The Washington St. Cougars again found themselves in a perilous situation at home in Pullman in the NIT tournament. DeAngelo Casto had been suspended and reinstated in a span of 36 hours. And Abe Lodwick did this with a chance to win at the end of regulation over the Northwestern Wildcats.
(via hellodavejensen)
Still, Wazzu found another way to prevail in this tournament. The Cougars still lived on the free throw line (a bit of a surprise, as WSU has one of the worst FT rates in the country). They needed every one of those 15 points as their shooting touch deserted them from outside all night long (21-43 on twos, but an abominable 4 of 17 on threes). The Cougar defense also came up big, as they held a normally strong shooting Northwestern squad to 26% shooting on THIRTY-EIGHT three point attempts.
Klay Thompson didn't have the greatest showing (6 of 18 shooting) in what could be his final appearance at Wallis Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum, but he managed 17 points and 9 rebounds, and had this ferocious dunk.
(via mawasa) (HT Brian Floyd of SB Nation Seattle)
Brock Motum provided 13 points and Casto, Reggie Moore and Faisel Aden all chipped in with 11 points. The Cougars move onto the NIT semifinals in Madison Square Garden next week, where they'll take on the Wichita St. Shockers.
For more reaction, head over to Coug Center (Wash. State) & Sippin' on Purple (Northwestern) for team-specific analysis.