Efe Abogidi scored 18 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked six shots as Washington State extended its nonconference winning streak to 16 games with a 73-65 victory Monday over UC Santa Barbara at Pullman, Wash.
Noah Williams scored 13 points while Tyrell Roberts and Michael Flowers added 11 points each as the Cougars (3-0) remained unbeaten outside of Pac-12 Conference play since a victory at Idaho on Dec. 4, 2019. Washington State had a season-best seven steals.
Amadou Sow had game highs with 25 points and 11 rebounds for the Gauchos (1-1), who lost just five times last season while advancing to the NCAA Tournament out of the Big West Conference.
Ajare Sanni added 12 points for UC Santa Barbara, which earned a 119-65 victory over Division II San Francisco State in its season opener, the fourth-largest point total in a single game in program history.
Washington State used an early 10-0 run to take a 12-3 lead 4:20 into the game and was never threatened. The Cougars opened a 10-point lead at 16-6 two minutes later and pushed past the 20-point mark at 37-16 on a driving layup by TJ Bamba with 3:53 remaining before halftime.
Washington State was just 1 of 9 from 3-point range in the first half but still managed to shoot 52.9 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes to 30.8 percent for the Gauchos.
The Cougars finished 45.9 percent from the field in the game, while the Gauchos were at 39 percent. The teams combined to shoot 4 of 29 (13.8 percent) from 3-point range.
UC Santa Barbara’s Josh Pierre-Louis was held to three points on 1-of-7 shooting after scoring 25 on Wednesday against San Francisco State.
Washington State evened the all-time series against UC Santa Barbara at 2-2, ending the Gauchos’ two-game, head-to-head win streak.
–Field Level Media
