The annual rivalry of the Palouse hit Moscow Wednesday when the Vandals hosted the Cougars in the Cowan Spectrum.
The Vandals dropped their third straight game in a 65-78 loss to the Cougars.
The last time the Vandals hosted the Battle of the Palouse two years ago, the Vandals won 91-64. But this time was a different story.
The Vandals finished out the first half down by just eight. After the halftime break, the Vandals came back on to the court seeming a bit unsettled.
Early in the second half, WSU was able to take a big lead after a 13-4 run that would deal enough damage to bring down the Vandals.
The Vandals made the effort to make a late run towards the end of the game but the early deficit in the second half would prove to be the deal-breaker.
“We gotta make practices more like games,” junior forward Scott Blakney said. “We gotta make practices harder than games and that’s going to lead to us not feeling so sped up and not throwing the ball away as much as we did tonight.”
Eight players were ineligible to play in the game due to injuries.
Quinton Forrest left during the second half on an injury that was still unknown by the end of the game.
Idaho Head Coach Zac Claus said with the amount of time that this team has off, hopefully most of the players will be able to recover and be a part of the next game.
The Vandals’ next game is in ten days, giving this team a lot of time to heal, regroup and improve.
Though in the midst of wrapping up the first half of the scholarly year, Claus said he is well aware that there are other priorities as well.
“Hopefully, get guys healthy,” Claus said. “At the same time, get guys in their noses in their books because we have finals coming up here shortly and we gotta finish that strong as well.”
Claus was able to take part in the rivalry game for the first time as the Vandal head coach enjoying the challenge that WSU brings to the rivalry.
“It’s a fun game, to compete against a PAC-12 team, to compete against your rival that’s across the street, this is why you sign up to coach, this is why you sign up to play at Idaho, it’s to play in games like this,” Claus said. “An awful lot of credit to Washington State for winning the game but we embrace the challenge like this, and look forward to doing it again next year.”
There are only two games left before Big Sky Conference play begins with time winding down for to the games that matter the most.
The Vandals have their first conference game against another rival playing against Idaho State in Pocatello Dec. 28.
“I think it’s just taking every game and learning and growing and knowing that when Big Sky play starts that’s where it really all starts to count,” senior guard Trevon Allen said. “It helps taking these games as lessons and being able to apply ourselves and get ready for conference play.”
The next game is on Dec. 14 as the Vandals take on CSU Bakersfield 4 p.m. in Moscow.
Elizabeth Carbajal can be reached at [email protected]