No. 152 WSU 90 (3-3), Division II Chaminade 85 (2-2)

In game one of the Maui Invitational, the Cougars — once again in this short season — did not exactly cover themselves in glory. Yes, they won the game, but that was only after falling behind by 20 points in the first half to a Division II team.

A furious rally in the second half featuring bench players Ace Glass, Eemili Yalaho and Rihards Vavers led them to victory.

In A Minute

• Recap from our friend (and friend of the pod) Jamey Vinnick at Cougfan

• Stats

• Line o’ the night: RIHARDS VAVERS with 25 points on 7-of-12 shooting from 3 with 6 rebounds and a steal. His shooting turned the game around.

• One stat to tell the tale: WSU turned the ball over 23 times — 30% of their possessions — against the pressure of a Division II team.

Highlights

Four Thoughts

1. Totally, completely, inexcusable

If you didn’t watch the game and only saw the final score, you might think to yourself, well, only winning by 5 isn’t that bad — whatever? Dear goodness was it so much worse than that. WSU fell behind 39-19 after a 15-0 run by the Silverswords — broken up by a pair of Vavers 3s — was followed by an 8-0 run. In trailing by 20 to a Division II team, the Cougars were bad again in the ways we’ve repeatedly seen them be bad over the season-plus with David Riley as coach: Horrible defense (14 layups and dunks allowed) and mind-boggling carelessness with the ball (15!!! turnovers!!! IN A HALF!!!!).

Thank God it was a Division II team on the other side, because despite all that, the Cougars were still the favorite to come back and win: