WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS (17-17 // 11-9) VS IDAHO VANDALS (10-22 // 4-14)
Monday, November 3 at 8 p.m. PT
Pullman, Wash.
Beasley Coliseum // 11,671
Radio Coverage
Matt Chazanow & Craig Ehlo
WSU Learfield Network
Television Coverage
Pac-12 Washington
Greg Heister & Dan Dickau

OPENING FIVE
1. WSU welcomed nine new faces to the 2023-24 Cougar basketball roster, including four transfers and five incoming freshmen
2. Senior Andrej Jakimovski returns as the Cougars' only three-year letterwinner. and welcomed incoming upperclassmen Joseph Yesufu, Isaac Jones, Jaylen Wells, and Oscar Cluff
3. Wazzu has three former Washington 4A State Player of the Year recipients on its roster – Jabe Mullins (2020), Dylan Darling (2022), Parker Gerrits (2023) and boast six student-athletes from the Evergreen State.
4. The Cougars earned an at-large bid to the NIT last season, marking the second-straight postseason appearance and first back-to-back postseason berths since reaching the Sweet Sixteen in the 2008 NCAA Tournament and earning a bid to the 2009 NIT the following season.
5. Seniors Jabe Mullins and Andrej Jakimovski are the Cougars top returning scorers from last year averaging 8.4 and 7.7 points per game, respectively.

COUGARS VS VANDALS
Washington State University and the University of Idaho reignite one of the oldest series in Division-I basketball history, meeting for the 278th matchup of the Battle of the Palouse. The series dates back to 1906 when Washington State College defeated the University of Idaho, 28-11 in Pullman. Since then, the Cougars have held a 167-110 advantage in the 11th-longest running series in college basketball. Last time out, Wazzu crossed the border to face Idaho, Nov. 18, 2021, beating the Vandals 109-61 in the most-lopsided victory in the series history. Then-sophomore Andrej Jakimovski scored eight points in 10 minutes. Six Cougars scored in double figures and 11 finished with points in the final box score.

NEXT UP
The Cougars continue their homestand to begin the season, welcoming Prairie View A&M to Beasley Coliseum, Friday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. for the Pac-12/SWAC HBCU Legacy Series game. Last year, WSU traveled to Texas, falling to the Panthers, 59-70, while three WSU players sat out the game with sickness or injury.

WAZZU IN SEASON OPENERS
The Cougs are 100-22 all-time in season openers and 61-8 when opening the season at home. WSU has won every season opener when opening at Beasley Coliseum and its last 27 season openers at home. WSU has won 33-consecutive Beasley Coliseum openers (not necessarily the first game of the season, but the first at home), with their last loss coming to BYU, Dec. 3, 1987. Last season the Cougs defeated Texas State, 83-61, to begin the year at Beasley. Four Cougs scored in double figures, including then-incoming-transfer Jabe Mullins with 13 points.

KYLE STARTING WITH SUCCESS
Kyle Smith is the first head coach in Washington State men's basketball history to finish with a .500+ record in his first four seasons on the Palouse. Tony Bennett posted three-consecutive winning seasons before leaving the program.

COACH KYLE - KING OF THE PNW
Since arriving on the Palouse prior to the 2019-20 season, WSU Head Coach Kyle Smith has dominated his fellow Pac-12 Pacific Northwest opponents. Against Oregon, Oregon State, and Washington, Coach Smith is a combined 15-5 and defeated all three regional rivals in succession for the first time since 1993-94 under Kelvin Sampson. The Cougars have swept the Huskies, Ducks, and Beavers in Pullman for two-straight seasons and are 6-1 at Beasley Coliseum against Conference PNW opponents under Coach Smith.

TOP HALF OF THE PAC
The Cougars finished fifth in the Pac-12, earning Kyle Smith's highest finish in four seasons at WSU. For the first time since the 2007-08 season, Wazzu finished with back-to-back winning Conference records. Smith is the only coach in Washington State history to post a winning record in the Pac-12 era. It's the first time WSU finished in the top half of the Pac-10/12 back-to-back years since the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons. In the Pac-X Conference era, WSU has posted 14 winning conference records.

GUEYE HIGHEST COUG DRAFT PICK SINCE KLAY THOMPSON
Sophomore Mouhamed Gueye, an All-Pac-12 First Team selection was drafted in the second round of the 2023 NBA Draft at No. 39 by the Charlotte Hornets. Gueye, who led the Pac-12 Conference with 15 double-doubles and grabbed more offensive rebounds than any player in the Pac-12, was traded to the Atlanta Hawks, where he played significant minutes throughout NBA Summer League and made his NBA regular season debut last weekend.

RING THAT BELL, MYLES IS CANCER FREE
Last spring, Myles Rice received his final chemotherapy treatment for Hodgkin's Lymphoma. He rung the victory bell at the treatment center in Moscow, Idaho and was declared cancer-free and in remission. He received a medical redshirt for this season and will enter the 2023-24 season with four years of eligibility, plus a COVID relief exemption.

JAK IS BACK
Senior Andrej Jakimovski returned as the Cougars' only 4-year veteran and enters the season fully healthy for the first time since his freshman year. Jakimovski scored in double figures six of the last eight games to close the 2022-23 season. Over 23 appearances, the North Macedonian averaged 7.7 points per game, 4.6 rebounds per game, and dished out 1.3 assists per game.

MULLINS MAGIC
Jabe Mullins returns as one of the country's top 3-point shooters. Last year, Mullins finished second in the Pac-12 with a 43.0% (55-of-128) 3-point field goal percentage. Eight times he made 3+ shots from beyond the arc. Against Eastern Washington, Nov. 21, Mullins made eight 3-point field goals - the most made 3s by a Pac-12 player in the 2022-23 season and tied for third-most by a high-major player in Division I.  The Snoqualmie, Wash., native also rarely misses from the line, having missed just four charity shots since arriving at WSU (27-of-31).

KYLE'S QUICK CONFERENCE SUCCESS
With WSU's win over California in the opening round of the Pac-12 Tournament, the Cougs secured a 7-game winning streak against Conference opponents for the first time since January 1983 under George Raveling. The Cougars also completed a road sweep over the Bay Area schools for the second-straight season for the first time since the 1981-83 seasons. Coach Smith has won 35 Conference game in four seasons, more than any other WSU coach in their first four years (Bennetts - 31) and boasts a better Pac winning percentage in the first four years of tenure (.455) than any previous WSU coach (Bennetts - .431). The Cougars secured back-to-back winning conference records for the first time since the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons.

WSU POSTSEASON
The Cougars bid to the 2023 NIT marked the program's seventh all-time appearance in the postseason event. Twice Wazzu reached the semfinals, during the 2021-22 and during the 2011 NIT. WSU holds a 10-7 record all-time in the event. WSU earned back-to-back postseason berths for the first time since reaching the Sweet Sixteen in the 2008 NCAA Tournament and earned a bid to the 2009 NIT the following season.

HOMEGROWN ROSTER
The Cougars boast six student-athletes on the 2023-24 roster from the state of Washington, including three former Washington State Players of the Year. Senior Jabe Mullins was named the WIAA 4A Player of the Year in 2020, followed by sophomore Dylan Darling in 2022, and incoming freshman Parker Gerrits last spring.

HOME SWEET HOME
Washington State will complete its entire nonconference schedule without a true road game. WSU will host seven nonconference games at Beasley Coliseum, while participating in four neutral-site games before kicking off conference play. The scheduling quirk marks the first time since the 2020-21 season that the Cougars do not play a true nonconference road game.

BOMBS AWAY
The Cougars aren't afraid to pull the trigger from deep. As a team, WSU made 9.0 3-point field goals per game last year, more than any team in the Pac-12 and eighth among major conference programs. Thirteen times WSU made 10+ threes and finished 9-4 in those games.

STREAKING INTO SIN CITY
WSU entered the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinals last spring on a 7-game winning streak. It marked the longest Pac-12 winning streak of Kyle Smith's tenure, and the longest Conference winning streak since winning 7-straight in 1982-83 under George Raveling (Jan. 8, 1983-Jan. 29, 1983). The Cougars were one of two programs in the Power 6 conferences with a 7+-game-winning streak, keeping company with eventual tournament champion and now-No. 7 UCLA.

WHAT, NO LOVE?
Washington State was one of only two programs in the Conference that did not receive a Pac-12 Weekly Performance Award last season. This comes despite a league-leading 15 double-doubles from eventual NBA Draft pick Mouhamed Gueye and the Pac-12's leader in offensive rebounds, as well as three Cougars in the Conference's top-10 3-point shooting and the second-highest single-game performance (in the Pac-12 that season. The last time Washington State did not receive a weekly honor over an entire season was 2017-18, before there were freshman honors, and WSU finished 4-14 and 11th in Conference play.

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