Washington State 'locked in,' trying to win four at Pac-12 Tournament
Washington State won its opener at the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas on Wednesday by beating up on the hapless Cal Golden Bears.
At the moment, only UCLA is hotter than the streaking Cougars, who took a six-game winning streak into tournament play and then blasted Cal 69-52 to advance to the quarterfinal round.
And the Cougs aren’t close to being done.
“We want to win all four,” said forward DJ Rodman after the game, per The Spokesman Review’s Colton Clark. “We’re locked in and we’re trying to win, no matter what it takes, no matter how hurt you get. Like, Andrej lost his tooth and kept playing. As long as we can physically play, we’re gonna try to make it all four.”
Rodman had a 10-point, 11-rebound double-double in the victory.
Five points from the forward midway through the first half helped fuel a 13-2 run for the Cougars and created the initial separation in the game. Despite shooting 39% from the field in the opening half, Wazzu went into the break up 35-21.
In the second half, the Cougs led by as many as 21.
TJ Bamba — on an absolute tear during the win streak — had 17 points to lead Wazzu. His play of late has the Cougs’ confidence soaring. Bamba has seen his scoring more than double year-over-year, and he’s averaging 20 a game during the win streak.
Washington State also got 11 points from Jabe Mullins and 10 apiece from Rodman, Mouhamed Gueye, and Andrej Jakimovski.
The Cougars will face No. 4 seed Oregon on Thursday, with tip-off set for 2:30 p.m. PT on the Pac-12 Network.