The way the Washington State Cougars lost to the Arizona Wildcats was heartbreaking, yes — but it also portends big things to come in the future. Let’s dig into the positives (and negative) from Saturday night’s game.

Thumbs Up: Guts

There were a lot of cards stacked against the Cougs in this one. They were missing their starting center, Vova Markovetskyy, primary reserve guard Ryan Rapp, and bench players DJ Rodman and Brandton Chatfield — all because of COVID.