Cougars are Second Seed at San Juan Shootout
Men's basketball team will open tourney against South Florida.
November 24, 1997
PULLMAN, Wash. - The Washington State men's basketball team is sure to pick
up plenty of frequent flyer miles to get to the San Juan Shootout Nov. 28-30
and the Cougars would like to grab three non-conference wins while they're
in Puerto Rico during Thanksgiving break.
The Cougars (2-0 overall) will cover over 5,000 miles (both air and ground
transportation) to get from Pullman to San Juan (with stops in Spokane,
Seattle and Newark, N.J.). WSU, the Shootout's No. 2 seed, battles South
Florida (currently 1-0), the No. 7 seed, in the opening round Friday, Nov.
28 at 3 p.m. PST. In the second round, the Cougars are guaranteed to meet
the winner/loser of No. 3 Dayton vs. No. 6 Pennsylvania.
Other first round matchups include No. 1 West Virginia vs. No. 8 Puerto
Rico-Mayaguez (the Shootout host), and No. 4 Evansville vs. No. 5 Rice.
This is the first meeting between the Pacific-10 Cougars and the Bulls, who
finished 8-19 overall last season with a Conference USA mark of 2-12 to
place fourth out of four teams in the Red Division. Second-year head coach
Seth Greenberg's USF squad topped Florida Atlantic 81-61 in the Bulls'
opener. They play at Jacksonville Nov. 24 before coming to San Juan.
"They are extremely aggressive with their man-to-man defense, they always
have a hand on you," said WSU head coach Kevin Eastman. "They have a lot of
quickness and athleticism. They had the No. 25 ranked recruiting class last
year, so they are going to put some freshmen on the floor."
The only other San Juan Shootout appearance for WSU came during the NCAA
Tournament season of 1993-94 as the Cougars defeated the trio of Coppin
State (57-55), Michigan State (76-71) and Marquette University (56-46) to
claim the team title.
The Cougars shot exactly 50 percent from the field in both their wins over
Central Washington (90-61) and Brigham Young (78-49). They've been
scorching the net from behind the 3-point arc at 71.4 percent (15-21) with
sophomore Chris Crosby knocking down 8 of 10 long shots.
Washington State Cougars (2-0) - Tentative Starters
No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. Hometown Ppg Rpg
34 Chris Crosby F 6-7 218 SO Littleton, Colo. 17.0 4.0
41 Steve Slotemaker F 6-9 221 JR Aloha, Ore. 3.0 5.0
54 Leif Nelson C 6-10.5 272 JR Riverside, Calif. 4.0 5.0
14 Rodrigo de la Fuente G 6-6.5 204 SR Madrid, Spain 19.0 6.0
03 Blake Pengelly PG 5-10 163 SO Eugene, Ore. 13.0 1.0
Head Coach: Kevin Eastman (175-115 career, 11 years / 51-40 WSU, 4 years)
Crosby and senior Rodrigo de la Feunte are both coming off career scoring
highs at Brigham Young. Crosby made eight of nine shots (5 of 6 from
3-point range) for 21 points while de la Fuente led all scorers with 22 points.
Senior Carlos Daniel suffered an MCL sprain (left knee) during the BYU win.
After an examination today, Daniel is still considered out for Friday. His
availability will be determined by how well the knee responds during
practice sessions this week.
"I think our guys realize they have to play better than maybe they're
capable of playing because we lose one of the best players in our conference
and arguably one of the top 50 players in the country," Eastman said of Daniel.
If Daniel is not ready to play, expect 6-10 1/2 center Leif Nelson or 6-3
forward Kojo Mensah-Bonsu to step up as the starter.
Three Dot Notes - The Cougars, who will leave behind mid-40 tempertures in
Pullman, can expect to see rainy, 87 degree days in San Juan...the San Juan
Shootout will incorporate three experimental rules, including the 40-second
shot clock, a maximum of five in the lane during free throw attempts and the
four-quarter format.
