washington state cougars- ncaa articles

A native of Austin, Texas, Cowgill carries a 3.38 grade point average and is a management options major. He is the ninth WSU men's basketball student-athlete and first since J Locklier in 2002 to be named to the first team. He becomes the second underclassmen at WSU to garner the honor (sophomore Carlos Daniel, 1996).

On the court, Cowgill averaged 9.2 points and 5.1 rebounds while tallying a team-high 33 blocked shots. His 1.32 blocks per game is ninth best on the WSU all-time single-season list while his 33 rejections fell one shy of cracking the school's single-season top 10.

In addition to Cowgill, sophomore Chris Henry was named Pac-10 All-Academic Honorable Mention. The Santa Ana, Calif., native has a 3.08 grade point average and is a business major.

This is the first time since 1999 the Cougars have had two men's basketball student-athletes receive Pac-10 academic honors in the same season. Will Hutchens (first team), Leif Nelson (honorable mention) and Blake Pengelly (honorable mention) received recognition that season.

The game marked the end of WSU coach Dick Bennett's career. Bennett announced last week he would retire at the end of the season and turn the team over to his 36-year-old son, Tony.

The 62-year-old Bennett had a 36-49 record in three years at WSU, and an overall mark of 490-306 in 27-plus seasons. Previously, he coached at Wisconsin-Stevens Point spread, Wisconsin-Green Bay and Wisconsin, where he guided the Badgers to the Final Four in 2000.

Seventh-seeded Oregon (14-17) faces No. 12 Washington (24-5) in the quarterfinals of college basketball Thursday night. The second-seeded Huskies have won the last five games between the teams, and enter the tournament with an eight-game winning streak.

Oguchi's previous career high was 25 points against USC during an 84-78 loss Jan. 28. The 6-foot-5 sophomore from Houston brought an 8.4-point scoring average into the game. He also had six rebounds to equal his career best.

Malik Hairston added 21 points in Oregon's third victory over WSU this season and 11th straight since the Cougars beat the Ducks 63-62 on Feb. 15, 2001. Jordan Kent had 11 rebounds to lead the Ducks to a 38-31 advantage in that department.

Starting guard Aaron Brooks didn't play in the second half because of flu-like symptoms. He had three points and six assists in 16 minutes.

Freshman Aron Baynes had 14 points and seven rebounds to lead 10th-seeded Washington State (11-17). Robbie Cowgill added 13 points and eight rebounds and freshman Chris Matthews scored nine for the Cougars.

Hairston scored five points during a 7-0 run to start the second half, giving Oregon a 44-23 lead. It was 49-28 after Maarty Leunen's basket with 13:15 to play, but the Cougars then outscored the Ducks 18-4 to draw within seven points basketball spread with 5:07 remaining.

But two free throws by Oguchi and another pair by Hairston made it 57-46 with 4:18 left, and the Cougars didn't pose a serious threat after that.

Oguchi made five 3-pointers in the first seven minutes as Oregon took a 17-8 lead. The Cougars drew within five points before Oguchi scored six during an 11-2 run, putting the Ducks on top 33-19. It was 37-23 at halftime.

Fourth-seeded Arizona (18-11) faces fifth-seeded Stanford (15-12), and No. 13 UCLA (24-6), the regular-season champion and top seed, meets ninth-seeded Oregon State (13-17) Thursday afternoon at Staples Center. Third-seeded California (18-9) plays sixth-seeded Southern California (17-12) in the opener of Thursday night's doubleheader.

Oregon State held off eighth-seeded Arizona State 71-68 in the first game Wednesday night to reach the quarterfinals  madness odds. All 10 conference teams are participating for the first time since the tournament resumed four years ago after a 12-year break.

In what could have been the final home game for Rob Evans as the Sun Devils' coach, the victory gave Arizona State (11-16, 5-13 Pac-10) the No. 8 seed in next week's Pac-10 tournament. The Sun Devils will play Oregon State on Wednesday.

There is widespread speculation that Evans will not return after eight seasons in Tempe.

It also was the last regular-season game for Washington State coach Dick Bennett, who is retiring after this season.

Kruger made all six of his free throw tries, and had six assists and four steals. Washington State committed 19 turnovers.

Caleb Forrest was the only Cougar player in double figures with 11 points.

Tyrone Jackson, Arizona State's lone senior, scored 12 points on four-for-five shooting. Jeff Pendergraph scored 13 and Bryson Krueger 12 for the Sun Devils.

The spread Cougars (11-16, 4-14) lost their sixth in a row to wind up last in the conference and will play Oregon in the first round march madness odds.

Kruger scored the last five points of a 10-0 run that put Arizona State ahead for good 28-19 on his 3-pointer with 1:46 to play in the half. The Cougars, though, scored the next five to cut it to 28-24 at the break.

Kruger had five points and an assist as the Sun Devils started the second half with a 7-0 run to take a 33-24 lead on Angounou's dunk.

The junior sharpshooter, son of UNLV coach Lon Kruger, sank consecutive 3-pointers to make it 47-37 and Washington never again got closer than nine.

Pendergraph's 14-footer put ASU ahead 62-45 with 5:55 from the finish.

The two coaches, longtime friends and fishing partners, exchanged a long hug at the end of the game.

The total of 76 points was the lowest in a Pac-10 game since Oregon State defeated Oregon 29-23 on March 23, 1984 (prior to the shot clock).

Stanford's 39 points was the team's lowest score in a victory since a 38-33 win over UCLA in 1946-47. Stanford had not scored fewer points in any game since a 42-34 loss to UCLA in 1981-82.

Washington State had not lost a game with so few points allowed since losing 37-36 at Washington in 1969-70.

Stanford shot 32.6 percent from the floor, including 30 percent on 3-pointers (3 for 10). Washington State shot 32.7 percent from the field, which included going 2-for-17 on 3-pointers.

Washington State drew 12 fouls and Stanford six in a physical contest. Stanford went 6-for-10 at the free-throw line, and Washington State went 1 for 2 college basketball odds.

The Cougars, who lost their previous game 43-41 to California on Thursday, fell to 0-5 in two-point games.

Randy Green, Washington State's only senior, was honored before the game. WSU players wore green warmup shirts with Green's No. 12 uniform number.

Malik Hairston had 15 points and Aaron Brooks added 12 points spread, five rebounds and five assists for Oregon (12-15, 6-9). The Ducks have won 18 of their last 19 meetings with Washington State, including 10 in a row sports wagering odds.

Kyle Weaver and Josh Akognon each had 10 points for the Cougars, who shot just 26 percent odds for the game and was outrebounded 45-28.

Both teams were started off the game ice-cold - the score was 1-1 until the 12:27 mark of the first half. The Ducks warmed up quickly from there, activating a fast-break that yielded an 11-2 run. Oregon extended its lead to 21-8 after Oguchi and Brooks knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers.

The Cougars never found their bearings in the first half, making just three of their 23 field goal attempts and trailing 30-10 at halftime.

Oregon went ahead 44-22 after Brooks made a 3-pointer. Washington State put together an 11-2 run, but the Ducks countered with their own 10-0 to end any threat.

The Ducks, coming off a 75-72 loss to No. 20 Washington, still have an outside shot at postseason play. Washington State lost 71-62 to Oregon State on Thursday ncca basketball.

Oregon last held a team to 37 points or less in a 29-23 win over Oregon State in 1984.

Nick Young led USC (15-9, 6-7) with 10 points spread, but went 2-for-16 from the field. The Trojans shot a season-low 28 percent from the field and permitted WSU to shoot 67 percent in the second half and 43 percent for the game.

The Cougars missed six shots and made four turnovers before scoring their first two points nearly five minutes into the game.

USC led 7-0, 15-7 and 18-9, but the Cougars odds forged a 20-20 halftime tie after holding the Trojans to one field goal in the final 11:43 of the first half.

The Cougars went ahead to stay at 30-28 with 14:25 left, when Cowgill drove through traffic to score and added a free throw for a three-point play.

The 6-foot-6 Young, who scored a career-high 32 points in a 71-66 home win over Washington State on Jan. 14, was hindered by the defense efforts of the 6-10 Cowgill. Young, who leads USC with 17.3 points per game, scored just three points in the second half.

The Trojans ncaa basketball inserted three new players into the starting lineup, but lost a third straight game for the first time this season.

Dwayne Shackleford and Greg Guadino, USC's only seniors, made their first starts of the season and combined for 10 points. Guadino, a little-used former walk-on, did not score after recording the first basket of the game.

With the release of the official RPI rankings next week, it's expected that the Pacific-10 Conference will know what has been believed for some time: That the conference could be in trouble in terms of getting teams into the NCAA Tournament.

The Pac-10 ranks seventh currently in the official Sagarin rankings and an unofficial RPI report, behind most of the major conferences as well as the Missouri Valley Conference. As it stands, only three teams rank in the top 64 of the RPI: Arizona (16), UCLA (18) and Washington (35).

The conference had a chance to help itself on Saturday, but UCLA lost a home game to No. 12 West Virginia. It was just another disappointing loss for a conference that has had a number of surprising losses, particularly in home games.

Chief among those defeats have been Arizona State's loss to Utah Valley State, Oregon's loss to Portland, Stanford's loss to UC Irvine and USC's loss to Cal State Northridge. The only real impressive road wins have been Arizona's win at Utah and UCLA's win at Michigan.

The conference does have wins against Gonzaga (Washington), North Carolina (USC), Nevada (UCLA), Georgia (Oregon State) and Kansas (Arizona) but also have losses to Memphis (UCLA), Georgetown (Oregon), Illinois (Oregon), Kansas (Cal), Iowa (Arizona State), Connecticut (Arizona) and Michigan State (Arizona).

That's in addition to several other surprising losses such as USC's loss to Oral Roberts, Stanford's loss to UC Davis, Oregon State's losses to Tennessee Tech, Portland and Northwestern State and Oregon's loss to Portland State.

The Pac-10 has two more chances to help itself in the RPI ratings: Arizona plays at North Carolina on Saturday and Stanford plays at Gonzaga on Feb. 11.

"Both of them are critical," Arizona coach Lute Olson said. "There were some early-season losses by teams in the conference that really hurt our conference on a national basis. Those kinds of things are not forgotten very quickly by the NCAA basketball committee. It's important that we play really well. It's important that Stanford plays very well."

Fan factor: Olson said moving the student section to the center of the court rather than at the baselines has been very helpful in creating a difficult environment to play in.

"They line up early, first come first served," Olson said. "It's had a huge affect and has been handled quite well."

Olson said students are not allowed to line up more than four hours before a game for fear that they would miss classes. He said there were about "50 or 60" people who did not get similar seats to their old season-ticket seats when the student section was moved.

Rodgers' situation in the air: Olson said there is still a chance that guard Chris Rodgers could rejoin the team, though he didn't say what the player would have to do to satisfy requirements to play again.

Rodgers, Arizona's best defensive perimeter player, was kicked off the team last week, about the same time the Wildcats lost guard Jawaan McClellan with a wrist injury. But Olson later indicated there was a possibility that Rodgers could be allowed back.

"The ball's in his court now," Olson said.

What happened Cougs? Washington State seemed to be flying high after its victory over Washington. There was even talk of the Cougars making the NCAA tourney. Since then, WSU has lost four in a row to fall to ninth in the Pac-10 at 2-5. It lost home games last week to Oregon and Oregon State and now heads to Cal and Stanford.

Coach Dick Bennett pointed to a number of things that have gone wrong.

"Poor rebounding, soft defense," Bennett said. "We have not contained the point guards at all. We've dropped our level of play. We were playing better in the first half of the season. We seem to have hit a wall."

Bennett said the loss of point guard Derrick Low clearly has had an effect, and says opponents also have played well against his team.

"They might have had a tough game against Washington and faced us with more resolve some times," Bennett said.

Bennett said his team may have bought into some of the hype after the Husky game.

"We were pretty happy with ourselves, I'm sure, after that game," Bennett said. "Perhaps we overrated ourselves. That could have been a factor. You have to consider that Washington didn't take us as seriously, didn't play us as well, their best player was in foul trouble and Josh (Akognon) was on a roll. I might have made a good decision once in awhile, which I haven't done lately. There's a lot of factors."

Holding a tryout: Oregon State coach Jay John reached deep down his bench to try to find a replacement for senior point guard Lamar Hurd. Against Washington, he put in freshman Brett Casey early in the first half. Casey had played just 15 minutes all season.

"We had to audition a point guard that was comfortable giving confidence to our team," John said. "Brett does a really good job in practice. Against Washington State, Brett got a basket for us off a steal in the first half. There's 40 minutes at that position. We need to at least defend at that position and not turn the ball over."

Casey struggled against Washington's pressure, turning the ball over once and got yanked after two minutes.