ASU Basketball: 2019 Pac-12 Week 19 Power Rankings
By Trevor Booth
12. Washington State Cougars (11-20, 4-14 Pac-12) LW: 12
With coach Ernie Kent on the hot seat, Washington State found a temporary coolant last month. The Cougars won three of four games – including a road sweep of the Arizona schools – entertaining the appearance of a spoiler team come this week’s Pac-12 Tournament.
Since then, a harsh reality has returned. WSU lost three of its final five games by double digits, finishing with four or fewer conference wins for the first time in Kent’s tenure.
Last week’s trek with the Oregon schools epitomized those struggles. Senior Robert Franks – an All-Pac-12 First Team honoree – averaged 26.5 points and eight rebounds, but nobody else could get things going.
It didn’t help either that the Cougars turned the ball over an average of 16 times. Those opportunities led to huge games for Oregon’s Paul White (21 points) and Payton Pritchard (15 points, seven assists) and Oregon State’s Tres Tinkle (26 points, 12 rebounds, four steals) and Stephen Thompson Jr. (26 points).
Finishing 11th in league action, WSU will again face Oregon in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament. The Cougars lost an earlier meeting to the Ducks by 20 points, where freshman Louis King had a big impact with 22 points and five rebounds.
If it is to pull off the upset, WSU will have to catch fire from 3-point range. The Cougars are a high-volume shooting team – averaging 25 attempts in conference play – but have been very inconsistent from that range.
However, they have proven to get hot before. If WSU can make a surprise run in Las Vegas, that might be enough to keep Kent around for a little bit longer.