The Washington State Cougars men's basketball team opened the season with a victory over state-rival Seattle University. The final score was 85-54 so we can see it wasn't a close game.
The Cougars have a new coaching staff this season after having another terrible season last year where they were 11-21 overall, 4-14 in the Pac-12 under Coach Ernie Kent who was at Washington State for five years. The Cougars decided it was time for a change so now they are coached by Kyle Smith who spent the last three seasons coaching at San Francisco. Before going to San Francisco, he was at Columbia University for six seasons. So the Cougars are hoping Smith with his nine years of head coaching experience can turn the Cougars around becoming a competitive force in the Pac-12 conference.
The Cougars were led in scoring by sophomore sensation CJ Elleby out of Cleveland High School in Seattle with 27points. Last year Elleby was second in scoring average for the Cougars at 14.7 along with 7.1 rebounds per game. Junior guard Isaac Bonton was second in scoring with 12 points. Bonton is a transfer from Casper College in Casper Wyoming. Elleby and Bonton were the only Cougars to score in double figures, however, the other ten players who played did each score at least two points.
Seattle University had a poor night making only one shot from outside the three-point line in eighteen attempts. The Cougars showed in this game playing some good defense. They are hoping this will continue over the season. Also, they hope to keep turnovers to a minimum as well.
The Cougars play next at Santa Clara next Tuesday night. This could be a more competitive game for the Cougars. Best wishes for a good season for the Cougs.
The Washington Huskies open their season Friday night in Anchorage Alaska against Baylor University while the football team plays against Oregon State hoping to rebound (sorry for the pun) after two defeats. Go Dawgs!
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