WSU offense explodes in win over OSU, 80-62

The Washington State Cougars got just about anything and everything to fall in their victory over the Oregon State Beavers, 80-62.

WSU (12-15, 7-9 in Pac-12) made just eight threes in their win over Washington last Saturday. In just seven and a half minutes, the Cougars matched that, making all eight of their first eight shots from distance. The Cougars let the red hot shooting flow through the entire night, finishing with 1.25 points per possession and hit 59.2% of their shots from the field. OSU (10-17, 4-12) shot fairly well in the first half, hitting over half of their shots, but couldn’t keep up with the Cougars’ offensive bombardment.

The Cougar offensive production has grown stagnant in their last two games, failing to score over one point per possession in their past two games. WSU quickly put away any thought of that streak continuing with an onslaught of buckets in the first two and a half minutes. Andrej Jakimovski got the party started with an opening possession trey. D.J. Rodman kept things rolling with a triple of his own just 40 seconds later. Justin Powell made it a perfect three for three start from beyond the arc, and paired with a Mouhamed Gueye lay-up, the Cougars rolled to the early 11-0 lead. Just to confirm it was gonna be one of those blazing shooting nights, Gueye pulled up from distance and banked in a triple with the shot clock expiring. Four for four for the Cougars in four minutes, a deal even better than a Wendy’s four for four.

The Cougar offense went from hot to nuclear real quick. Rodman, Jakimovski and Powell had so much fun knocking down the first three triples, they ran it back for three more, giving WSU its second 11-0 run in nearly the first seven minutes of the game. T.J. Bamba put the finishing touches on the perfect eight for eight start from downtown.

While WSU made it look like they were shooting into a swimming pool sized rim, the Beaver offense kept pace as best it could, shooting 52.2% from the field in the first half to keep the halftime deficit at 14.

The halftime change of directions still couldn’t stop the Cougar offense. Rodman and Bamba kept their foot on the gas with a pair of threes to open the half. Flying under the radar of the Cougars barrage of threes was Gueye’s offensive dominance inside. The Senegal sophomore shot a perfect nine of nine from the field and added four assists.

OSU continued to shoot well, but for every make the Beavers had, WSU had about three more in response. For the first 14 minutes of the second half, OSU couldn’t string together back-to-back buckets without WSU scoring in between makes. The Cougars put the game to rest with a 19-9 between the 14 and seven minute marks to push the lead to a game-high 22 and coasting from there.

When WSU’s offense gets rolling like it did tonight, it is really hard to beat. OSU finished the game with their seventh best eFG% of the season at 52.9% and yet still lost by 18. Meanwhile the Cougars put together one of their best performances all year, going 58.3% from three, a season-high in conference play.

The Cougars will look to roll the shooting momentum into a big conference game against the Oregon Ducks on Sunday.