Seattle U Men’s Basketball Can’t Keep Up With WSU, Conference Struggles Continue
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After beating the Cougs by 14 a month ago, offensive problems that have plagued the Redhawks since came back to bite them in a 70-58 loss in Beasley. Credit: WSU Athletics [/caption]
At halftime of the Seattle University Redhawks’ 70-58 loss to Washington State University Wednesday night in Beasley, the Redhawks only trailed 36-30 despite the Cougars’ incredibly efficient shooting splits. However, as the Cougars’ offense kept producing, it left Seattle U in a hole they have been trying to climb out of since WCC play began.
The Redhawks trailed by six at halftime, shooting 33% from the field and 11% from three, with their top three leading scorers on the season having only three combined field goals.
Washington State head coach David Riley expressed postgame that limiting Brayden Maldonado was a big key for the Cougs. Maldonado finished the game with 12 points on 3-of-12 shooting and looked like he was at the top of the scouting report.
“He’s an amazing scorer, so we just wanted to make him work every time he had to bring the ball up the floor, and I thought that that may have gotten him out of rhythm a little bit,” Riley said.
“He’s a pretty streaky hot shooter. So, we wanted to be aggressive on him, try making him think twice when he comes off the ball screen,” Washington State’s ND Okafor said.
Will Heimbrodt also struggled, finishing with six points on 3-11 shooting. Heimbrodt has taken on a much bigger role this year, but he has been streaky shooting the ball, and Seattle U head coach Chris Victor was critical of his sophomore forward postgame.
“I thought he missed some layups. I didn’t think he was good on either end tonight, so he needs to get better,” Victor said. “When he’s aggressive playing off two feet, attacking the rim, he’s pretty good. But when he’s driving soft and going on one foot is when he struggles and he really has not improved on that yet, so he's got to fix it.”
One bright side for the Redhawks was holding Ace Glass, the reigning WCC Freshman of the Week, scoreless in the first half. However, the Cougars exploited an aggressive Redhawk defense by making the right reads. Washington State has struggled with turnovers, and while they finished with 19, they also had 16 assists. Oftentimes, the Seattle defense left guys open, and Rihards Vavers punished them with 24 points on 5-for-7 shooting from beyond the arc.
“We knew they were going to be aggressive, especially with me and Ace trying to top lock the screens, so we used that as an advantage,” Vavers explained. “If they top lock then go back door or just find who is open so just use their aggressiveness against them.”
The only real success Seattle found was attacking the rim. While the battle in the paint was the only blemish of their 69-55 win a month ago, low paint touches and drives to the rim were the only substantial offense for the Redhawks. Austin Maurer and Houran Dan cycled in and out due to foul trouble, but both produced on offense. The two combined for 19 points, and Seattle outscored Wazzu 34-22 in the paint.
But Riley could live with this, as his offense did not slow down much in the second half. Vavers kept getting favorable looks, and eventually Glass began getting good looks despite the defensive attention he saw. Glass finished with 14 points on the half, and the two proved too much for the Redhawks offense to overcome.
After a disappointing loss for Seattle U, they fell to 3-7 in WCC play and will have a week break before hosting the Pepperdine Waves.
