Washington State Basketball: Cougs Upset No 23 UCLA Bruins 73-61
By Josh Davis
Feb. 16, 2013; Pullman, WA, USA; The Washington State Cougars cheerleaders preform during a game against the Oregon Ducks during the first half at the Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-USA TODAY Sports
Last place Washington State has taken down the co-leader of the Pac-12, the UCLA Bruins by a score of 73-61. It was a layup drill for the Cougars all game, as they flew out to a 25-4 lead before UCLA even thought about waking up.
Eventually, the Bruins cut it to 37-31, but could never play enough defense to close it further. In fact, it was about that time that UCLA’s Travis Wear hurt his ankle after gathering a rebound and trying to go back up. It seemed at that point that the Bruins really lost any energy they had produced.
Washington State also out-rebounded the Bruins at every opportunity, posting a 43-20 advantage. In fact Washington State nearly outrebounded UCLA on the offensive end alone, corralling 18 offensive boards.
Brock Motum scored a double double, with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Meanwhile he got plenty of help, as Royce Woolridge poured in 19, D.J. Shelton scored 13 and Dexter Kernich-Drew scored 11.
UCLA got 18 from Jonathan Adams, 14 from Shabazz Muhammad and 10 from Norman Powell.
For Ken Bone and the Washington State Cougars, it must feel good. It has been a difficult streak of 9 straight losses and the coach has been at the forefront of the hashtag to fire he and his staff. They have lost 2 of their starters over the past couple weeks and could have just thrown in the towel to a team that really smoked them in L.A. Instead they ended the game with 3 monster dunks by DiIorio and Shelton after holding off any Bruin rally with continual back door cuts and layups.
It’ll be an interesting energy against USC on Saturday night, as the Cougs go for their first back to back win streak of this year’s Pac-12 season. For UCLA, they now desperately need a win in Seattle to keep themselves in the 6/7 range for seeding in the NCAA tournament. They could still also end as a Pac-12 co-champion, but needs help from Oregon now.