PULLMAN – Sleepy passes flew into the scorer’s table. Botched defensive assignments led to unchallenged dunks. Point-blank layups rolled around the lip of the rim and fell right out.
One minute, it felt as though Washington State had finally captured some momentum in Pac-12 Conference play following a 23-point win over Cal. The next, the Cougars were walking off their home court, heads and chins held lower than low after suffering a 78-66 loss to Stanford Saturday afternoon that dropped them to 8-10 on the season and 1-4 in league play.
Eleven teams were picked to finish ahead of the Cougars when the Pac-12 released its preseason polls, so no loss suffered by WSU over the next month-and-a-half should be too startling.