Game Breakdown: Cougars earn best win of season, holding off USC

After losing in a crushing defeat on Friday night to UCLA, leading all the way until the final moments, Washington State rang in the New Year with their first conference win of the season Sunday while ending the 12-game losing streak in the series with USC.

The Cougars closed out an 81-71 win in Pullman while turning the page on 2022 and an inconsistent start to the season.

Washington State (6-9, 1-3 Pac-12) had its most complete game in the stat sheet, limiting turnovers (9), shooting 49.1 percent from the field and 48.3 percent from 3-point range while five Cougars scored in double figures.

The Trojans (11-4, 3-1) could not hit enough shots to propel a comeback, shooting 16.7 percent from behind the arc (3 of 18) -- one of their worst shooting performances on the young season.

Cougars coach Kyle Smith called it the best win of the season for a young team still meshing together -- but perhaps meshing at the right time.

“That was really, I think, our best game we’ve played this year,” Smith said.

USC lost senior guard Boogie Ellis after he fouled out, playing 29 minutes, and even with some late runs the deficit was too much for the Trojans to overcome as they took their first conference loss on the season.

The Cougars had a big game off the bench from junior guard Jabe Mullins, who dropped 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field and 4 of 6 from 3-point range. Senior forward DJ Rodman once again filled up the stat sheet, also scoring 16 points to tie for the team lead while going 7 of 8 from the line.

Junior guard Justin Powell said effective ball movement contributed to the big home win.

“It’s really contagious too when everybody is hitting,” Powell said. “We played well on the offensive end, and we knocked down some shots which always helps.”

Sophomore forward Mouhamed Gueye said this team didn’t lose direction of its goals or panic after the tough loss on Friday, instead using it as momentum to have their biggest and best win of the season so far.

“Rule No. 1, never panic,” Gueye said. “The turnovers were stupid turnovers, but we were never in doubt.”

Smith said with a late surge from USC in the second half to cut it to single digits, he reminded his team of the fundamentals to get them through this game and secure the win.

“As long as we felt like we got shots, we were going to be OK,” Smith said.

After back-to-back losses against Utah State in the Diamond Head Classic and against the Bruins on Friday, the Cougars finally find themselves back in the win column against a good USC team at home and now have a conference win under their belt.

After three rough games in the Pac-12 to start, WSU looks to carry some fresh momentum into the rest of the season.

The Cougars will travel down to the desert next for their two-game road trip, first going to Tempe to face Arizona State on Thursday at 5 p.m. PST and then No. 5 Arizona on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Tucson.

This will be a hard challenge for the Cougars, who haven’t won in Tucson for a very long time, and will also faxe an experienced Arizona State team.

TJ Bamba: 14 points, 6 rebounds, 2 turnovers

DJ Rodman: 16 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist

Andrej Jakimovski: 6 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist

Justin Powell: 15 points, 1 rebound, 7 assists

Mouhamed Gueye: 12 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists

Jabe Mullins: 16 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist

Adrame Diongue: 1 rebound, 2 personal fouls, 1 steal

Kymany Houinsou: 2 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists