The Washington State Cougars take on the Utah Runnin’ Utes in Pullman tonight at 6 pm. in Beasley Colliseum. The Cougars come into this game with a 9-8 overall record and 2-3 in PAC-12 play, losing the last three games after starting conference play with a suprising 2-0 start after beating rival Washington in Seattle and Oregon State in Pullman. The Cougars have lost their last three games including against 11th ranked Oregon in Pullman, as well as losing their Bay area trip against Stanford and California. The Cougars rebounding margin and turnover margin are under zero (Rebounding -7.3, Turnover -1.5) and were big factors in why they lost three in a row. The Cougars look to get back on track tonight against the 12-5 (3-2) Utah Runnin’ Utes. The Runnin’ Utes come into tonight’s game after nearly upsetting the first place and fourth ranked UCLA Bruins in Salt Lake City 83-82. The Runnin’ Utes have six players avergaing double digit points including standout Junior Kyle Kuzma (14.6 ppg) from Flint, Michigan.
“They are a hard matchup because they have so many guys that can score in so many different ways.”, WSU head coach Ernie Kent said at his Tuesday news conference.
The Cougars hope to counter act the inside scoring of the Runnin’ Utes by relying on their Senior’s Josh Hawkinson and Ike Iroegbu, as well as their emerging freshman point guard Malachi Flynn from Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma. The Runnin’ Utes are ranked third in the country in inside the paint point production per game so the Cougar big men including Hawkinson, and Connor Clifford need to play big.
Both these teams lie in the middle of the PAC-12 standings (Utah 5th, WSU 7th) so a win tonight is important for both teams. The Cougars can get back to .500 in the conference tonight with a win (3-3) and the Runnin ‘ Utes can get to 4-2 in the PAC-12 with a win.
Tyler Shuey 