Seen and heard in Pullman: Cats' unique travel itinerary, former Cochise center finding way at WSU and more

PULLMAN, Wash. — Arizona athletic director Dave Heeke says he’s probably been to Washington State at least 20 times, and veteran play-by-play broadcaster Brian Jeffries can’t even count them all.

But something was notably different this time, on what was probably the Wildcats’ last visit to the Palouse for the foreseeable future.

Greeted with temperatures in the negatives upon their arrival into Pullman on Friday, the Wildcats rambled down the snowy ramp into Beasley Coliseum just as the temperature rose to (positive) 2 on Saturday afternoon.

“I’ve never seen it like this,” Heeke said.

But the Wildcats actually had it easy in one sense: They only had to stay in Washington for about 24 hours, since the Pac-12’s reworked and unbalanced schedule wasn’t making them stick around to play Washington this time — so even about 20 boosters agreed to make the short trip with them.

For decades, the Wildcats have usually had to make a long weekend of travel and cold when they would face both the Cougars and Huskies over a three- or four-day span.

Normally, before WSU games, they would stay in Spokane, then make the 90-mile drive south to Pullman on game day and, if Washington was the second game, fly from Lewiston, Idaho, or Pullman to Seattle.

During the Sean Miller era, the Wildcats often stayed at The Historic Davenport hotel in downtown Spokane, while teams in the middle or early Lute Olson years often stayed at a Best Western about 10 miles away in Moscow, Idaho. The formula generally worked, too, with UA beating WSU 11 straight times entering Saturday’s game.

This time, the Wildcats merely flew straight into Pullman, spent the night up the street from Beasley and prepared to charter home immediately after the game. The fact that Pullman now has business hotels near the WSU campus made it possible, since the Wildcats look for lodging where they can hold meetings and eat pregame meals.

“We thought with the 24-hour trip we’d just do it this way,” UA athletic trainer Justin Kokoskie said. “They just started doing catering in these (Pullman) hotels a couple of years ago.”

While the trip was something of a farewell to Pullman for the Wildcats, it was also the sort of trip they expect to make more often in the Big 12 next season, with a one-off game in a smaller college town that they charter to.

Pullman memories

When asked what memories stood out about their many visits to Pullman, Kokoskie thought for a minute before recalling the downtime the Wildcats spent over in Moscow, at a hotel in the parking lot of a strip mall.

“I always remember staying at that Best Western, and Lute hanging out with some of the staff or in the bar,” Kokoskie said.

For Jeffries, it was an easy question. He said it was a mid-1980s game when the Wildcats walked off their bus only to find the power had gone out at Beasley. The game was moved to nearby Bohler Gym, a physical education building that was built in 1928.

“That was crazy because it wasn’t set up for broadcast,” Jeffries said. “I actually found an open door to a coach’s office and plugged into his telephone and ran the wire so we could do the broadcast. I will never forget that.”

Bohler Gym housed the WSU men’s basketball team until 1973, but is now set up for solely women’s volleyball.

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Praise for Pullman

While Pullman may be the most remote and smallest town in the Pac-12, Jeffries said it has its charms.

“People laugh when they say `Ah, you’ve got to go to Pullman,’ “ Jeffries said. “Well, I like it. It’s a great college town and I’ll miss every aspect of that.”

Jeffries, a native of Tacoma on the other side of the state, has been to Pullman nearly countless times because of his work covering UA football, men’s basketball and baseball.

“I get to see all the seasons,” Jeffries said. “If we come here early enough in football, it’s fall. Baseball is spring, and winter we come here for basketball. You see it all.”

Down under Tucson

Even before Oscar Cluff started racking up double-doubles for Cochise College the past two seasons, longtime UA basketball staffer Jack Murphy was aware the Australian big man had Pac-12-level talent.

“We knew he was a really good player down there,” Murphy said. “We just weren’t in the frame of mind to recruit a junior college kid at that time.”

Cochise coach Jerry Carrillo “is a very good friend and he knew,” Murphy added. “He loved him. He knew he was a talented guy. Told me that two years ago.”

Averaging 12.8 points and 10.8 rebounds points as a Cochise freshman two years ago, Cluff has made jumps the past two seasons. He averaged 18.2 points and 9.8 rebounds last season while shooting 64.7% from the field.

This season, Cluff entered Saturday’s game averaging 8.5 points and 4.8 rebounds while shooting 57.3% from the field and blocking an average of one shot per game.

Cluff had six points in the first five minutes Saturday.

Alpha dog

By the time Arizona flew into Eastern Washington on Friday, former Wildcat wing Adama Bal had already made headlines in the Spokane Spokesman-Review.

“Alpha Assertion,” read the Spokesman-Review’s headline on a game story documenting how Bal, now known by his full name of Adama-Alpha Bal, hit the go-ahead shot to help Santa Clara upset Gonzaga 77-76 on Thursday for its first win over the Zags since 2011.

Bal, who transferred to Santa Clara after playing only sparingly for the Wildcats over the previous two seasons, entered a game against Saint Mary’s on Saturday leading the Broncos in scoring with an average of 16.0 points while shooting 48.9% from the field overall and hitting 40% of his 3-pointers.

Bal has also begun to draw speculation he might become Santa Clara’s third straight sleeper first-round NBA pick, after Brandin Podziemski and Jalen Williams became Top 20 picks.