How can WSU men knock off Stanford, extend their win streak to seven?
Greg WoodsFeb. 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm
By
The Spokesman-Review
PULLMAN — Kyle Smith is full of surprises. Washington State’s men’s basketball coach has walked a fine line this winter, encouraging his players to enjoy the attention they’re getting for this sterling season, helping them understand the gravity of the situation and how long it has been since the Cougars were
thisgood.
He has cautioned them to avoid letting it get to their heads. WSU, bound for the NCAA tournament if it started this weekend, could just as easily fall off the bubble with a few bad losses.
Which is why on Thursday evening, shortly after Washington State dispatched visiting California in a blowout, Smith took the podium to share something: He had already moved on to Stanford, which comes to Pullman for a 3 p.m. Saturday meeting with WSU. Not a half-hour after the game, he had already started thinking about the challenge the Cardinal will provide.
“I’m on to the next,” Smith said with a chuckle.
Washington State (19-6, 10-4 Pac-12) has already beaten Stanford once this season, an 89-75 romp last month in the Bay Area, where redshirt freshman guard Myles Rice torched the Cardinal for 35 points, a school record for a freshman. Stanford showed him single coverage all night, and Rice took advantage, getting to the basket at will, knocking down a season-best five triples.
The Catch-22 of Rice’s sterling season surfaced two days later. He managed 16 points in an overtime loss to Cal, which threw multiple defenders at him, playing ball screens in a way that prevented him from using them. He was clearly at the top of the Golden Bears’ scouting report, which is the kind of treatment he is receiving the more he shows what he’s capable of.
That’s the long way of saying that on Saturday, Stanford might not give Rice the same opportunities he enjoyed a month ago. The Cardinal, who have lost three of their last four, might try forcing someone else to beat them.
The good news for WSU, a half-game back of the lead in the Pac-12 standings, is the team has a guy that fits that bill now. Wing Jaylen Wells isn’t just shooting 44% from deep, third among conference players who attempt more than three per game. He has also evolved into a shot-creator, a guy who can create off the dribble on the rare occasion when Rice is off — or when he’s getting blanketed by defenses.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of that development. Rice, the team’s leading scorer with 16 points per game, is commanding the eyeballs of the conference. Smothering defenses have followed, like Cal’s, like Washington’s in the second half of that Feb. 3 game. As Wells improves, so does WSU.
Here are his last five games.
- Win over Cal: 12 points, 1/4 3PT, 3 rebounds
- Win over Oregon: 13 points, 4/4 3PT, 4 rebounds
- Win over Oregon State: 24 points, 6/8 3PT, 7 rebounds
- Win over Washington: 19 points, 7/14 FG (0/3 3PT), 1 rebound
- Win over Colorado: 17 points, 2/6 3PT, 10 rebounds
Here’s another development that might have gone understated of late, that might figure prominently in Saturday’s game: Oscar Cluff’s defense. Cluff has split starting duties with fellow center Rueben Chinyelu. Smith has often subbed in Cluff when he needs offense at the center spot, Chinyelu when he needs defense at it, taking advantage of Chinyelu’s raw athleticism and length.
With Cluff’s outing against Cal — four points, three rebounds, four blocks — he might be providing Smith with both. That matters because Cluff, a junior-college transfer, has more experience than the true freshman Chinyelu. If Cluff’s showing Saturday is any indication, he might be in line for more minutes, and the Cougs might be in line for more production on both ends of the court.
“I don’t know if the common observer can understand how good Oscar Cluff was defensively,” Smith said after Thursday’s game. “With those four blocks, he’s like a safety in the defense, telling people where to go, whether we’re man or zone. Did a really good job there.”
Cluff and Chinyelu will face a different challenge against this Stanford team. When WSU won that battle last month, the Cardinal played without the services of Spencer Jones, a 6-foot-7 forward who sat out with an injury. He has since returned to action. He managed just two points in Stanford’s win over Washington on Thursday, but in his previous two outings, he put up 15 points apiece — and in his first game back, he gave UW 30 points in a victory.
That changes the calculus for Smith’s group in a meaningful way. With Jones out last time, WSU forward Isaac Jones took control around the basket, erupting for 24 points on 11-for-17 shooting. Can he produce the same way with Jones guarding him?
“He’s a pretty big cog in their wheel,” Smith said. “They’re even harder to guard. They just spread you out.”
The Cougs will have to contend with the production of Maxime Raynaud, a 7-foot-1 center from France. He tallied 22 points in the teams’ previous meeting. In his past four games, he’s logged point totals of 19, 25, 20 and 29. He’s a load inside and outside, where he has hit a three-pointer in each of his last five games, including a 5-for-6 explosion in a loss to Arizona.
“Oscar and Rueben are gonna have to really do a good job on him,” Smith said. “He’s an emerging talent, to say the least.”
The better news for Washington State involves Stanford freshman guard Kanaan Carlyle. He singed WSU’s defense for 31 points last month. In his last four games, he’s scored 7, 10, 2 and three points. He has made 4 of 18 triples in that stretch. He might be cooling off — but the Cougs will have to make sure of that on Saturday afternoon.
In terms of the NCAA tournament, this would be a Quad 3 win for Washington State, which has already collected four of those, including Thursday’s over California. A win wouldn’t do much for WSU. A loss would be costly. The Cougars are 12-1 at home. That is beginning to matter.
Greg Woods Washington State beat writer for The Spokesman-Review
www.cbssports.com