The six best things about WSU’s historic win over Arizona

It’s been more than 24 hours and I still haven’t come down from the high of Thursday’s GIGANTIC win over Arizona. It’s not just that WSU won—it’s that it won going punch-for-punch with one of the nation’s top teams and a probable one- or two-seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

It all but locked up an NCAA Tournament berth and should things continue to go our way, WSU might be placed in Spokane. Cross your fingers!

It introduced the nation to Jaylen Wells and showed us WSU can hang with anyone even when Myles Rice has an off night.

So let’s re-live it with some highlights:

Oscar Cluff’s Defense on Arizona’s Last Possession

Isaac Jones got the glory—deservedly so—because of his big block of Caleb Love’s, but Cluff, the big Aussie playing in front of his dad for the first time in his career, prevented an easy two by Oumar Ballo. Watch Ballo as Love drives on Cluff: He’s wide open! Jones eventually catches up but it was Cluff’s defense, and perhaps the mismatch, that prevented Jones from seeing Ballo.

Matt Chazanow’s Call

Chazanow has been outstanding as a play-by-play broadcaster. You can add this to the list of great calls:

That’s Craig Ehlo doing color. His “and he got fouled!” call is perfect. If you look closely, you can see Ehlo’s reaction to Wells’ shot.

Outstanding, all around.

This AP Photo

There’s a lot going on here, and all of it is good.

The Groan of the Arizona Crowd

The Arizona Wildcats, you see, are entitled to wins, conference championships, NCAA Tournament berths, national championships, you name it. But that entitlement needs to be served with some humble pie every now and then, and WSU was happy to oblige. Just listen to the air just get sucked out of the place when Wells hits his shot:

This (Now-Deleted) Tweet

The official Twitter/X/Twix account of the one and only Kirk Schulz sent this out last night, only to be deleted a few minutes later. But screenshots live forever, as they say, and we should frame this and put it on Kirk’s wall in his office.

Jeremy Harden Gets Another W

WSU assistant Jeremy Harden, who is from Tucson, went to one knee after the game and put a ring on it. I don’t know if he planned to ask her right after the game regardless of the outcome, but what a move! I’d love to know what was going through his head as the clock ticked down and the game got tense. I’d also like to know what he was most nervous for: asking her hand in marriage, or the game?

Congrats to the happy couple.

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So many great moments for a game that will go down as an all-timer. Is Wells’ shot the greatest in WSU’s history? Enjoy that fun debate.

Here’s the always awesome postgame hype video:

And here are the full highlights:

Go Cougs.