Washington State kept answering every push from Washington, and that was the difference in an 84-80 exhibition loss Sunday at Alaska Airlines Arena.
The Huskies had their chances. They erased an early Cougars run, grabbed control in the first half, then opened the second half with another surge that put them back in front after trailing by one at the break. But each time Washington built momentum, Washington State had a counterpunch ready.
For UW, the biggest issue was the stuff that doesn’t always show up in a clean shooting line. The Huskies were beaten on the glass 40-32, including a 13-11 edge for the Cougars on offensive rebounds. That led directly to a 22-11 Washington State advantage in second-chance points.
Lathan Sommerville pointed to that stretch after the game.
"To be honest, I feel like we got a little sloppy with the ball," UW third-year center Lathan Sommerville said in a postgame interview Sunday. "We got a lot more turnovers in the second half and I feel like that's what really got them going, and then second-chance points.
We got to just finish plays. Our first-shot defense was pretty good.
We just got to finish the play, rebound as a team."
Washington finished with 12 turnovers, fewer than Washington State’s 19, but 10 of those UW giveaways came in the second half. Danny Sprinkle said the rebounding gap and the late-shot-clock baskets were a problem his team couldn’t solve.
"We just didn't rebound it," UW head coach Danny Sprinkle said in a postgame interview. "Gave up 22 second-chance points, or they hit a shot at the end of a shot clock. That stuff, we got to get better at."
The Huskies’ best second-half push came with 13:10 left, when a LeJuan Watts 3-pointer and a Nikola Dzepina dunk stretched the lead to 50-43. Washington State answered with a 13-2 run and moved ahead 56-52, then held off every attempt from UW to reclaim the lead. The Huskies tied the game twice after that, but never got back on top.
The final minutes turned into a free-throw-heavy finish. Washington slowed the tempo and got a foul on a halfcourt 3-point try by Watts with just under two seconds left.
That sent Watts to the line for three shots with UW down four. He made the first two, then intentionally missed the third to create a putback chance.
Washington State secured the rebound, and after an intentional foul, closed it out with two more free throws for the 84-80 final.
Watts led all scorers with 28 points, going 7-for-12 from the field and 12-for-13 at the line. He also added six rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Sommerville finished with 19 points on 6-for-7 shooting from the floor and 7-for-11 at the line, plus four rebounds, a block and a steal.
Dzepina posted a 16-point, 12-rebound double-double with three assists, a block and a steal. Afterward, he said the performance still didn’t feel complete because the result wasn’t there.
"I feel much better on the court than last year," Dzepina said after the game. "But doesn't matter.
We didn't win the game. My stats or Lathan's stats, really doesn't matter.
Only important thing is to win the game."
The exhibition was one more test before Washington’s regular season begins Nov. 2, and it came against a Washington State program the Huskies will not face in the regular season this year for the first time since 1916. On Sunday, the Cougars took the bragging rights available and left with the win.
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