WSU fails to overcome slow offensive start, falling to Seattle 69-55

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The Washington State Cougar fans showed up in droves to support their team in Seattle, making up a majority of the fans in attendance, but left with their heads hanging low as the Seattle Redhawks defended their city in a 69-55 win.

WSU (6-9 overall, 1-1 in conference play) could never overcome their disastrous offensive first half. In the first 20 minutes of play, the Cougars scored just .688 points per possession and turned the ball over 11 times. While they were able to bounce back for a better second half, their efforts weren’t enough to match SU (12-3, 1-1).

Opportunities were aplenty for WSU. They rebounded extremely well, hauling in 49% of their misses for offensive rebounds and limiting the Redhawks to grabbing just 6.5% of their own misses. WSU also got to the line a decent amount but finished only cashing 56.5% of their foul shots.

After a brief series of turnovers and missed shots in the first three minutes, Tomas Thrastarson opened the scoring up with a little floater. On the defensive end, the Cougars kept the Redhawks silent through the first media timeout, not allowing a point until Will Heimbrodt’s layup 4:28 into the game.

The Cougars controlled things down low early. N.D. Okafor patrolled the post defensively, swatting away a pair of shots within the first five minutes. Offensively, the Cougars were all over the offensive glass, grabbing five offensive rebounds early. Despite their presence down low, WSU wasn’t able to convert their early O-boards into points. While able to grab 13 offensive rebounds in the first half, they only converted that into three points.

WSU’s rebounding and defensive efforts were sound, but the offense struggled to find any sort of rhythm after those early makes. A miserable 32.4% turnover rate, combined with an even worse 21.9% shooting from the floor in the first half from WSU, allowed the Redhawks to rally from their own early offensive woes. The Cougars’ early five-point edge quickly vanished as the Redhawks put together mini runs of six, five, four, and eight to match any of the Cougar buckets on the other side of the floor.

The Redhawks great first half peaked when Brayden Maldonado splashed an open corner three at the buzzer to send Seattle into halftime up 14 points.

While the Cougars missed some early chances to gain momentum at the free-throw line, they were still able to cut the deficit to five and finally seize that coveted momentum. Ace Glass was a big factor for the momentum swing, hitting a pair of threes that revived the Cougars’ chances. But those early missed opportunities at the charity stripe and missed open three-pointers loomed large as the Redhawks countered with a 5-0 run to push the lead back into double digits.

The Cougars finally found their best chance after the under-eight-minute media timeout. Okafor got things going with a putback layup that was followed up with a fast-break layup from Jerone Morton to cut the lead to single digits. After a Redhawk turnover, Glass converted a pair of free throws to bring the deficit to six, which started to bring the Cougar faithful in attendance to life. Okafor capped the run he started with another paint bucket that sent the Cougar fans into a frenzy. Suddenly, as Seattle set up their offense, Climate Pledge Arena sounded like Beasley Coliseum.

The Redhawks quickly shut up the Cougars with a three-pointer from Maleek Arington, and despite three chances on the other end off of offensive rebounds, the Cougars came away empty. Seattle continued their run with a trio of free throws to push the lead right back up to double digits. Maldonado once again came up clutch with a dagger corner three over Glass. The Redhawk fans reveled and waved goodbye to the Cougar fans making their way for the exits shortly after.

The first half showcased the worst of this Cougar basketball team. Seemingly endless turnovers and a lack of sharpshooting negated the dominance WSU had in the rebounding effort. By the time they were able to correct some things and find a bit of an offensive groove in the second half, it wasn’t nearly enough to match Seattle. WSU finished with 0.797 points per possession, shooting 29.7% from the floor and 14.8% from beyond the arc. They had ample opportunities to score with 25 offensive rebounds but only converted that into 14 second-chance points. From just a second-chance perspective, they scored just 0.560 points per possession. They also couldn’t convert their opportunities at the free-throw line, hitting only 13-23.

The Redhawks weren’t exactly burning the nets offensively either. They finished with 1.078 points per possession but also did that while grabbing only two offensive rebounds all night. WSU dominated the glass from the jump and still lost by 14. Tomas Thrastarson also did not play in the second half with what David Riley said was an injury.

This isn’t a bad loss by any means. This is one of Chris Victor’s best teams he’s put together at Seattle. They will be making a lot of noise in the WCC. But with how many opportunities and open looks the Cougars generated, this one stings for a WSU team looking to snag a win away from home.

WSU will return home to host Loyola Marymount on Friday and Oregon State on Sunday.

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