 87-69 loss to Washington last night. Oregon actually led briefly early in the second half, but eventually the Huskies pulled away.

A similar effort by the Cougars will be necessary to complete this two-game homestand sweep that I believe is critical if this team wants to get its early season mojo back and contend for an NCAA tournament berth come March.

Yes, I said it. Just two games into the conference season and I'm calling tonight and Saturday's games against Oregon State and Oregon must-wins for the Washington State Cougars.

Similar to last year, the Cougars blazed through their non-conference schedule with their only losses coming to ranked Kansas State back on Dec. 3, and then in the finals of the Diamond Head Classic on Dec. 25 in Hawaii when they lost to Butler.

However, last weekend, the Cougars visited Los Angeles and got swept by both UCLA and USC and find themselves at the bottom of the Pac-10.

Now they must face a surprising Oregon State squad who stunned Arizona last weekend in Corvallis and beat Arizona State as well to start out 2-0 in conference play.

In Los Angeles, the Cougars were exposed for their lack of physical toughness down low as UCLA was able to overcome an eight-point halftime deficit to win handily 80-71 despite 26 points from junior, Klay Thompson

Thompson and fellow junior Faisal Aden, who scored 19 of his own against the Bruins combined for 45 of the Cougars 71 points as no other Cougar scored more than eight points.

Against the USC Trojans on Dec. 31, the Cougars lost 60-56 and this time it was forward DeAngelo Casto who topped the Cougars in scoring with 18 points, the fifth time he's scored double-digits this season.

Tonight the Cougars return for their first game in Pullman since Dec. 8, when they defeated Gonzaga, 81-59.

If the Cougars want to contend for a top-three finish in the Pac-10, several things must happen.

Faisal Aden must continue to compliment Klay Thompson in the scoring category. The Cougars have lost three in a row coming into tonight and in two of those games, Aden has been held under double-digits, including a season-low four points against USC.

The junior is averaging over 15 points a game, good for seventh in the conference and has provided relief and open shots for Thompson who's averaging 22 points a game—11th in the country.

Brock Motum needs to play more. I'm unsure of why a guy who is eighth in the nation in field-goal percentage is only getting to play 18 minutes a night while averaging eight points.

Just a true sophomore, the 6'10" Motum has shown soft touch around the basket and even will shoot the occasional three pointer (five of 10 on the season). Against USC he played just eight minutes and had no points on no field goal attempts.

Reggie Moore needs to return to last year's form. Moore began the year on the bench with a wrist injury that sidelined him for five games and when looking at the season stats of his two years at Washington State side by side, the numbers aren't too far apart.

His points have dropped from 12.7 to 7.7 a game but that's understandable due to Aden's arrival. However, his field goal and free throw percentages have dropped, especially his field goal percentage as he's shooting just 35 percent compared to last year's 42 percent from the floor.

It's more of an eyeball test with Moore. I just don't see the flair and creativity that he brought last year. However, I will give him credit for an attempted dunk he tried against UCLA and undoubtedly would've gotten on SportsCenter's top 10 had it not been for UCLA's Josh Smith blocking it at the rim.

Just showing that no fear attitude makes me believe that he is still the Reggie Moore of last year, but needs to bring it to the court night in and night out.

Also, Moore has gotten himself in some hot water recently as he was arrested back on Dec. 11, on charges of marijuana possession and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia.

Since the report states he was carrying less than 40 grams, both offenses are classified as misdemeanors. They do require a mandatory sentence of one day in jail. But it's been reported that Moore will play in tonight's game against Oregon State.

Head coach Ken Bone released a statement yesterday saying, "This is a team matter that we take very seriously. We initially learned about this incident Dec. 12, and at this time we have dealt with, and are still dealing with the issue. We will take further appropriate action if necessary.”

The Beavers come into tonight's game tied for first in the conference at 2-0 and 7-6 overall. Last year against the Cougars, each team won on their home court, with the Cougars winning 65-60, and the Beavers winning 59-55.

This year the Beavers are ranked last in the conference in points allowed and field goal percentage defense giving the Cougars reason to reach the 80 points plateau, a mark they reached in seven of their first 10 games. In the past four, the Cougars are only averaging 68 points.

After a strong 10-2 start during non-conference play, the Washington State Cougars begin Pac-10 play tonight in Los Angeles against the UCLA Bruins.

The Cougars are coming off an 84-68 loss in the championship game of the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii last Friday to the Butler Bulldogs. Prior to the defeat, the Cougars beat Mississippi State 83-57 in the first round and then built a 20-point lead against then 15th-ranked Baylor before holding on for a 77-71 victory in the semifinals.

The only Pac-10 team with more wins than Washington State is the Arizona Wildcats, who are 11-2.

Last year, the Cougars were 11-2 before taking on Pac-10 opponents, and followed that up by winning only six of 18 ball games and missing out on the postseason completely after back-to-back NCAA tournament berths.

The difference? Experience. Last year the Cougars only had one senior on the team, this year—zero. And now with head coach Ken Bone back for his second year, players are coming together and building a chemistry that hopes to take this team back to the postseason.

Junior Klay Thompson leads the Pac-10 in scoring, dropping 22 points a night, and also finds himself in the top five in assists, steals and free-throw percentage. Coming out of high school, Thompson was known more for his shooting and was labeled as a soft player but during his sophomore season worked on driving to the basket and he's continued to build on that this season.

As a freshman, Thompson played in all 33 games and attempted just 31 free throws. Last season, in only 31 games, attempted 167. This year he's on pace to attempt 186 free throws a contest. Just a part of his game that has grown and allowed him to be the third-fastest Cougar to eclipse 1,000 career points, which he did last season.

Helping Thompson on the scoring output has been junior college transfer Faisal Aden who's No. 5 in the conference averaging 16 points a game. Aden was brought in to replace Thompson who some thought might go pro after just two years in Pullman. But with Thompson returning, the two are averaging almost half of the Cougars scoring output as the team averages nearly 78 points a game.

Throughout the early parts of this season, it's been apparent this team excels on the perimeter offensively. As a team, they're shooting 49 percent (first in the conference) from the field and 39 percent from three-point range (second in the conference). Even freshman forward, Patrick Simon, who stands at 6'8", has attempted 39 three-pointers and connected on 33 percent of them.

Sophomore Brock Motum has been the only consistent player for the Cougars offensively in the post. He leads the Pac-10 shooting 65 percent from the field while contributing almost nine points a game. However, the man who stands 6'10" is only averaging three rebounds a game in 20 minutes of play, and that needs to increase significantly.

Motum is not alone in his lack of rebounding as Washington State as a whole needs to crash the boards. Along with Oregon State, both teams are the only two in the conference that on average are being out-rebounded by their opponents.

Last season, the Cougars lost both matchups with UCLA including a 74-62 loss in Los Angeles.

UCLA comes into tonight's game on a five-game winning streak with an 8-4 record where all four losses came consecutively, including a one-point loss at Kansas. The Bruins are 7-1 in Pauley Pavilion this season and all time against the Cougars in Pauley Pavilion are 43-2.

The Bruins have five players averaging double figures led by sophomore Tyler Honeycutt at just fewer than 15 points a game.

With the Bruins leading the conference in blocked shots and second in rebounds, look for Washington State to continue its attack from the perimeter. The Bruins on the other hand will provide a heavy dose of physicality with 310-pound freshman Josh Smith who is averaging 10 points and nearly seven rebounds a game. Smith has amassed five or more offensive rebounds in six of the team's 12 games so far, and is one of three Bruins players averaging at or more than seven rebounds a game.

The Cougars conversely, have just three players who grab more than four rebounds a game.

The saying goes, split your road games and win all your home games, and you're in good shape. But if the Cougars can get their third win ever in Los Angeles along with a victory against USC on Friday afternoon, then they'll be in great shape heading back to Pullman where they'll host two of the weaker schools in the conference in Oregon and Oregon State with a chance to start out 4-0 in Pac-10 play.

Really? Two games into the season and someone is already giving out awards?

No.

That would be unfair and irresponsible for anyone to make the case for any player to win an award at this point in the season. But it's never too early to starting creating a resume.

Washington State's Faisal Aden (pronounced Phase-el Aid-in) through two regular season games, is averaging a team high 22 points to go along with four-and-a-half rebounds in 30 minutes of play per game. He also leads the team in steals with six.

The 6'4" transfer from Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Fla. has been the scoring leader in both of the team's first two games against Southern University and last night when the Cougars hosted Idaho and won 88-71 to improve their record to 2-0.

As a freshman at HCC, the native of Somalia, averaged 20 points, three-and-a-half rebounds, and just over two assists and steals a game. He entered his sophomore season as a preseason All-American and saw statistical improvement across the board.

Now at Washington State, his numbers have not dropped off.

From afar. people might notice these early numbers and say he's a benefactor of preseason Wooden award candidate Klay Thompson's presence but if you watch the games as I have, I can honestly say that's not the case.

Aden, has more shot attempts than Thompson and a better field goal percentage including being more efficient from three point territory with both having equal shot attempts. While Thompson has grown into a player who shoots better when he receives the ball and is able to set his feet, Aden has shown the capability to create off the dribble and pull up and knock down a jump shot from anywhere on the court.

In an exhibition game against Lewis-Clark State back on November 5, Aden poured in a team high 22 points in just 19 minutes coming off the bench.

Due to an injured left wrist for point guard Reggie Moore, which has him labeled as day-to-day, Aden has found himself in the starting lineup the first two games.

When Moore comes back, it will be interesting to see how head coach Ken Bone adjusts his lineup. Will Aden stay in the starting lineup which would most likely mean taking the place of Marcus Capers? Or leave Capers in who despite his offensive deficiencies, is a terrific defender and currently team leader in rebounds averaging just under ten a game.

Aden gives the Cougars something they lacked last year. Another pure scorer to help relieve Thompson of trying to carry the team offensively. The Cougars have not had a duo of scoring threats in a long time if ever.

Even during their back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances in 2007 and 2008, Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver only averaged 14 and 12 points respectively. But much of that could be attributed to the team's style of play back then when scoring wasn't exactly No. 1 on their priority list.

It's easy to scoff and look at the Cougar opponents and try and diminish Aden's early performances, but I just want to throw his name out there and put it on your radar.

Aden and the Cougars travel to Seattle next week for their annual Cougar Hardwood Classic where they will host Portland at Key Arena on Tuesday, November 23 at 7:30 PM