No. 22 Washington State can’t overcome mistakes, falls to Colorado 58-52

The Cougars put themselves in position to advance, but the self-inflicted wounds proved to be too much.

Despite a valiant effort late, the No. 22 Washington State Cougars couldn’t overcome their abundance of mistakes in a semi-final loss to the Colorado Buffaloes, 58-52.

In shades of the women’s run to the title just over a year ago, prior to tipoff the Pac-12’s one seed fell in an upset. This opened the door wide open for the winner of this game to have a much better chance at a Pac-12 title. Though for Colorado, they were more importantly playing to secure themselves a bid to March Madness with a win and looked every bit the part of a team playing for their lives.

While WSU already has a March Madness bid all but announced, securing two of the last four Pac-12 titles across men’s and women’s basketball would have been the ultimate middle finger to the rest of the conference as it goes down in flames. Instead, WSU squandered away a great opportunity in the worst way possible, beating themselves.

This game was always going to be an absolute war. Yet, despite 19 turnovers and shooting 21% from beyond the arc, WSU found themselves with a chance to tie the game in their last possession. If the Cougs could have simply not played one of their sloppiest games of the year, they likely walk out with a win. Instead, they fly home without the chance of playing one more game for a trophy.

The game began as expected with both teams jockeying for the lead and trading body blows. Jaylen Wells became the early focus for the offense with a pair of threes, but those proved to be the only the Cougs would make in the first half.

While WSU’s defensive efforts were able to keep KJ Simpson and the most of the Colorado offense at bay, the Cougs nine first half turnovers and the inability to find an early answer for the Buffaloes early post presence helped create a five point deficit into the halftime break.

The Buffaloes kept their foot on the gas into the second half with Simpson nearly matching his first half total with a trey and paint bucket to push the lead out to nine, putting WSU into the danger zone of letting this one get away from them.

WSU couldn’t even put a dent into the lead early because of their inability to get out of their own way. The Cougs turned the ball over five teams in the first seven minutes of the half and looked to be destined for a blowout loss. Yet, their defense allowed them to stay afloat. The Buffaloes inability to find that shot that pushed them up double-digits allowed for a 7-0 WSU run to bring this game within a possession.

With the Cougs now trailing by just a three-pointer, Myles Rice looked poised to at least bring the game within one after jumping a pass to start a two-on-one fast break with Andrej Jakimovski. Wells also beat the Buffaloes down the court as a potential kickout option. Rice met the Buffaloes last line of defense in Tristan da Silva at the rim and tried to go with a nifty behind-the-back pass to Jakimovski. Instead of completing the fast break, Rice fumbled the ball and left it hanging for the trailing Cody Williams to snatch away.

While Kymany Houinsou does score on the next possession after Colorado misses their shot, WSU’s momentum really seemed to slow after their 15th turnover of the game.

Despite losing some momentum, the Cougs continued to show the fight they had shown in big games all year. The Cougs battled all the way back to take their first lead since they lead 17-16 on an Isaac Jones bucket with 3:11 to play.

The Buffaloes made it pretty clear early on they wouldn’t allow Jones to beat them. He could only get up three shots for just one make in the first half. But in the second half, when WSU needed their All Pac-12 player to step-up, he did just that. Jones flipped the switch, scoring 11 points in the second half, missing just one shot, and hauled in four rebounds.

Though the lead wouldn’t last long. Simpson retook the lead on the next possession with a pair of free throws and the Buffaloes extended it out to three after another turnover from Rice.

Still, despite all the momentum shifts and turnovers, WSU remained in position to steal this game away. Out of the timeout, Jones went to work in the post, drawing the double team and leaving an open Houinsou inside for an easy two off a great find.

On the Buffaloes next possession, the Cougars had them locked down for 28 seconds before Luke O’Brien cashed a floater inside to bail the Buffalo offense out and push to lead back out to three.

After the teams traded traveling violations late in the shot clock, it left WSU with the ball and the shot clock turned off down just a single three pointer. On their possible game tying possession, an off-ball screen from Houinsou helped clear an open sight for Wells from beyond the arc that just missed.

WSU had to quickly foul Simpson on the rebound that seemingly ended the game for WSU. But, Simpson missed the front-end of a one-and-one free throw to give WSU a pulse. Jakimovski reeled in the loose rebound and passed it up to Wells. As Wells crossed half court and halted his dribble, the Cougars tried to call timeout, but couldn’t call it quick enough before a foul sent Wells to the line for his own one-and-one chance with 5.4 seconds remaining. The usually clutch Wells couldn’t connect on the front-end, allowing Colorado to gobble up the rebound and ice away the game on an Eddie Lampkin free throw.

This loss is an absolute bummer. While this was lived up to the billing of a tightly contested battle, WSU just beat themselves. If it weren’t for a surfeit of uncharacteristic turnovers against a team that typically doesn’t turn the ball over a lot, they likely are playing on Saturday night.

Losing to a good Colorado team playing for their lives is nothing to be ashamed of, but losing in the fashion is. 19 turnovers, hitting four of 19 three-point attempts and scoring zero fast break points doesn’t win you ballgames. Knowing Oregon. and not Arizona, was the team standing between you and vengeance against those who had forsaken you months prior is just salt in the wound.

Yet, I leave you with this. If I had told you in September that WSU would lose in the Pac-12 semi-finals and still knew they had a 100% chance of having their name called on Selection Sunday, would you believe me?