On Thursday at 7:00 PM PST on Pac-12 Networks, Cal men’s basketball will take on the Washington State Cougars in Pullman. Cal comes into this game at 5-11 overall and 0-4 in the Pac-12 while Washington State comes in at 7-9 overall and 0-3 in the Pac-12. Both schools are looking to get their first win of conference play.
Last time out: Cal fell to Arizona on Saturday by a final score of 87-65. Justice Sueing was the top performer for Cal with a game-high 27 points and 5 rebounds while Chase Jeter led the way for Arizona with 23 points and 9 rebounds.
RECAP: Cal gets throttled by Arizona
On Washington State: The Cougars are led by senior forward Robert Franks, who will be returning to action after missing four straight games with a hip injury. Franks is averaging 22.1 points and 7.9 rebounds per game on 52.4% shooting from the field, 33.8% shooting from 3-point range, and 72.1% shooting from the foul line. In addition to Franks, the Cougars have other players who can heat up offensively in freshman forward CJ Elleby (16.0 points) and junior guard Carter Skaggs (8.1 points), who shoots 37.5% from 3-point range on 5.5 attempts per game.
While the Cougars’ offense averages 79.1 points per game, their defense gives up 78.4 points per game on 46.2% shooting from the field and 35.0% shooting from 3-point range. In addition, the Cougars average a -2.0 rebounding differential per game, really suffering on the glass. They’re a team with a good offense that has a tough time defending. Does that sound familiar to anyone?
Keys to the game: The first thing Cal needs to do in order to win this game is defend the perimeter well. Franks, Elleby, and Skaggs can all get hot from 3-point range. Especially Franks, who made a school record 10 threes against Cal last year on 13 attempts. If Cal wants to get the win in Pullman, they have to defend the perimeter and force the Cougars to score inside, where they are not as comfortable. If the Cougars are making it rain from deep, it will be a long night for Cal.
The second thing Cal needs to do in this game is give the Cougars a little taste of their own medicine by making some threes. Matt Bradley (53.7%), Darius McNeill (36.5%), Connor Vanover (34.5%), and Justice Sueing (33.3%) are all very capable 3-point shooters. If those guys are able to get into a good rhythm and take advantage of the Cougars’ weak perimeter defense, they should be in good shape provided they’re not just trading buckets.
A third key to this game for Cal is to win the battle on the boards. Washington State doesn’t have much of an interior and this could be one of the few times Cal actually isn’t at a disadvantage in this department. Given that both teams excel on offense and struggle on defense, whichever team wins the rebounding battle will likely win this game. If Cal can be the team that gets more boards, they should put themselves in a good position to get the win.
Quotes: On Tuesday, Cal head coach Wyking Jones held a teleconference with the media. Below are quotes pertaining to the game.
Q: Any thoughts on Washington State? What challenges they pose? Etc.
Wyking Jones: “They’re a good shooting team. That’s kind of their niche. Last year was the same. Obviously the big [question] is Franks, is he going to play? Robert Franks is he going to play? Because he’s one of the better players in our conference. But he gives them a guy that can score at a high high level. [C.J.] Elleby is playing really good basketball. They’re just a team that you gotta contain from the 3-point line. If they’re hitting shots, it can be a long night. Really make sure that you contain and don’t let them get going from the 3-point line.”
Q: Even though they had a poor shooting outing against the mountain schools, they’re still one of the leaders in field goal percentage. What makes them a good shooting team?
Wyking Jones: “They’re very good individual scorers. You talk about [Viont’e] Daniels, who’s the top 3-point shooting percentage last year, you know [Carter] Skaggs can really shoot it, Elleby can shoot it, and obviously Franks is one of the top shooters probably in the country. And so they’re just very good scorers. Very good offensive basketball players.” Q: Were they missing looks against Utah because of what Utah was doing or was it just a bad shooting night?
Wyking Jones: “They just couldn’t find a rhythm against Utah. They just never seemed like the really got it going like I’ve seen them in other games. Utah, that’s a tough place to play and they really do have a really good home team. Everybody knows that in our conference. Everybody knows that you go up to the mountains you gotta play Utah and you gotta play Colorado, it’s going to be a tough road trip because both of those teams are great at home and it looks like Washington State fell into that.”
Q: I take it you won’t decide on your starting lineup until Thursday morning?
Wyking Jones: “Yes. We’ve had one day of practice since playing on Saturday. We’ll practice again today, we’ll practice at Washington State on Wednesday, and I’ll make a decision Thursday morning.”
Q: Could we see five guards in the starting lineup?
Wyking Jones: “No, I’m not going to do that. Obviously, I’m not going to do that. We won’t be able to rebound the ball, but I’ll take the guys that are playing the best basketball by position. That’ll be more kinda how I decide on the starting lineup. We’ll still have a balanced lineup as far as size is concerned.”
Q: How important would be it be for you to win a road game?
Wyking Jones: “How important is it for me to win a road game? At this point it’s important for us to win a game. I’ll take it wherever we can get it. To win a road game, it feels good, you get on that plane on the ride back home and everybody’s in a great mood, but we have to get a win. Our guys have to feel, we have to get that feeling back to know what it feels like to win. Get off of this losing streak, so having a road win as opposed to a home win, is there any difference? Not really. You just want to get a win.”
Q: Did you show your guys tape of Franks last year or did you burn that?
Wyking Jones: “We’re showing what kinda shows him doing a little bit of everything. Shooting the ball, he can post up, he can get to the rim, and you just show a mix of what it is that he’s good at and there may have been one of those threes from last year’s game where he went off. Our guys, they’re aware that he can shoot the ball. So there’s no reason to drive it into the ground. I mean, they know. They know he’s very capable. We talked about it. They know that he hit 10 threes on us last year.”
Q: Given where Washington State is in the standings and the fact that they’re a team that some say you should beat, do you feel any more pressure to win this game?
Wyking Jones: “No, I wouldn’t say there’s any extra pressure. No. General pressure in getting a win. It’s all the same.”
