Cougars blister the nets in comfortable win over Oregon State
Washington State is making a late push to get back to .500 on the season, posting a second straight win Thursday night in dominant fashion.
The Cougars completely controlled the game from beginning to end, en route to an 80-62 win over Oregon State in Pullman.
After a rough game last Saturday for Washington State, where the Cougars (12-15, 7-9 Pac-12) couldn’t hit a basket despite managing an ugly win against Washington, they had one of their best team performances offensively in this one, with four starters scoring in double figures.
WSU hit 14 3s on 24 attempts in one of its best shooting performances of the season. DJ Rodman (4 of 7 from long distance) and Andrej Jakimovski (4 of 8) led that charge.
Mouhamed Gueye had a team-high 21 points, Rodman finished with 18, TJ Bamba scored 14 and Jakimovski had 13 in the win. Gueye impressively hit all 9 of his shots from the field, becoming the first Cougar since Aron Baynes to be perfect from the field with that many attempts.
“Shout-out Aron Baynes. Not gonna lie, I didn’t even know I was 9-for-9,” Gueye said. “Coach told me ‘You didn’t miss.’ Yeah, I didn’t grab a rebound either," Gueye said.
The Cougars jumped ahead by as many as 22 points, and Oregon State (10-17, 4-12) couldn’t amount a big enough comeback to slow down the hot WSU offense.
Coach Kyle Smith said this was the best total game this team has played offensively this season, from beginning to end.
“I thought offensively we played our best game,” Smith said. “We ran our good stuff, we got good looks and we were very unselfish for the most part.”
The Cougars have now won back-to-back games after dropping two tough road games against USC and No. 4 UCLA earlier this month, and with four games remaining in the regular season, look to be gaining some momentum to have a higher seed in the Pac-12 tournament.
WSU player of the game
Contrary to last game, where it was hard to find one identifiable player that stood out, the starting five shot the lights out Thursday and the “live and die by 3” mantra worked on this night.
You can say Mouhamed Gueye going a perfect 9 for 9 from the field for 21 points is deserving of the award, bouncing back offensively after struggling against the in-state rival at home.
You can give it to DJ Rodman, who hit 4 3s and shot 7 of 12 from the field.
You can even give it to Andrej Jakimovski, who also hit 4 3s for 12 of his 13 points, alongside a team high 8 rebounds.
All three of them definitely deserve some recognition for their impressive win on the evening.
What’s next for WSU
The Cougars are still tied with Colorado for 8th place at 7-9 in the conference but do not control the tiebreaker situation after losing to the Buffaloes earlier in conference play.
WSU has won back-to-back conference games for the first time since mid-January, when the Cougars swept the Bay Area schools in Pullman, and now look to extend their two-game winning streak on Sunday.
The Cougars host Oregon on Sunday at 4 p.m. PST on FS1 on Senior Day for the Cougars.
Stats
Mouhamed Gueye: 21 points, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 block
Andrej Jakimovski: 13 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block
DJ Rodman: 18 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist
TJ Bamba: 14 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 1 steal
Justin Powell: 8 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists
Kymany Houinsou: 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block
Dylan Darling: 3 points, 1 rebound, 1 assists, 1 steal, 1 block
Jabe Mullins: 3 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist
Ben Olesen: 1 rebound