TEMPE, Ariz. — It was “Nerdball” at its absolute finest.

Washington State’s men’s basketball team held Arizona State to just 21.1 percent shooting from the field Wednesday as the Cougars beat the Sun Devils in a defensive battle, 51-29, in the Pac-12 Conference opener for each team at Desert Financial Arena.

“Really proud of the way our guys competed; it was an odd game,” coach Kyle Smith said, who earned his 200th career victory. “We played really well. What a defensive effort. We didn’t expect that.”

Neither team hit more than 31 percent of their shots from the field. But WSU (6-1, 1-0) was just a bit more efficient overall, and played stifling defense. It is the fewest points the Cougars have allowed against a conference opponent in program history.

Junior guard Noah Williams led the Cougars with 14 points and four rebounds. Sophomore center Dishon Jackson had a double-double, with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Senior guard Michael Flowers chipped in nine points.

“It definitely feels good, but we like to put stuff behind us because at the end of the day the next game is the biggest game,” Jackson said. “We’re just trying to get better every day.”

DJ Horne paced the Sun Devils (2-6, 0-1) with 12 points on 5-for-13 shooting. However, the rest of ASU’s roster went a combined 7-for-44 (15.9 percent) from the field.

It was a nice bounceback win for WSU, which saw a 19-point first-half advantage against Eastern Washington evaporate in a 76-71 nonconference loss Saturday at Beasley Coliseum. In this one, the Cougars got the lead from the opening tip and never lost it.

Each team shot the ball horrendously in a first half that saw the Cougars emerge with an 18-10 lead. WSU was 7-for-29 (24.1 percent) from the field, but that was better than the 4-for-24 (16.7 percent) ASU put up.

The Cougars were 7-for-24 (29.2 percent) overall from 3-point range, but signifcantly better in the second half at 5-of-14 (35.7 percent). Meanwhile, the Sun Devils were 3-for-26 (11.5 percent) overall from outside and just 1-of-11 (9.1 percent) in the final 20 minutes.

“We thought going into this year, we would be really good defensively,” Smith said. “But for whatever reason we haven’t been. (The defensive effort) was shocking. Shocked by everything. It was one of those games. We’ll take it.”

Then in the second half, Washington State came out and scored the first 10 points of the second half to essentially ice the game. It definitely was different from the game just four days ago.

“I think we’ve been having some lackluster second halves,” Smith said. “We knew that the first four minutes we’re important, and when we came out like we did, that was really huge. It was a tremendous effort.”

The Cougars next play No. 20 USC at 3 p.m. Saturday at home.

WASHINGTON ST. (6-1)

Gueye 2-6 1-2 5, D.Jackson 4-8 2-2 10, Flowers 3-12 0-0 9, Roberts 2-11 0-0 6, N.Williams 4-11 4-6 14, Abogidi 2-3 0-0 4, Rodman 1-3 1-2 3, Bamba 0-4 0-2 0, Jakimovski 0-1 0-0 0, Koulibaly 0-0 0-0 0, Rapp 0-0 0-0 0, Rice 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-59 8-14 51.

ARIZONA ST. (2-6)

Graham 0-1 0-2 0, Lawrence 2-4 2-2 6, Horne 5-13 0-0 12, M.Jackson 1-10 0-0 2, Muhammad 1-3 0-0 2, Heath 1-8 0-0 2, Gaffney 1-8 0-0 3, Neal 1-8 0-2 2, Boakye 0-2 0-2 0, Burno 0-0 0-0 0, Olmsted 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-57 2-8 29.

Halftime: Washington St., 18-10. 3-Point Goals: Washington St. 7-24 (Flowers 3-8, N.Williams 2-4, Roberts 2-6, Abogidi 0-1, Gueye 0-1, Jakimovski 0-1, Rodman 0-1, Bamba 0-2), Arizona St. 3-26 (Horne 2-7, Gaffney 1-4, Graham 0-1, Muhammad 0-2, Heath 0-3, Neal 0-4, M.Jackson 0-5). Rebounds: Washington St. 49 (Gueye, D.Jackson 10), Arizona St. 29 (Boakye 8). Assists: Washington St. 8 (Roberts 2), Arizona St. 6 (Neal 3). Total Fouls: Washington St. 13, Arizona St. 16. A: 6,793 (14,198).