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Two Hour Warning: Washington State Cougars @ (14) Arizona State Sun Devils

By Cory Williams Updated

With just about two hours to go before tipoff, this is another new segment from House of Sparky: The Two Hour Warning. Before every matchup for the rest of the season, you will find statistics, players to watch, and other pertinent information regarding the upcoming game.

We have also been posting a lot of good stuff lately, including an interesting breakdown of Washington State's team by their SBN blogger, Nuss.

Also, we offer a weekly Bracketology update on where your Devils stand, and how far we can reasonably expect them to go in the NCAA Tournament.

But without further ado...

The Two Hour Warning: Cougar Edition

The Washington State Cougars are a young team, fueled by their three star players: Aron Baynes, Taylor Rochestie, and Klay Thompson. They all average just over 11 points a game, but Baynes is the real threat tonight, in my opinion.

At 6'10", 250 lbs, the experienced senior from Australia plans to improve on his 7.1 rebounds a game against a Sun Devil team that is nearly depleted with big men talent outside of Jeff Pendergraph.

Taylor Rochestie plays point guard, and leads his team in scoring. However, he is shooting a mere 36.5% from 3, which is something ASU will look to exploit. Do not be surprised if he comes out with guns blazing; without a perimeter attack, Baynes' effectiveness will be compromised.

Klay Thompson would be considered the baby of the three, being just a freshman. He is putting up big enough numbers to impress this writer, with 11.5 PPG, 4.3 RPG, and 36.1% from 3. He is also made all 20 of his free throw attempts.

At 6'6", he is an imposing figure for a shooting guard at the college level.  By comparison, we usually run out 4 players 6'6" (Rihards Kuksiks) or shorter (Derek Glasser, Ty Abbott, James Harden) in our starting lineup.

Here are the total statistics for the 2008-2009 Cougar season.

FG 3PT FT Rebounds Misc
G M M A Pct M A Pct M A Pct Off Def Tot Ast TO Stl Blk PF PPG
Taylor Rochestie 19 35.5 4.1 10.4 39.1 1.4 3.9 36.5 2.7 3.0 91.2 0.5 3.1 3.6 4.7 2.5 0.9 0.1 1.7 12.3
Aron Baynes 19 26.8 4.5 7.5 59.4 0.1 0.1 100.0 2.9 3.9 74.3 2.2 4.9 7.1 0.6 1.4 0.3 1.1 1.8 11.9
Klay Thompson 19 31.8 4.4 10.4 41.9 1.6 4.4 36.1 1.1 1.1 100.0 0.9 3.4 4.3 1.7 2.2 0.9 0.7 1.9 11.4
Caleb Forrest 19 21.8 2.5 5.1 50.0 0.1 0.2 66.7 1.3 1.5 85.7 1.5 1.8 3.3 0.5 0.6 0.4 0.4 2.2 6.4
Daven Harmeling 18 23.4 1.8 4.7 39.3 1.2 3.4 36.1 0.6 0.6 90.9 0.2 1.5 1.7 0.9 0.4 0.2 0.2 1.1 5.4
Nikola Koprivica 19 21.9 1.4 4.1 35.1 0.7 2.4 30.4 0.4 0.7 57.1 0.1 2.6 2.7 1.4 1.5 0.5 0.1 1.3 4.0
DeAngelo Casto 19 15.5 1.2 2.8 43.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.4 2.1 65.0 1.3 2.8 4.1 0.2 1.1 0.5 1.3 1.6 3.8
Ryan Bailey 1 8.0 1.0 1.0 100.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.0 1.0 3.0 0.0 2.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 2.0
Marcus Capers 19 14.4 0.5 2.1 25.0 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.5 0.8 62.5 0.3 2.0 2.3 1.3 0.8 0.2 0.2 1.5 1.6
Fabian Boeke 2 2.0 0.5 1.5 33.3 0.5 1.0 50.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.0 1.5
Charlie Enquist 8 5.5 0.6 1.3 50.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.4 33.3 0.6 0.4 1.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.8 0.0 1.4
Abe Lodwick 15 7.6 0.5 2.4 19.4 0.2 1.7 12.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.8 1.1 0.3 0.5 0.2 0.1 1.3 1.1
Mike Harthun 6 5.2 0.3 1.2 28.6 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.5 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.7 0.7
Nick Witherill 4 4.0 0.3 0.5 50.0 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.0 0.0 0.8 0.3 0.0 0.3 0.5
19 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.8 2.0 2.8 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Lets look at our beloved Devils.

FG 3PT FT Rebounds Misc
G M M A Pct M A Pct M A Pct Off Def Tot Ast TO Stl Blk PF PPG
James Harden 19 34.0 7.0 13.0 53.8 1.7 4.2 40.0 6.3 8.3 75.9 1.6 4.1 5.7 4.2 3.2 1.9 0.1 2.7 22.0
Jeff Pendergraph 19 29.5 5.5 8.1 67.5 0.0 0.1 0.0 2.7 3.4 79.7 2.1 5.4 7.5 0.7 1.2 0.6 0.9 2.6 13.6
Rihards Kuksiks 19 30.9 3.6 7.3 48.9 2.7 5.6 48.6 0.7 0.9 82.4 1.1 2.8 3.9 1.2 1.4 0.6 0.2 2.6 10.6
Ty Abbott 19 30.1 3.0 7.9 38.0 1.2 4.9 24.7 0.8 1.2 65.2 0.7 3.4 4.1 1.9 1.8 1.1 0.5 2.2 8.0
Derek Glasser 19 30.5 1.8 4.6 40.2 1.1 2.5 42.6 2.4 2.8 84.9 0.5 2.0 2.5 5.1 2.3 1.1 0.0 1.4 7.1
Jamelle McMillan 19 17.0 1.4 3.7 37.1 0.8 2.6 30.0 0.5 0.7 64.3 0.2 1.7 1.8 1.8 1.2 0.7 0.1 1.6 4.0
Jerren Shipp 19 15.6 1.2 2.7 42.3 0.5 1.5 34.5 0.7 1.1 70.0 0.9 1.3 2.3 1.1 0.3 0.5 0.0 1.0 3.6
Eric Boateng 18 10.4 1.1 1.9 55.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.4 0.9 43.8 1.0 1.3 2.3 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.3 1.2 2.5
Taylor Rohde 14 5.1 0.4 1.1 33.3 0.1 0.4 16.7 0.1 0.2 33.3 0.4 0.3 0.6 0.2 0.4 0.1 0.0 0.5 0.9
Kraidon Woods 8 2.8 0.1 0.1 100.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 1.3 40.0 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.8
Nico Fricchione 4 1.3 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Virgil Sanders 1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
18 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.8 1.1 1.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

The most shocking stat in all of this: Eric Boateng has played in 18 games this season. We have no other option, sadly.

In any case, the game tonight will be decided by James Harden and Taylor Rochestie. If these players can take control on the offensive side of the court, this could be a fairly high scoring matchup. Remember, the achilles heel of Sun Devil defense is the open 3 point shots we consistently offer up. Should they be converted, like Baylor did earlier in the season, we just can't keep up with the fireworks.

Prediction: ASU 72, WSU 59

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