12. Washington State Cougars (11-18, 4-12 Pac-12) Last Week: 7
After winning three games out of four, things are once again on the downturn for Washington State. The Cougars are now riding a three-game losing streak, and the last two came at the hands of subpar opponents.
In the first of a two-game road trip with the Bay Area schools, the Cougars were manhandled by Stanford. The final score was 98-50, the worst defeat of Ernie Kent’s tenure in Pullman.
Stanford’s 98 points was the highest amount scored against Washington State all season. This offensive explosion was the product of the Cardinal’s dominance down low. In the paint, Stanford scored 48 points while collecting 49 rebounds.
While there was no answer for Stanford’s scoring, WSU’s performance on offense was just as detrimental to its chances of winning.
The Cougars were stagnant on all facets of the offensive end, and shooting was the root of those struggles. As a team, Washington State shot 30.8 percent from the field while making just 21.1 percent of its 3s.
Even Robert Franks, the Pac-12’s leading scorer, was held to just 11 points. Washington State’s leading scorer was CJ Elleby, who scored 15 points on an inefficient 5-of-15 night.
The next game, things didn’t get much better.
Washington State fell victim to California, which entered Saturday 1-15 in Pac-12 play. Once again, WSU had no offensive flow.
The team shot a marginal 41.7 percent clip from the field, putting them behind early. Turnovers were also damaging for the Cougars. No matter the opponent, it’s never easy to win a game with 20 turnovers.
It wasn’t ugly throughout the game, but even so, the Cougars never led and eventually lost 76-69 to the Pac-12’s worst team.
With two games remaining, Washington State sits in 11th place, two games ahead of the cellar-dwelling Golden Bears.