Sports

PAGE 6 | THURSDAY, JAN. 28, 2021

EDITOR NICK OLDHAM DESPORTS@DAILYEVERGREEN.COM

Men’s basketball Pac-12 power rankings

No. 23 UCLA, USC sit at top of power rankings in week 10 as Cougars fall in ranks due to 5-game losing streak; Washington, Cal at bottom

By Kuria Pounds Evergreen columnist

After 10 weeks of Pac-12 men’s basketball, the conference seems to be all over the place, and the contenders at the beginning of the season seem to be “pretenders.”

No. 23 UCLA is still the best team in the conference, and the fight at the bottom is close between three different programs.

Here are my power rankings for the Pac-12 men’s basketball season to date.

23 UCLA (12-3, 8-1)

The Bruins seem to be the most unstoppable team in the conference, even though they suffered their first loss to Stanford this past weekend by a buzzer-beater in overtime. Redshirt sophomore guard Tyger Campbell had a bad shooting day, going four of 12 from the field in his overtime performance. UCLA struggled this past weekend but looks to continue to lead the conference.

Games this week (1/25 - 1/31): 6 p.m. Thursday vs. Oregon, 4 p.m. Saturday vs. Oregon State on Pac-12 Network.

USC (12-3, 6-2)

Once again, UCLA’s cross-town rival, USC, had an impressive week beating California on the road. The Trojans did not play Stanford due to inconclusive COVID-19 results within the USC program. USC lost a close game against Oregon State in a bad shooting game, only shooting about 56 percent from the freethrow line. They bounced back against the Cal Golden Bears, with freshman forward Evan Mobley shooting 12 of 15 from the free-throw line. The Trojans look to keep moving up as their season continues.

Games this week (1/25 - 1/31): 2 p.m. Thursday vs. Oregon State on ESPNU, 2:30 p.m. Saturday vs. Oregon on FOX.

Colorado (12-4, 6-3)

The Buffaloes had an even week, suffering a bad loss to the Huskies in Seattle, but then coming back to defeat WSU on the road. The “fluke” game against WSU saw the Buffaloes shoot one of 18 from behind three-point range, a horrible shooting day for Colorado all around. Against the Cougars, the Buffaloes went from down 18 early on to leading by 18 in the second half, led by junior forward Evan Battey, shooting six of 11 from the field and having 16 points.

Games this week (1/25 - 1/31): 6 p.m. Wednesday vs. WSU on ESPNU, 6:30 p.m. Saturday vs. Utah on Pac-12 Network.

Arizona (11-3, 5-3), up one spot

The Wildcats beat their in-state rival, Arizona State, on a buzzer-beater layup by freshman forward Azuolas Tubelis in their one game this past week. Even with a very limited bench of three people, Arizona still showed up against the Sun Devils, with junior guard James Akinjo scoring 24 points on eight of 17 shooting from the field. Even though the Wildcats don’t have any postseason aspirations, Arizona still seems to have a conference regular-season title on their minds.

Games this week (1/25 - 1/31): 8 p.m. Monday vs. Arizona State on ESPN2, 8 p.m. Thursday vs. Stanford, 2 p.m. Saturday vs. California on Pac-12 Network.

Oregon (9-3, 4-2), down one spot

The Ducks had their first game after a long pause due to COVID-19 issues. They lost by 11 at home against their in-state rival, Oregon State. The rust from a long break without a game showed, as the Ducks could not hit anything from the field. Redshirt senior forward Eugene Omoruyi and redshirt junior forward Eric Williams Jr. combined for eight of 26 from the field, combining for 26 total points. Oregon’s first game back from COVID-19 issues did not fall the way they wanted. But with more practice, they will get back near the top.

Games this week (1/25 - 1/31): 6 p.m. Thursday at UCLA, 2:30 p.m. Saturday at USC on FOX. No. 23 UCLA defated WSU men’s basketball 91-61 on Jan. 14 in Los Angeles to improve to 6-0 in the Pac-12.

Stanford (9-5, 5-3)

The Cardinal beat the only undefeated team in the conference, UCLA, by a buzzer-beater layup from senior forward Oscar da Silva off an in-bounds play. In their one game this week, Stanford made a national name for themselves, knocking off the Bruins at home in a back-and-forth game. A 26-point game from Silva,

First tournamant in books

WSU men’s golf will wait until Feb. 22 to play next tournament in Riverside

By Daniel Shurr Evergreen reporter

WSU men’s golf wrapped up a three-day tournament in Tucson, Arizona, where the team picked up a top 10 finish.

The host, the Arizona Wildcats, ultimately won the Arizona Intercollegiate with a score of 3-under-par, the only team to perform better than par in the tournament. WSU finished the tournament in sole control of ninth with 34 strokes over par.

The Cougars found themselves in a hole early on, as they finished day one sitting 28 shots above par and tied for 14th as a team.

Day two went much better, however, as WSU finished the day at only 30 over for the whole tournament and moved up to a tie for 13th with instate rivals, the University of Washington Huskies.

The second day of the tournament saw fifth-year senior Nicklaus Chiam record the first under-par score of the day at 3 strokes under par. That was also good enough to bring Chiam up to a tie for 13th in individual scores.

Day two also saw freshman Nate Plaster card the Cougars’ only eagle of the tournament.

The final day of the tourna-

Courtesy of wsu athletics

Fifth year Nicklaus Chiam shot 3-under-par during second day.

ment resulted in WSU shooting two worse than they did on day two as a team, but saw great improvement from a couple of players.

Junior Max Sekulic played his best round of the tournament to climb into the lead on the team and a tie for 28th (220, +7) overall individually. Sekulic shot a 69, which is 2 under the course’s par, and the second-best round for the Cougars in the tournament.

Additionally, graduate transfer Eric Hagen shot his best round (70, -1) to finish tied with Chiam for 34th overall in the tournament.

The solid second and third rounds from the team allowed WSU to climb into a top ten finish in the field of 17, while the Huskies finished tied for 14th with only Utah and New Mexico State behind them.

The WSU men’s golf team will resume their season Feb. 22 and 23 in Riverside, California, with The Joust, a tournament hosted by California Baptist University.

Track & field starts against UW

UW Indoor Preview will be first of three meets versus Huskies

By Daniel Shurr

Evergreen reporter

The WSU track and field team commences their indoor season on Friday in Seattle, , as the track team becomes the most recent sport to compete during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Pac-12 Conference released its schedule early this week. The WSU program will be traveling as far away as Arkansas.

The team will take a six-hour bus ride to the University of Washington to start the season. Here, athletes will be competing in the UW Indoor Preview at Dempsey Indoor Center. The meet will last all day Friday and Saturday.

This is the first meet of the indoor season, which has been trimmed down because of the pandemic.

Last season, the team competed in two meets before the UW Indoor Preview. However, since the season has been shortened, the Cougars will miss out on the out-of-conference play they usually have to start the year.

The track and field season is starting more than a month late. In the 2019-20 season, the team’s first meet was hosted by Boise St. on Dec. 14 in the infamous Jackson’s Open.

WSU faced tough competition at the UW Indoor Preview in years past, as the meet is usually one of the largest in the nation due to the elegance of the 80,000-square foot indoor facility that features a 307-meter track and a full 100-yard field turf.

In previous years, competition has come from within the Pac-12 conference, as well as Eastern Washington, Fresno State and Weber State University in Utah.

However, this year the event will not be as grand. The only schools competing in the meet this time around will be UW, WSU, and the Brigham Young University women’s team.

WSU performed well at the meet in 2020, as juniors Zorana and Jelena Grujic finished in the top ten in the 800-meter women’s race. Both race ished with a time under two minutes and fifteen seconds. In addition, redshirt junior Colton Johnsen placed first in the men’s 3,000-meter, with a time of just ove eight minutes.

After the UW Indoor Preview, the Cougars will travel to Arkansas

PORTS

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Men’s basketball Pac-12 power rankings

Benjamin michaelis | Daily Evergreen file

No. 23 UCLA defated WSU men’s basketball 91-61 on Jan. 14 in Los Angeles to improve to 6-0 in the Pac-12.

along with junior forward Jaiden Delaire, who scored 19 points, led the Cardinal past UCLA. Stanford could be a dark horse in this conference with good shooting days like this.

Games this week (1/25 - 1/31): 8 p.m. Thursday at Arizona, 7 p.m. Saturday at Arizona State.

Oregon State (8-5, 4-3), up one spot

The Beavers are riding a three-game winning streak, beating Arizona State, USC and Oregon in that span. Oregon State beat USC in a last-second effort, but the biggest contributor was senior center Roman Silva off the bench, scoring 12 points on six of seven shooting in 15 minutes. The Beavers shot about 92 percent from the free-throw line against Oregon on Saturday, with a lot of help from senior guard Ethan Thompson, who shot 12 of 14 from the line. The Beavers are slowly climbing up the ranks during this winning streak.

Games this week (1/25 - 1/31): 2 p.m. Thursday at USC on ESPNU, 4 p.m. Saturday at UCLA on Pac-12 Network.

Utah (6-7, 3-6) up one spot

The Utes split their road trip to Washington, beating the Cougars on the road, but losing close to UW in Seattle. Against WSU, 24 bench points combined from senior guard Alfonso Plummer and junior forward Riley Battin helped Utah get past the Cougars easily, along with sophomore center Branden Carlson getting 14 points on seven of 12 shooting. Utah came up a little short against the Huskies. Even though the Utes shot about 51 percent from the field, they were outshot by Washington. An even week for Utah puts them in a positive outlook moving forward.

Games this week (1/25 - 1/31): 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Colorado on Pac-12 Network.

WSU (9-6, 2-6), down two spots

The Cougars have been slipping, currently on a fivegame losing streak, and the age of this team is being exposed. WSU got swept by Utah and Colorado, losing by double-digits in both contests, and the shooting just was not there. The Cougars shot about 38 percent against Utah on Wednesday and about 42 percent against Colorado on Saturday. Led by senior guard Issac Bonton and sophomore guard Noah Williams, this team is in a losing rut and needs to get out of it, or else they could fall to the bottom.

Games this week (1/25 - 1/31): 6 p.m. Wednesday at Colorado on ESPNU, 5 p.m. Sunday at Washington on Pac-12 Network.

Arizona State (4-7, 1-4)

The Sun Devils got hit with the same postCOVID-19 drought as Oregon, in terms of bad shooting days and losses. Arizona State faced their in-state rival, Arizona, in a thrilling game that went down to the last second. They relied on senior guard Remy Martin to help the Sun Devils get a win, but he shot four of 11 and tallied 18 points, but it was not enough. This is the second consecutive game where Arizona State lost on the last possession of the game. A tough break for a well-known program.

Games this week (1/25 - 1/31): 8 p.m. Monday at Arizona on ESPN2, 8 p.m. Thursday vs. California on Fox Sports 1, 7 p.m. Saturday vs. Stanford.

UW (3-11, 2-7), up one spot

You may be wondering why the Huskies, who only have three wins on the season, are ahead of California, who have seven wins on the season. The answer: momentum. The Huskies swept Colorado and Utah for their first wins in the Pac-12 all season, as well as their first win since Dec. 9 of last year. An impressive game off the bench for sophomore guard Marcus Tsohonis with 27 points scored in 27 minutes against Colorado. Against Utah, junior guard Jamal Bey scored 28 points on 10 of 11 shooting. The Huskies may have found their shooters other than senior guard Quade Green.

Games this week (1/25 - 1/31): 5 p.m. Sunday vs. Washington State on Pac-12 Network.

California (7-10, 2-8), down one spot

The Golden Bears got swept by the Los Angeles schools at home, and the momentum seems to be going in the wrong direction after beating Utah the previous week. Without junior guard Matt Bradley, this team still cannot find a solid shooter to replace him for now. Senior forward Grant Anticevich is doing a good job filling Bradley’s absence, scoring 21 points against UCLA on eight of 11 shooting, and 15 points against USC on five of 10 shooting. The Golden Bears just need Bradley back to maybe get some more wins in the conference.

Games this week (1/25-1/31): 8 p.m. Thursday at Arizona State on Fox Sports 1, 2 p.m. Saturday at Arizona on Pac-12 Network.

Track & field starts against UW

Zach rubio | daily evergreen file

WSU track and field will play at Dempsey Indoor Center on Friday and Saturday.

on Feb. 5 for the Arkansas Qualifier in Fayetteville, Arkansas. There, they will take on the Razorbacks in an allday meet.

A week later the team will be back on the purple track inside Dempsey Indoor Center for the UW Invitational. As of now, the conference schedule indicates it will be a classic face-off between Huskies and Cougs.

After spending all day in Seattle on Feb. 12-13, the team will be at the Matador Qualifier, hosted by the Texas Tech Red Raiders, in Lubbock, Texas.

WSU will make one more two-day trip to Seattle on Feb. 26-27 for the annual Husky Classic, which will wrap up the regular season for the Cougs.

Indoor competitions for both the Pac-12 conference and entire NCAA will run from March until the middle of May.

As with all sports in

THE PATH TO LEADERSHIP STARTS WITH ONE BRAVE STEP.

To learn more call (509) 308-9676 or visit rotc.wsu.edu

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PAGE 8 | THURSDAY, JAN. 28, 2021 EDITOR SANDI KOBIESA MINT@DAILYEVERGREEN.COM

MINT

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Professors’ outlook on online school

Annika zeigler | evergreen illustration

Professors encourage students to focus on school, find the time to do homework and study, but also to focus on mental health and having fun. Professors miss in-person classes, but due to COVID-19, are willing to make changes to ensure health safety of everyone around them. Two WSU professors share their stories with online teaching, adapting to COVID-19; want to make best experience for all

By Kassandra Vogel Evergreen Columnist

Online school during a pandemic was a learning experience for not just students, but professors as well. They had to learn how to transfer all their resources onto Blackboard and Zoom, to missing the connections they made with students during in-person office hours.

Gabriella Bedoyan, teaching assistant professor in the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, recently celebrated her 15th year of teaching. Bedoyan chose not to hold lectures through Zoom because she was facing the competing demands of teaching live classes and helping her own young children with online school. Instead, she prerecorded her lectures as a solution.

“I thought it would grant everybody the flexibility we need if everything is prerecorded and students can go at their own pace,” Bedoyan said.

Her summer was spent preparing and recording all her lectures for the upcoming school year, which left her with no downtime. Although it was difficult, it was the right choice, she said.

“I’m the kind of professor that loves to have student interaction and to get the sense of my students,” Bedoyan said.

While Bedoyan preferred to interact with her students in a live setting, her solution was necessary for the situation.

“I think it was harder on students than it was on me,” Bedoyan said.

For newer educators like Abigail Salazar Romero, doctoral student with a focus in American and Cultural Studies, teaching during a pandemic offered new challenges. Spring will be Romero’s fourth semester of teaching, so she was very familiar with the struggles of an online format. Zoom was not her favorite, she said.

“I couldn’t really tell who was engaging with the material and who was not, so that made me feel more nervous,” Romero said. “It is hard to stay in one place for so many hours because it makes it difficult to be really excited.”

Ultimately, her love for the subject matter and the freedom to create her own course work were the positive aspects that helped her stick with it. After restructuring her ethnic studies class for the spring and removing the bulk of the assigned readings, Romero said she is feeling more optimistic about this semester.

“Being able to teach how I want to at this point, and having my own voice is something I have really liked,” Romero said. “I am excited now that the class is different because I am hoping that starting with more of a discussion and a lecture, I will get more engagement.”

Bedoyan noticed some freshmen students struggled to keep a consistent schedule and completing work on time compared to her older students.

“It is a lot of the same right now [and] we are all in the same boat. But I am trying to give as much grace and flexibility to my students as I can,” Bedoyan said.

Two of her professors at the University of Utah inspired her to teach, Romero said. Their compassion and understanding assisted her in gaining her degrees.

“We don’t know what is going on in others’ lives, so I provide my students with compassion I’ve experienced, and hope that I can play a role in helping them graduate,” Romero said. “Because of the two [professors] I had, that led me to want to pursue a Ph.D. and teaching. As I get this degree, I want to be that difference and help with retention rates of first-year students.”

Welcome back to the world of plants

This week’s plant: the snake plant; easy to care for, grows big over time, perfect college student plant

By Sandi Kobiesa Evergreen columnist

Welcome back to Plant World. This week, I thought we could move up to the very beautiful, and very sturdy snake plant, aka Sansevieria/Dracaena.

There are, again, many varieties of Sansevieria. The Sansevieria Trifasciata "Laurentii" is dark green all around with a lime green border. The Ceylon Bowstring Hemp is dark green with almost-black stripes running horizontally through its leaves.

They grow relatively slow compared to the pothos, but with proper care, they will shoot out new leaves, and eventually new pups — baby snake plants that have their own root system and bulb — which you can propagate.

Snake plants are easy to take care of, once you get the hang of them. I struggled in the beginning, because believe it or not, this plant thrives off neglect. They are the ultimate college plant; I went without watering mine for three months and instead of dying, she popped out three new leaves.

Your snake plant, depending on location, could go one to three months with no water. I found it is better to underwater this guy rather than overwater. When you water too much, the leaves get rotten and just fall out, and man do they stink.

In the summer, you can water once a month, winter is closer to three. But that also depends on lighting and heat; the hotter your home is, the more you have to water. The best way to check if your plant needs water is to either obtain a water meter or use your finger. If you can stick your entire finger into the soil without any sticking on you, water that bad boy.

Lighting wise, these plants do well in most light levels. They can survive in a bathroom with basically no natural light, or right in front of a window. I currently have three plants, all in different locations; one by my front door and window, one on my fireplace that has no natural light, and one on a side table about four feet from a window. They are all doing well, but the one by my front door skyrocketed to about five feet in height.

Sandi kobiesa | the daily evergreen

Moonshine snake plant is known for its light, sage green leaves. It is one of the rarest snake plants.

Snake plants have a habit of getting floppy when they reach a certain height. The best way to deal with this is to stake them up with some garden twine and a bamboo stake.

When snake plants love you, they will give you pups. You can separate from your big plant and add to a different pot. But my favorite thing to do with them is spread the love and give them to a friend.