WSU Men's Basketball | Cougars striving for better defense

Not that the Washington State basketball program ever strays far from its defensive foundation, but this week that end has been getting more than its share of attention in practice.

With California (11-7, 2-5) visiting Friel Court tonight, the Cougars (17-2, 5-2) find their usually stout defense numbers lagging. In seven conference games, they've allowed foes to shoot .491 from the field, almost 10 percent better than foes were hitting seven games into the 2006-07 season.

At that juncture a year ago, WSU's Pac-10 opponents were at .394. The finishing number in regular-season Pac-10 games was .396.

"If you can't come up with stops, or make them really work, you won't be able to just trade baskets," said WSU coach Tony Bennett. "We're not the kind of team that can just trade baskets with those talented players."

The oddity is that the Cougars, at 53.9 points, continue to lead the nation in scoring defense, a stat that can't be explained only by their controlled pace. More relevant is that they held Mississippi Valley State and North Carolina A&T to a combined 60 points.

In particular, WSU has been getting touched up by perimeter players — James Harden (25) of Arizona State and Jerryd Bayless (23) of Arizona last week, O.J. Mayo (22) of USC three weeks ago, even Oregon State's Tarver brothers (22). Both Harden and Mayo did it primarily against WSU's premier defender, Kyle Weaver.

"I can live with it if you've got a hand in their face and your defense is rock-solid and that night, they shoot a high percentage," said Bennett, stressing that it's a team effort. "But I point to the Arizona and UCLA games [WSU's two losses] and we couldn't come up with a stop."

He concedes that "it also speaks to the talent level" in the Pac-10.

In the Bears, WSU will be facing a team desperate to win. California has lost four straight games at home.

Last year in Pullman, when WSU won 59-46, Cal coach Ben Braun surprised the Cougars by slowing the pace to a crawl, saying, "We didn't want to play defense any more than they were on defense."

At one point deep into the second half, Cal was 9 for 36 with 14 turnovers.

This week, Braun said, "We've been in every game we've played and had chances to win. We're not that far off."