Huskies lose to Cougars in effort to preserve Ken Bone's job

It has been a tough year for Washington State basketball fans. Coming into Saturday the Cougars had only a single victory over Utah in conference play to hang their collective hats on. Despite every intention by the Cougars to allow the Huskies to keep their slim hopes at an at-large NCAA Tournament berth alive, Andrew Andrews decided he felt like the NIT is adequate. He spearheaded UW's effort to give up the opportunity to pull of a crazy comeback, and the Huskies fell to the Cougars 72-67.

WSU couldn't hit its free throws at the end of the game, and it gave the Huskies a chance, a chance that Andrews flopped away. With 30 seconds remaining, Andrews had a one-on-one drive going to the left and received a slight bump but nothing that should have been called a foul and certainly nothing that should have knocked him to the ground. He proceeded to fling his head and shoulders back, lose control of the ball out of bounds, and infuriate Huskies fans everywhere.

Andrews at the end of the game wasn't the only reason Washington lost, however much I wish I could say that. Nigel Williams-Goss followed up the best game of his career with a clunker. He turned the ball over six times, four coming in the first half. He did hit three of his five attempts from deep, but his decision-making offensively was questionable.

C.J. Wilcox continued his strong play, scoring a game-high 24 points on 9-14 shooting, including going 4-8 from beyond the arc.

To sum this game up in six bullet points:

• Andrew Andrews to frustrate.
• Nigel Williams-Goss is a freshman.
• Defending a screener slipping in the pick and roll shouldn't be overly difficult.
• Washington is undersized and it hurts rebounding.
• C.J. Wilcox is really good.
• Cougars always try to Coug it.