WSU falls to Seton Hall, 75-61, taking fourth place at the Maui Invitational

Nov. 26—After a short getaway to the islands, Washington State is headed back stateside with a fourth-place finish.

With a 75-61 loss to Seton Hall in Wednesday's Maui Invitational third-place game, the Cougars took fourth in their first-ever trip to Maui, where another slow start doomed them, this time against the Pirates.

Wing Ri Vavers tallied 17 points and freshman guard Ace Glass added 15 for the Cougars (3-5), who could not hang on to the ball because of the full-court press from Seton Hall, which raced to a 15-2 start. In the second half, WSU used a seven-point burst to make things interesting, down 13 with six minutes left, but Seton Hall put things away with two straight baskets.

"We were getting our butts kicked on the glass the first five minutes," WSU coach David Riley said, "then we adjusted to it. That's the tough thing about three games in three days — you gotta be ready from the jump. And unfortunately, they came out more physical than us."

It was the end of a sensational three-game stretch for Glass, who broke out with 40 points in WSU's semifinal loss to Arizona State, setting a program record for single-game scoring by a true freshman. Glass also set a career-high the previous day, in the Cougars' win over host school Chaminade, emerging as the kind of off-the-dribble creator WSU could really use this season.

The Cougars, who return to action on the road against Bradley on Tuesday evening, also got some consistent shot-making from Vavers. After undergoing offseason shoulder surgery, Vavers took some time to get going, but he has arrived: He's scored in double figures in two of his last three games., sinking seven 3-pointers against Chaminade and three apiece against ASU and Seton Hall.

But for WSU to get back on track, the group will need to avoid turnovers and generate better defense. The Cougars lost 15 turnovers against Seton Hall, 11 against ASU and 23 against Chaminade, whose full-court press may have exposed one way to force WSU to unravel. After taking care of the ball well in their first five games, the Cougs are again suffering turnover problems, one of the biggest weaknesses in last year's team.

WSU wing Emmanuel Ugbo also might be getting healthier, a promising sign for the Cougs. After coming out of his team's win over Southern Utah with a foot/ankle injury after only a couple minutes last week, he missed the Chaminade game, played 14 minutes against ASU and 15 against Seton Hall.

Is Ugbo close to getting back to full strength? His uptick in minutes would seem to suggest so, but the Cougs could get a lift if he can produce at his usual level — 10 points and 5 rebounds per game — next week on the road.