PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) — Cameron Ward passed for 212 yards and two touchdowns and added another 43 yards rushing, Nakia Watson scored on a 1-yard run with 5:30 remaining and Washington State upset No. 19 Wisconsin 31-22 on Saturday night.
Ward scrambled for runs of 23 yards and 14 yards during a pivotal fourth-quarter drive to help the Cougars avoid a second-half meltdown and beat the Badgers for the second straight season. Watson capped the drive with his 1-yard plunge.
Washington State (2-0) hosted its first Power Five nonconference opponent since 1998 and played its first home game since the collapse of the Pac-12 this summer. Facing an uncertain future as a Power Five program, Washington State put on a show in the first half to race to a 24-6 lead.
“In this moment, it’s everything. We belong in the Power Five,” Washington State coach Jake Dickert said on the field as it was flooded by celebrating fans after the upset. “These kids have worked their (tails) off. I’m so damn proud of them.”
Wisconsin (1-1) scored 16 straight points and was driving in the fourth quarter with a chance to take the lead before running back Chez Mellusi fumbled near midfield.
The Badgers lost three fumbles and had little go right in the first half. Nathanial Vakos made three field goals in the first half, but Wisconsin didn’t find the end zone until Mellusi’s 2-yard run midway through the third quarter that cut Washington State’s lead to 24-16.
Mordecai hit Skyler Bell on a 16-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter to pull Wisconsin to 24-22, but the two-point conversion attempt failed.
Mordecai was 25 of 40 for 278 yards and fumbled twice, both on sacks by Ron Stone Jr. One of the fumbles was recovered by Brennan Jackson for a touchdown in the first half.
Washington State held the Badgers’ potent running back duo of Mellusi and Braelon Allen to 69 yards on 19 carries.
“The reality is, we have enough talent to win,” first-year Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell said.
The Cougars punted on their first four second-half possessions and totaled just 119 yards after halftime. But they got a much-needed jolt when safety Jaden Hicks forced the Mellusi fumble and cornerback Jackson Lataimua recovered.
“We didn’t have the second half we wanted as an offense.” Ward said. “But we didn’t flinch.”
Dickert was proud of how his team responded in “gut-check time” of a nationally televised game and in front of 33,024 fans at Martin Stadium.
“This is a crux point for Washington State and Washington State football,” Dickert said. “We’re carrying the flag for all the transition, and this is a pivotal moment for where we want to go. Wherever we end up, we’ve got to commit to being great. And I think that’s what this statement (win) means is that we are here. We’re fighting, and even as college football is changing, we’re still getting pretty good results.”
Black pirate flags and shirts were all over Martin Stadium in honor of Mike Leach, the former Washington State coach who died in December.
The Cougars burst through the tunnel before the game with eight players waving pirate flags. A handful of former players then raised a large black flag with the Cougars logo and crossing swords in the southeast corner of the stadium. Most Washington State coaches also wore black pirate shirts in honor of the coach who led the Cougars to six bowl games from 2012-2019.
Former Washington State basketball star Klay Thompson was on the sideline for the big matchup and presented the Washington State women’s basketball team with the Pac-12 conference championship trophy during a timeout in the first quarter.
Washington State may not have a future as a Power Five conference, but it showed it belonged – for the second straight year – against the Badgers of the Big Ten. Wisconsin, meanwhile, faces plenty of questions two games into Luke Fickell’s tenure.
Wisconsin: Host Georgia Southern on Saturday.
Washington State: Host Northern Colorado on Saturday.
AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll
EAST LANSING — Welcome to the Big Ten, Washington.
Michigan State basketball rolled out the red carpet Tom Izzo-style, with one of the most concise displays of his principles of basketball, looking every bit like the Izzone alumni in the stands remembered from the program’s embryonic era.
A defense that smothered from the outset. An offense that ran in transition and elevated the electricity. Rebounding in punishing fashion.
In short, a physical assertion of everything No. 14 MSU has been about for three decades, and a completely possessed performance obsessed with the details — a swagger-flashing, muscle-flexing, all-around 88-54 domination of the Huskies on Thursday night.
“The last two games, I think what we learned about ourselves is just the toughness of this team,” said freshman guard Jase Richardson, who had 12 points and five of the Spartans’ 10 steals and two of their six blocked shots. “We battled in that Ohio State game. And then today, I felt like our toughness kind of overpowered (the Huskies).”
The Spartans (13-2, 4-0 Big Ten) won their eighth straight game and held Washington (10- 6, 1-4) without a field goal for more than 10 minutes to open the game and then scoreless for another nine-plus minute stretch after an early free throw. Their lead grew to as many as 29 points by halftime thanks to continued well-rounded scoring and smothering team defense, moving Izzo to 347 victories in Big Ten play, second-most all-time and six behind Bob Knight’s record 353 at Indiana.
Jaden Akins led the Spartans with 20 points on 8-for-13 shooting, with Jeremy Fears Jr. adding 12 points and 10 assists for his first career double-double and Tre Holloman scoring 11 points with six more of their 24 assists on 32 made baskets. Along with Richardson, the four guards also turned it over just four times between them.
MSU outscored Washington 28-2 on the fastbreak and shot a sizzling 52.5% as all 10 regulars scored; 12 of the 13 players in green and white who stepped on the court grabbed at least one rebound. The Spartans also hit 7 of 21 3-point attempts and committed just 12 turnovers.
“I thought we we played awfully well,” Izzo said. “We stayed focused. … Yeah, I did see it in their eyes. That was, it was fun to see that.”
MSU travels to Northwestern for its third road game of the conference season. Tipoff is noon Sunday (Fox) at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Illinois.
Tyler Harris had 14 points for for the Huskies (10-5, 1-3), who shot just 32.7% and committed 15 turnovers. MSU held leading scorer and rebounder Great Osobor to just six points on 0-for-8 shooting with just four rebounds as the Huskies were outrebounded, 40-30.
Izzo’s players took the court before the game wearing new “Strength in Numbers” warmup shirts. Then they delivered a “dialed-in” look and performance that Izzo said started to emerge in practice Wednesday.
Everything the Spartans showed in the first 20 minutes is everything Izzo has demanded from his teams for 30 years. So much of it that the game felt in the win column in the first seven minutes.
Nothing Washington could do went right, including, at one point, Washington’s “Zoom” Diallo slamming into teammate Mekhi Mason at the top of the key on offense with no MSU player within 2 feet of the collision. Huskies first-year coach Danny Sprinkle spun toward his bench and shook his head in frustration and disgust.
After Osobor’s free throw opened the scoring, MSU ripped off the next 16 points, starting with a Fears 3-pointer and another by Akins. A Coen Carr breakaway dunk in transition prompted Sprinkle to call a timeout as the alumni Izzone erupted into a cacophonous din of celebration.
The Huskies went scoreless for 9:10 and played the first 10:27 without making a field goal. And the rout was on.
“Just trying to slow the momentum,” Sprinkle said of his timeout. “I mean, the game was actually kind of a little bit out of reach, even at that point.”
From 16-1, when Washington finally made a basket and scored three straight points, the Spartans pushed it to 29-8 thanks to a strong stretch that included contributions from two fairly forgotten faces — a 3-pointer from struggling Frankie Fidler and strong defense and four free throws from Carson Cooper.
By halftime, things started to get really out of hand.
MSU danced and smiled its way into halftime with a 42-13 cushion by holding the Huskies to 5-for-29 shooting and without a 3-pointer in nine attempts. The Spartans turned eight Washington turnovers into nine points and had a 25-19 rebounding edge, as well as a 20-10 scoring edge in the paint while shooting 45.2%.
There wasn’t much to say in the locker room, and it might have been one of the shortest talks in Izzo’s tenure. The players came bouncing back onto the court with more than five minutes to get in shots. And they maintained the same locked-in intensity and pushed it to a 37-point lead a little over four minutes into the second half and led by as many as 41 before Izzo summoned his deep-bench reserves.
Izzo’s truncated halftime message?
“To keep it rolling,” said Akins, who went 8-for-13. “Whatever we do, keep our foot on the gas keep it rolling. And that’s what we did.”
Perhaps most importantly was the confidence with which MSU played. It was a bravado his best teams showed in abundance and something that has been lacking in recent years, maybe longer.
Fears got in the head of Washington’s young point guard, with a dose of trash-talking and watching the Huskies freshman in foul trouble. In doing so, that allowed the Spartans’ redshirt freshman to dictate the tone of the toughness and the pace of play all night.
Coen Carr shook off a hard foul that prevented him launching for a dunk in transition early in the first half, nearly getting tackled, only to pogo-stick and hammer one down in transition after a poke-away steal by Booker and feed from Richardson.
Richardson continued to show moxie beyond his freshman year, with his father Jason in the stands seeing a slaughtering not unlike his 2000 national championship team’s 114-63 blowout nearly 25 years ago on the same court.
“Our competitive spirit wasn’t there tonight, our physicality and our toughness,” Sprinkle said. “And in order to play against Michigan State, you know what their program is built on. We knew what we’re coming into as a staff, we tried to convey that to the players. And obviously, we didn’t do a good enough job of doing that.”
Everyone took a turn going on runs, including Holloman, who also had six assists. Jaxon Kohler had six points, seven rebounds and four more assists. Cooper finished with six points and seven boards, while Carr grabbed five rebounds. The Spartans went 17-for-18 at the free-throw line, finished with a 44-26 edge in paint points and got 37 points from their reserves.
Even Nick Sanders gave the alumni in the Izzone one more thing to get loud about before their belated bedtime, sinking a jumper to seal it with a minute to play, a thorough thrashing complete.
“We still got a long way to go. I mean, it was one of those nights tonight,” Izzo said. “But this team is getting better —the camaraderie, the fastbreak, the strength in numbers, the constantly coming at you. There’s some pluses to that right now.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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“I hope they come by today.”
That’s what Temple Hills resident Eunice Hill said as she looked out on her icy street on Thursday.
Days after major snowfall, the Prince George’s County street she’s called home for 40 years since hasn’t been plowed.
“They’ve always come and cleared the streets in the past. This is the worst I’ve seen,” she said.
A few doors down, News4 spoke with Jerome. He’s lived on the block for almost three decades. He said he’s tried to remain patient but that’s wearing thin.
“I would have appreciated to see trucks by now,” he said.
The county’s Department of Public Works and Transportation said the agency has a snow protocol they activate before and after a storm. First up: the primary roads, to ensure emergency personnel can access passable roads. Next up are the residential and neighborhood roads.
“They started working on the residentials yesterday and they’ve continued on multiple shifts, been continuing on that. As we continue, the low temperatures have not been helpful,” Director Michael Johnson said.
Crews are using chemicals to help treat roads and still have plenty of salt. They started the storm with 43,500 tons of salt and have used a little over 6,600 tons so far, Johnson said.
“They’ll be bringing the enhanced chemicals, and we’ll be applying them this evening,” he said about Thursday night.
As crews prepare for another snow event, residents hope their streets will be treated soon.
Six days of memorial tributes to former President Jimmy Carter will conclude on Thursday starting with a state funeral in Washington attended by all of Carter’s living successors and ending with a private ceremony back in his hometown of Plains, Georgia.
The state funeral will begin at 10 a.m.
Read more about that funeral here and view today’s full schedule here.
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