WSU-UTEP game thread...

[britton ransford]

I'll post updates and such here during the game. If you want to pay a fee, you can at this link.

Starters for Washington State: Ike Iroegbu, DaVonte Lacy, Dexter Kernich-Drew, Jordan Railey and Junior Longrus.

 

[britton ransford]

-Josh Hawkinson was the first off the bench for the Cougars, replacing Jordan Railey. Que Johnson and Ny Redding came on shortly after with Aaron Cheatum seeing some early action, as well.

-It took about five minutes, but Washington State got their first points of the Ernie Kent era from Josh Hawkinson on a corner three, which was followed up by a DaVonte Lacy three and a couple free throws.


This post was edited on 11/14 7:37 PM by Britton Ransford

 

[britton ransford]

-WSU had a four-on-one break and Que Johnson threw it through the hands of Ny Redding for a turnover, which marked the fifth turnover for the Cougars in about eight minutes of action.

-Through about 10 minutes, the rotation looks like Iroegbu, Lacy, Kernich-Drew, Longrus, Railey, Hawkinson, Cheatum and Redding.

-At the 11:48 mark of the first half, WSU trails UTEP, 14-9.


This post was edited on 11/14 7:38 PM by Britton Ransford

 

[britton ransford]

-Halfway through the first half, UTEP is out-rebounding Washington State, 11-5. Junior Longrus also got called for a foul on a three-point shooter. UTEP made 2-of-3 free throws.

-Hit kind of a lull over the last few minutes as Washington State cut the lead to 15-17, but UTEP went on a five point run to push their lead to seven, resulting in a Cougar timeout.

 

[britton ransford]

-Brett Boese made his season debut late in the first half. The Cougars are really struggling from the floor, though, as they've hit just 6-of-20 from the floor. UTEP isn't exactly lighting it up either. The Miners are 8-of-22 from the field.

-As Washington State continues to stay cold from the floor (and Lacy and Que on the bench), UTEP extends their lead to 24-15 with 4:21 left in the first half. Que was in the locker room for a bit, apparently. But is now back in the game.

-Washington State is in the bonus with just over four minutes left, but they're not taking advantage. The Cougars have been to the line just once tonight - Lacy hit 1-of-2 - meanwhile UTEP has knocked down 7-of-10 from the floor.

 

[britton ransford]

-Prior to the last timeout, UTEP was on an 8-0 run and the Cougars had committed nine turnovers. With 3:51 left in the half, UTEP leads WSU, 25-15. They're 2-of-9 from behind the arc.

-WSU simply can't get anything going on the offensive end. With 3:15 left, UTEP extends their lead to 27-15. The Cougars are also getting out-rebounded 21-11 so far.

-Ike Iroegbu finally ends the 10-0 run and the Cougars' lengthy scoring drought by knocking down 1-of-2, but UTEP promptly runs down for a layup to extend the lead to 13. Miners lead, 29-16.

-Que Johnson hits a three to cut the lead to 10, which is followed up by a Ny Redding layup and the Cougars now trail 29-21 with 1:56 to go in the half.

 

[britton ransford]

-After UTEP splits a couple pairs of free throws, Que Johnson knocks down yet another three to cut the score to 31-24. Dexter Kernich-Drew quickly picks up his third foul of the game at a bad time.

-Lacy then knocks down a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 32-26 and that's the score the team's head into the locker room with. Nice job by the Cougars to battle back late in the half and cutting the lead to six. The Cougars were trailing by 13 at one point in the half.

 

[britton ransford]

HALFTIME: WSU 26, UTEP 32. Box score...

 

[britton ransford]

-Minute distribution in the first half: Lacy-19, Iroegbu-14, Hawkinson-13, Redding-11, Johnson-11, Kernich-Drew-11, Longrus-11, Cheatum-4, Railey-3, Dunbar-2, Boese-2.

-Ny Redding has six points, four assists and just one turnover. He's played well.

-Josh Hawkinson has two blocks. Both he and Cheatum have played well in the post defensively.

-Que Johnson is 2-of-2 from three and 3-of-5 overall. Dexter Kernich-Drew was 0-of-3 from the floor and has three fouls.

-Johnson leads the Cougars with four rebounds. Hawkinson and Lacy have each added three rebounds.

-UTEP is shooting 37 percent from the floor and has hit 10-of-16 free throws while the Cougars are shooting 36 percent from the floor and have only hit 4-of-6 from the stripe.

-Both teams have been sloppy with the ball. WSU has nine turnovers and UTEP has eight.

-Both teams have three blocks and Hawkinson has all three for the Cougars.

 

[britton ransford]

-WSU opens the second half with Que, Ike, Lacy, Hawkinson and Longrus. UTEP opens with a pair of buckets, but the Cougars get a trio of buckets from Que, Ike and Hawkinson to trim the lead to 36-32. Timeout, Miners.

 

[britton ransford]

-UTEP scores coming out of the timeout to go up 38-32 and after a turnover by Longrus, a tip-dunk pushes the Miners lead to 8, 40-32. Ernie Kent immediately calls a timeout.

-Coming out of the timeout, Lacy misses a jumper but the Cougars get their second offensive rebound of the game. Nothing results, however, as WSU gives it up out of bounds.

-Media timeout with the score still 40-32 with 15:47 remaining. Washington State committed a shot-clock violation with the ball near midcourt as Iroegbu had to throw it up from deep. Ugly sequence right there before the timeout.

 

[britton ransford]

-Ny Redding with the steal and a layup and the Cougars trail UTEP, 41-34. Missed three from Lacy, who then comes out in favor of Ike Iroegbu. There's 13:51 to go. Lacy is 1-of-6 tonight.

-Que Johnson already has seven rebounds, which is a career high. He also leads the Cougars with 10 points, but that's not a career high.

-Ike misses a layup and Cheatum's tip-back doesn't fall either. UTEP misses a three but Que Johnson snags it, upping his total to 11 on the night. Ny Redding with the turnover and on the trip back, UTEP is blocked by Hawkinson - his fourth - but they gather the ball and put it in, pushing their lead to 43-34.

-WSU commits turnovers on back-to-back possessions and after a couple missed shots from UTEP, WSU slows it down. Que Johnson is one rebound away from a double-double. Ike then hits a three and it's a big one, cutting the lead to 43-37. Timeout.

 

[britton ransford]

-WSU's zone has been effective, but as I say that, UTEP buries a three to extend their lead to 46-37. Dexter turns it over and after a surprising miss on a layup, the Cougars get the possession back. Ike misses a three and Longrus immediately picks up his fourth foul. Timeout. UTEP leads, 46-37, with 10:01 left in the game.

 

[britton ransford]

-WSU has 17 turnovers and UTEP has 10. UTEP comes out of the timeout and gets an easy layup to push their lead to 11, 48-37 with 8:52 to go. Hawkinson with the turnover as he shows indecision on whether he wanted to shoot or not. They have 10 turnovers so far in the half.

-Another turnover: 20. Lacy gets called for a carry. After a couple missed shots and a block, WSU heads back and Lacy misses a layup. Timeout after a UTEP foul and with 7:55 to go, UTEP leads, 48-37.

 

[britton ransford]

-Hawkinson hits the quick jumper out of the timeout and the Cougars trail 48-39 with under seven minutes left. UTEP then knocks down a three, which is followed up by a Lacy layup, sandwiched in between a missed three by Hawkinson.

-UTEP then gets back-to-back buckets but Lacy answers with one of his own, however the Miners now lead 53-41 with 5:19 left. Que gets called for an offensive foul, though he has a double-double now with 10 points and 10 boards.

-Another UTEP possession, another score after a Que Johnson turnover. It's 55-41, UTEP, with 4:51 remaining. Timeout, WSU.

 

[britton ransford]

-Coming out of the timeout, foul on Que Johnson, his fourth, and UTEP hits 1-of-2 to push their lead to 56-43. Lacy, though, gets fouled and knocks down both free throws. He has 10 points now and the Cougars trail 56-45 with 3:28 to go.

-Ike gets a steal, then misses a big three and UTEP comes down and nails a jumper to push their lead to 58-45. Kernich-Drew misses a jumper but Iroegbu gets another steal and lays it up, cutting the lead to 58-47. Another turnover for UTEP and the Cougars will have the ball down 58-47 with 1:54 left. Ernie Kent calls a timeout.

 

[britton ransford]

-Ike, Redding, Lacy and Hawkinson will play down the stretch with Que and Cheatum playing offense-defense subs. Lacy misses a jumper but gets his own rebound. He hits both free throws and WSU will play the free throw game. UTEP hits both free throws and extends the lead to 60-49.

-Johnson misses a free throw with about 1:20 left, Redding fouls and UTEP hits two more free throws. Redding misses another jumper and immediately fouls. This one is over, but UTEP will shoot a few more free throws. DKD in for Redding.

-UTEP misses the free throw and Lacy knocks down the three to cut the lead to 62-52 with 43 seconds left. Timeout, WSU.

-Dunk, UTEP, immediately out of the timeout. 64-52. Lacy then misses a layup and DKD fouls UTEP. They'll shoot free throws... again. UTEP hits 1-of-2. Missed layup, offensive rebound, missed jumper.

-WSU falls to UTEP, 65-52.

 

[britton ransford]

FINAL: WSU 52, UTEP 65. Box score...

-Full game stats: http://www.utepathletics.com/gametracker/launch/gt_mbaskbl.html?event=1348357&school=utep&sport=mbaskbl&camefrom=&startschool=&

 

[britton ransford]

-Minute distribution: Lacy-36, Hawkinson-33, Iroegbu-30, Johnson-28, Longrus-20, Redding-18, Kernich-Drew-14, Cheatum-12, Dubbar-4, Railey-3, Boese-2.

-DaVonte Lacy had a tough night from the floor, finishing with 15 points on 3-of-12 shooting.

-Que Johnson recorded his first double-double, finishing with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Que was 4-of-8 from the floor and 2-of-4 from behind the arc. Josh Hawkinson finished with seven points, eight rebounds and five blocks.

-Ike finished with 10 points on 4-of-11 shooting and two assists while Ny Redding added eight points and five assists off the bench. Iroegbu had two turnovers while Redding had four.

-Jackie Davis didn't play. Washington State never led in this game.

-The Cougars finished with 22 turnovers and gave up 17 offensive rebounds. Kent, on the postgame show, says 16 of the 22 turnovers were unforced turnovers.

 

[SaveFerris]

Sloppy play probably not a surprise at this point. Solid start for Redding. Something I wasn't expecting and hopeful he can take the point. Another solid game for Hawkinson and a double-double for Que. Good signs albeit in a losing effort. Clean things up and the scores will tighten up a lot.
This post was edited on 11/14 10:11 PM by SaveFerris

 

[Rich Lewis]

Don't know how Redding got his points, but that is good to see. I liked both Redding and Dunbar in the Azusa Pacific game, but neither of them seemed to have a shot even from the free-throw line. Maybe it was just jitters. Dunbar is extremely quick. From my eye I couldn't separate the two. Kent seems to favor Redding at this point. I think we'll see both of them on the court this year.

 

[SaveFerris]

I have heard (haven't seen for myself) that neither has a fluid looking shot.

 

[britton ransford]

Originally posted by Rich Lewis:
Don't know how Redding got his points, but that is good to see. I liked both Redding and Dunbar in the Azusa Pacific game, but neither of them seemed to have a shot even from the free-throw line. Maybe it was just jitters. Dunbar is extremely quick. From my eye I couldn't separate the two. Kent seems to favor Redding at this point. I think we'll see both of them on the court this year.

It appears Jackie Davis is going to redshirt.

 

[Glad Cougar]

Originally posted by Rich Lewis:
Don't know how Redding got his points, but that is good to see. I liked both Redding and Dunbar in the Azusa Pacific game, but neither of them seemed to have a shot even from the free-throw line. Maybe it was just jitters. Dunbar is extremely quick. From my eye I couldn't separate the two. Kent seems to favor Redding at this point. I think we'll see both of them on the court this year.

I think I saw three of his field goals, they were all layups...two of them uncontested. You are probably right about neither Redding or Dunbar being able to shoot from the outside.

Glad Cougar