Washington State-Oregon: Cougars Too Much for Ducks Late

The Washington State Cougars notched another win Sunday evening against their hoops nemesis the Oregon Ducks.  In a game controlled by the Ducks for 35 minutes, the Cougs finally defeated Oregon for the first time in their last 14 meetings. 

Yikes!  If ever there was a steak due to be broken, this was surely the one. 

When the final buzzer sounded, the scoreboard read WSU 69 - Oregon 60.

As they did against UCLA a week ago, WSU came out of the blocks as cold as a polar bear’s nose in mid-January.  Before the packed house in Pullman could get revved up to motivate their beloved Cougs, Oregon pulled out a 7-0 lead. 

For Cougar fans, things got a lot worse before they got better.  The Ducks held an 11-point margin several times in the first half before WSU closed the constant gap to four, 34-30 at the half.

So what happened in the first half?  The execution of an outstanding game plan by coach Ernie Kent and a tremendous team effort by Oregon, that’s what.  The Ducks played at their pace, dictating the tempo of the game for much of the first half.  That’s what happened.  Malik Hairston and Maarty Leunen completely outplayed Kyle Weaver and Aron Baynes in the first half.  That’s what happened.

So what happened to the Ducks in the second half?  Derrick Low happened.  The senior Low had a monster game scoring 27 points on 10-16 shooting from the field, had four steals, and played 39 minutes.  He was not to be denied this victory and virtually willed the rest of the team to shut down Oregon in the second half.

The pressure of trying to match the Coug’s aggressive style of defense took a toll on Oregon in the final ten minutes.  They ended up with 15 turnovers while the Cougars had just 7.  Oregon's shots started coming up a little short down the stretch when it was clear they were tiring.

The calm, controlled manner of Coach Tony Bennett reflected his team's playing demeanor.  Despite horrendous shooting in the first half, the Cougs never showed any panic.  They played within themselves, not succumbing to the pressure applied by a pesky Duck defense and smart passing offense.

Over 11,000 fans went home with huge smiles.  But they didn’t leave until standing and cheering for several minutes in tribute to their team after the clock ran out on Oregon.  Fans couldn’t have asked for more after seeing a hard fought college basketball game played under control and with tremendous intensity by both teams.

On a weekend that saw a massive number of Top 25 teams go down to defeat, No. 8 Washington State played up to their national ranking.  Look at what happened across the nation:

No. 1 North Carolina lost to unranked Maryland

No. 4 UCLA lost to unranked USC

No. 10 Texas A&M lost to unranked Kansas State

No. 13 Marquette lost to unranked Connecticut

No. 15 Pittsburgh lost to unranked Cincinnati

No. 18 Mississippi lost to unranked Auburn

No. 21 Miami lost to unranked NC State

No. 22 Arizona State lost to unranked Stanford

No. 24 Clemson lost to No. 7 Duke

After their win against Oregon, Washington State holds a share of first place in the PAC-10 with a 4-1 conference record and 16-1 overall.

Next up…the Arizona schools.

GO COUGS!!!