Washington State Basketball: Three’s Can’t Beat UCLA Bruins, Cougs Lose 76-62

February 9, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Washington State Cougars forward D.J. Shelton (23) shoots a three point basket against the defense of UCLA Bruins guard Kyle Anderson (5) during the first half at Pauley Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

The only interesting thing about the Washington State vs UCLA matchup tonight was seeing so many 3’s being hoisted by the pack of Cougars, while the Bruins patiently and easily dominated the other end in the paint. It was really the story of it all.

While it’s not particularly surprising considering they shoot more threes than anybody in the conference, it’s amazing Washington State ever caught up to itself in 2 point attempts, because 8 of the first 9 attempts were beyond the arc. In fact the first basket for Wazzu didn’t come till the 3:17 mark of the first half on a tip in by F Will DiIorio. By that time the Cougs were down 14 and the game was basically decided. Also, WSU finished with just 4 more two pointers than threes, at 13-9 in made buckets.

The Bruins were paced by the 17 of Shabazz Muhammed and had four players go for double digits in the game. They shot a blistering 61% from the field on 31-50 for the night and only shot 16 threes as opposed to the 25 of WSU. The Bruins also got out-rebounded pretty severely on a margin of 27-17 and 13-3 on the offensive glass, but held the Cougars to only 40% on the night with a 22-54 shooting effort.

Washington State went down 20 in the second half but did close on a nice run to within 72-62 before the final margin was established.

UCLA moves to 19-6 (8-3) and gets a short trip to the Bay this week, while WSU falls to 11-14 (2-10) and will head home for contests against the Oregon schools.