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The Washington State Cougars rebounded from their toughest loss of the season to pick up their second-most-important win of the season, beating the Utah Utes 79-57 at Beasley Coliseum last night.

With the win, the Cougs improved to 14-6 overall and 5-4 in the Pac-12 — and, maybe most importantly, soared to 47 in NET while picking up what should (by season’s end, anyway) be a Quad 1 victory for the NCAA tournament resume.

The game was tight and back-and-forth early, as both teams were on point. But the Cougs opened up a small, six-point lead about halfway through the first half that they never would relinquish. They more or less maintained that cushion up until the last couple of minutes of the first half, when they looked poised to extend their lead to double digits heading into the break after Utah star Branden Carlson went to the bench with two fouls. But a series of poor decisions on offense allowed the Utes to go on a spurt of their own, closing the gap to just three at halftime with a 6-0 run.

The bad vibes did not carry over into the second half. On WSU’s first two possessions, Oscar Cluff hit a shot in the post and Jaylen Wells hit a 3 to push the lead right back out to 8. Utah — down its top two point guards because of injury — continued to battle, largely behind WSU nemesis Gabe Madsen, who had seven points early in the second half. The Cougs felt in control, but Utah was hanging around.

With the Utes struggling to stop the Cougs defensively, they switched to a junky 1-3-1 zone. Isaiah Watts hit a 3 out of it, then promptly hit another 3 on the next possession, igniting a 19-4 run over seven minutes that stretched the lead to 16 with 3:25 to go and finally put the game to bed.

In A Minute

• CougCenter recap

• Stats

• Line o’ the night: Isaac Jones with 17 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals

• One stat to tell the tale: The Cougs owned the glass, grabbing 14 offensive rebounds — 42% of their misses. It led to a 21-4 advantage in second-chance points.

Highlights

Tourney Check

The season, as it turns out, did not actually end with the loss to Cal!

Three Thoughts

1. We are SO back (again)

This is the danger in putting too much weight onto a singular bad loss — you often can come right back and post an equally impressive win to make up for it and flip the script back in your favor.

The meltdown against Cal was awful. And there’s no denying that it stings and hurts WSU’s chances to make the NCAAs. But there is still quite a ways to go, and when it comes down to selection Sunday, a (probable*) Quad 1 win over Utah is going to be worth a lot more than a (probable) Quad 2 loss is going to hurt you.

Always remember: Everyone on the bubble has flaws. They’ll all have some dumb losses. The best way to separate yourself is with good wins, and WSU now has two of them over teams that will be seeded in the top half of the field. The next chance is on Saturday, when Colorado (No. 26 NET) visits Beasley.

*I say “probable” because WSU’s 22-point victory knocked Utah down to 31 in NET, just out of Quad 1 range for a home game, but I expect Utah will do enough to get back in the top 30. Cal, meanwhile, is just outside Quad 2, and I also expect them to do enough to get into that range.

2. Back to Big Basics