With Cal's elimination to Colorado, only one team in the Pac-10 remains alive--the Washington St. Cougars. Long thought to be considered a solid bet for the NCAA Tournament, Washington State underperformed all season and ended up out of the Dance altogether. Now they're trying to earn the consolation prize of an NCAA tournament bid.
The big difference for the Cougars came from downtown as WSU (one of the better three point offenses in the country) nailed 8 triples, OSU (one of the worst, and facing a good WSU three point defense) only 4. Washington St. also was impressive in winning the offensive rebounding battle against a pretty solid Cowboys squad, and most surprisingly went onto win the free throw battle by a big margin (the Cougars were 22 for 26 from the line, the Cowboys 12 for 15). Klay Thompson finished with 21 points and Brock Motum supported him with 17 for the Cougars. Five Cowboys, led by Matthew Pilgrim, finished in double figures in scoring.
Washington State now moves onto a home matchup with the Northwestern Wildcats on ESPN2 at 8 PM PT/11 PM ET in the quarterfinals. The winner moves onto the NIT semifinals, which will take place at Madison Square Garden next week.