vs California (3-13, 2-3) | Wednesday, Jan. 11 | 8 p.m. PT | Beasley Coliseum (Pullman, Wash.)
  Live Stats | StatBroadcast
  Watch | ESPNU (Dave Feldman & Adrian Branch)
  Listen | WSU Learfield Radio Network (Matt Chazanow & Craig Ehlo)

OPENING FIVE
1. WSU hosts California Wednesday, Jan. 11 at Beasley Coliseum with tipoff scheduled for 8 p.m. PT on ESPNU.  Washington State has won five-straight against the Golden Bears, including three victories last season. In Pullman, WSU won 65-57, Jan. 15, before picking up the second win 68-64 in Berkeley, Feb. 5. The Cougars made a clean sweep of Cal in a 66-59 win during the opening round of the 2022 Pac-12 Basketball Tournament, March 9.
2. Last time out, the Cougars beat No. 5 Arizona, 74-61, in Tucson for arguably the biggest win in program history. WSU snapped a 37-game losing streak against AP Top-5 teams and earned its first ever road win against an AP Top 5 opponent. Mouhamed Gueye registered his seventh double-double of the year with a season-high 24 points and 14 rebounds, while leading the team in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals, and blocks. The Cougs made 12 3s and held the Wildcats to their lowest point output of the year and season-low 31.7% shooting, including 16.0% from deep.
3. The Cougars average 8.9 made 3-point field goals per game, more than any other team in the Pac-12 (10th in Power 6 conferences). Individually, Jabe Mullins is second in the country with a 51.4% (38-of-74) clip from beyond the arc. Mullins has the best 3-point percentage of any player in Power 6 conferences. Against Detroit Mercy, Nov. 25, the Cougars set a school record with 19 made 3s.
4. Mouhamed Gueye has turned into a double-double machine, with seven double-doubles this season. Saturday against Arizona, Gueye scored a season-high 24 points to go with 14 rebounds in the WSU win. The Senegalese sophomore snagged a career-high 18 rebounds against No. 11 UCLA, and has led WSU in rebounding 12 times this year. Gueye has grabbed more rebounds than any player in Pac-12 play with 59 total boards and leads the conference on the offensive glass with 25 rebounds.
5. TJ Bamba has emerged as Washington State's leading scorer at 15.1 points per game, tied for ninth in the Conference. Bamba has scored in double figures 13 games this season, including three times with 20+ points. Against Boise State, Nov. 12, Bamba scored a career-high 24 points - the first 20-point game of his career - and back-to-back 20-point games for the first time in his career with 22 pts against Northern Kentucky (Dec. 7) and 20 pts vs UNLV (Dec. 10).

COUGARS VS GOLDEN BEARS
Washington State will host California, Wednesday, Jan. 11 at Beasley Coliseum with television coverage on ESPNU and tipoff scheduled for 8 p.m. PT. Washington State has won five-straight against the Golden Bears, including three victories last season. In Pullman, WSU won 65-57, Jan. 15, before picking up the second win 68-64 in Berkeley, Feb. 5. The Cougars made a clean sweep of Cal in a 66-59 win during the opening round of the 2022 Pac-12 Basketball Tournament, March 9.

LAST TIME OUT – VS #5/4 ARIZONA
WSU 74 - ARIZ 61 | JAN. 7, 2023 | TUCSON, ARIZ.
Mouhamed Gueye had 24 points and 14 rebounds, and Washington State ended No. 5 Arizona's 28-game home winning streak with a 74-61 victory on Saturday. The Cougars snapped a 37-game losing streak against AP Top-5 teams and earned their first ever road win against an AP Top-5 opponent. The Cougs shut down Arizona's once-potent offense. WSU built an 18-point lead midway through the second half, withstood Arizona's late run and shot 12-of-28 from 3-point range to end what had been the nation's third-longest active winning streak.

NEXT UP
WSU welcomes Stanford to conclude the weekend with a Saturday evening tipoff scheduled for 5 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network, Pac-12 Washington, and Pac-12 Bay Area. The Cougars and Cardinal have split the last two season series. Last year, Stanford emerged from Pullman with a 62-57 victory, Jan. 13. WSU returned the favor at Stanford with a 66-60 win, including a 23-0 run in the second half to win its fourth-straight game.

GUEYE TAKING OVER THE CONFERENCE OF CHAMPIONS
Sophomore Mouhamed Gueye, a preseason All-Pac-12 selection and All-Freshman honoree last season, has become a double-double machine with seven double-doubles this season. In the Cougars' win at No. 5 Arizona, the Senegalese sophomore scored a season-high 24 points (1 shy of his career high) and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds. Dec. 30 against No. 11 UCLA, he snagged a career-high 18 rebounds, most by a Coug since Josh Hawkinson tallied 20 against Washington (1/9/2016). Across six conference games, including two AP Top-10 teams (UCLA, Arizona), Gueye is averaging 16.8 points per game (5th in Pac-12) and 9.83 rebounds per game (2nd in Pac-12). Gueye has also grabbed more rebounds than any player in Pac-12 play with 59 boards and leads the conference on the offensive glass with 25 rebounds.

BOMBS AWAY
The Cougars aren't afraid to pull the trigger from deep. As a team, WSU makes 8.9 3-point field goals per game, more than any other team in the Pac-12 and 10th in Power 6 conferences. Washington State also attempts the most 3-pointers in the Conference (25.8). Individually, Jabe Mullins is second in the country with a 51.4% (38-of-74) clip from beyond the arc. In the Nov. 25th game against Detroit Mercy, the Cougars set a school record with 19 made from beyond the arc. Jabe Mullins led WSU with six made 3-pointers as the Cougs finished 19-of 29 from downtown. The splash show marked the fourth time under Kyle Smith the Cougs have made 15+ from beyond the arc.

BAMBA BRINGS THE BUSINESS
TJ Bamba has emerged as Washington State's leading scorer at 15.1 points per game, tied for ninth in the Pac-12. Bamba has scored in double figures 13 games this season, including three times with 20+ points. Against Boise State, Nov. 12, Bamba scored a career-high 24 points - the first 20-point game of his career - and back-to-back 20-point games for the first time in his career with 22 points against Northern Kentucky (Dec. 7) and 20 points versus UNLV (Dec. 10).

MULLINS MAGIC
After a four-game absence with minor knee injury, junior transfer Jabe Mullins has returned as one of the country's top 3-point shooters. He currently is second in Division I basketball with a 51.4% (38-of-74) 3-point field goal percentage. Mullins averages 2.92 made 3-point field goals per game, top in the Pac-12 and 38th in the country. Seven times this season he has made 3+ shots from beyond the arc. Against Eastern Washington, Nov. 21, Mullins made eight 3-point field goals - the most by a Coug since Noah Williams had eight vs Stanford on Feb. 20, 2021. It's also the most made 3s by a Pac-12 player this season and tied for the most by a high-major player in Division I. He followed the EWU game with six 3-point FGs against Detroit Mercy, as the Cougs set a school record with 19 made from beyond the arc.

RODMAN RETURNING VETERAN
As the Cougars' veteran senior, Rodman leads the Cougars this season with 19 charges drawn, more than double any teammate. On the offensive glass, Rodman has pulled in 31 offensive rebounds, most by any backcourt Coug, and is second on the team with 5.6 total rebounds per game. The Newport Beach native has scored in double figures for four-straight games, including his second-career double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds at Arizona State (career-high vs Pac-12 opponent). Rodman also leads the Cougars with 14 steals this year.

TOP-5 TOUGHEST SCHEDULE & TOUGH LUCK
According to the KenPom adjusted strength of schedule, Washington State has played the 5th toughest schedule in the country. The Cougars hold the toughest schedule in the Conference. Despite a 7-10 record, WSU is ranked 61st in the current KenPom ratings and is the only 7-win program in the top 125. According to the KenPom "luck rating," a measure of the deviation between a team's actual winning percentage and what one would expect from its game-by-game efficiencies, the Cougars are the second unluckiest team in Division I this year, sitting at 362 out of 363 ranked programs.

WINNING BIG, LOSING SMALL
Six of the Cougars' seven victories this season have come by at least 10+ points. Closing out close games is crucial for the Cougs, who lost to Utah, Baylor, and UNLV by a combined total of 12 points. Washington State's smallest margin of victory came against George Washington, Dec. 22, in a 66-64 nailbiter. It was the smallest margin of victory by a WSU team since a 67-65 win over Arizona State, Jan. 29, 2020. Five times this season the Cougars have lost by six points or fewer, including a 1-point defeat to No. 11 UCLA, Dec. 30, the first single-point loss for WSU since an overtime defeat by Colorado, Jan. 8, 2014. The Cougars are 1-5 in two-possession games this season.

POWELL'S PERFECT PASSING
Junior transfer Justin Powell has been taking care of the rock all season, sitting at second in the Conference with a 2.6 assist-to-turnover ratio. Powell is averaging 3.2 assists per game, ninth in the Pac-12. He is also fifth in the Conference as a 3-point shooter at 40.2% (39-of-97). Six times this season Powell has committed zero turnovers. Three times this season Powell has tallied 7+ assists without committing a turnover. When he went a perfect 7.0 against Eastern Washington, Nov. 21, he was the first Coug with at least as many assists and no giveaways since Andrej Jakimovski tallied nine assists without a turnover against Cal, Feb. 18, 2021. The Kentucky native dished out a career-high 12 assists in his WSU debut against Texas State, Nov. 7, the most assists by a Coug in a season opener since assists became an official stat in the 1985-86 season and the most by a WSU player in any game in 13 years, when Reggie Moore tallied 12 assists against Portland State, Dec. 19, 2009. It's also the first double-double with assists since Malachi Flynn dished out 11 assists to go with 11 points against Arizona, Jan. 31, 2018.

COUGS CREATING SECOND CHANCES
The Cougars have become a prominent offensive rebounding team, leading to second-chance scoring opportunities. Washington State averages 11.4 offensive rebounds per game, which has led to an average of 11.4 second-chance points per game, compared to just 8.9 second-chance points per game for Cougar opponents on 8.7 offensive rebounds per game. In Conference play, WSU averages 12.0 offensive boards per game, second behind Arizona.

GETTING TO THE GLASS
Despite the Cougars lack of frontcourt experience, they hold a +4.1 rebounding margin this season (fifth in the Conference). When WSU faced Northern Kentucky, Dec. 7, the Cougs held the Norse to four first-half rebounds and just 12 rebounds in the game. It marked the fewest rebounds by a Washington State opponent since Dec. 29, 1992 when Princeton pulled in seven rebounds. The last time a WSU opponent was held below 20 rebounds was when Idaho State gathered 16 boards in Kennewick, Wash., Dec. 29, 2012. The Cougars finished with a +29 rebounding margin against Northern Kentucky, the largest margin since Nov. 15, 2008 when WSU went +34 (53-19) on the glass against Mississippi Valley State and only the second time in the last 25 years. WSU followed with another dominate rebounding performance against UNLV, limiting the Runnin' Rebels to 20 total boards (five in the first half) and finished with a +13 advantage on the glass.

ROSARIO'S RETURN
Junior Carlos Rosario made his return for the Cougars in the season opener versus Texas State. It had been 627 days (Feb. 18, 2021) since Rosario last played for Wazzu, having to medically redshirt his sophomore season after playing just seven games his freshman season due to medical issues. In his return to the court, Rosario scored his first-career field goal and finished with a career-high six points and three rebounds.

JAK IS BACK
Junior forward Andrej Jakimovski has returned to WSU's starting lineup after beginning the season with a foot injury. Against Southern California, Jan. 1, Jakimovski tallied a season-high six points with team-high six rebounds in 28 minutes as a starter.

FREQUENT FLYERS
The Cougars have spent plenty of time in the air this year. WSU has made two separate trips to Texas this year, in addition to a trip to Hawaii. Since the start of the season, WSU has flown over 16,249 aeronautical miles.

INJURY BUG BITES EARLY
The Cougs have been short-handed since the start of the season due to injury. Prior to the season starting, the Cougars announced they will be without junior Dishon Jackson or redshirt freshman Myles Rice. Both are out indefinitely due to medical issues. Rice announced publicly in October he has been diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma and is undergoing treatment. Jackson did not disclose his medical issue and asked for privacy. WSU was also without Jakimovski (foot) for the first 10 games of the season, before making his return against George Washington, Dec. 22. Junior transfer Jabe Mullins, one of the hottest shooting guards in the country, missed four games with a knee injury. In addition, Darling, Diongue, Rodman, and Rosario have each missed at least one game at different times due to illness or injury.