Cougs over Dawgs: Notes from a rout

THE COUGARS' 28-point win over Washington on Saturday, 75-47, marked the largest margin of victory over the Dawgs by a WSU team since 1994. And the crowd, 11,618, was the largest in Pullman since 12,000 watched Bryan Pollard smash the backboard in a wild win over UCLA in 1983. Best of all, perhaps, is that those notable notes are just the first in a series of them achieved Saturday by the Cougs.

WSU, now 16-3 on the season and 5-2 in Pac-10 play, looked as sharp at both ends of the court as they have at any point in this so-far magical season. Among the notable notes:

* Except for junior center Chris Henry, who had ankle surgery yesterday, and sophomore guard Chris Matthews, who tweaked an ankle Thursday, everyone on the Cougar side saw action, including senior Antonio Chavers, who started seven games a year ago but has been shelved all this season, until now, with academic issues. Other low-profile players seeing action were walk ons Jeremy Cross, Arlen Plaister and Ryan Bailey.

* The Huskies came into the game averaging 83.4 points per game -- 11th-best in the nation. They scored 38 fewer points against the Cougs than their average, and went scoreless for a 9 minute stretch in the first half.

* The Cougars didn't surrender any fastbreak points or allow any second-chance points by the Huskies in the first half. In addition, WSU gave up only three first-half points on turnovers, while at the same time scoring 10 points off Dawg miscues.

* The 28-point margin of victory is the largest in school history for Washington State over Washington...largest margin of victory in a Pacific-10 game since a 101-64 win against Oregon State in Pullman, Feb. 17, 1994.

* The 11,618 in attendance marked the largest crowd at Friel Court since 12,422 saw WSU defeat No. 6 UCLA 70-68, March 7, 1983...crowd ranks 14th-largest in Friel Court history...largest to see a game between Washington and Washington State at any location since 12,000 saw the Cougars defeat the Huskies 72-70 in double overtime at Friel Court, Jan. 8, 1983.

* The Cougars held Washington to 23 first half points...lowest first half total for the Huskies since Dec. 6, 2003 at Wyoming (19).

* WSU held Washington to 28.3 percent shooting, the lowest by a Cougar opponent this season.

* WSU junior guard Kyle Weaver scored a season-high 17 points...his four assists raised his season total to 92 and moved him into seventh on the Cougar junior class records list ... Weaver had one block shot to raise his career total to 50 and tie Brian Paine (1989-92) for 13th on the Cougar all-time list.

* Cougar redshirt-sophomore guard Taylor Rochestie tied his season high with nine points.

* WSU junior guard Derrick Low was 5-for-7 from 3-point range to give him 94 treys in his career and move past David Sanders (1986-90) into 14th place on the Cougar career list.

* Cougar senior Ivory Clark recorded three blocked shots to pass Tavares Mack (55) and tie Fred Ferguson (1993-94) for 10th place on the WSU career list with 56...his season total of 25 ties Kojo-Mensah-Bonsu (1998-99) for ninth on the Cougar single-season list.

TONY BENNETT QUICK QUOTES:

"We cut down our practice time this week so we could keep our legs fresh. We worked hard to get ready for Washington's interior."

"Our transition defense was very good. The win at USC after losing at UCLA was a big one. The wins over Gonzaga and Arizona and today, they're all big."