at No. 9/9 UCLA (18-4, 9-2) | Saturday, Feb. 4 | 4 p.m. PT | Pauley Pavilion (Los Angeles)
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OPENING FIVE
1. The Cougars visit Westwood to face #9/9 UCLA and conclude competition against the Pac-12 LA schools. UCLA hosts WSU Saturday, Feb. 4 at Pauley Pavilion with tipoff scheduled for 4 p.m. on Pac-12 Network. When the Bruins and Cougs met earlier this season, Dec. 30, Wazzu fell to then-No. 11 UCLA, 66-67, after leading for over 35 minutes in the game. DJ Rodman scored a season-high 19 points.
2. Last time out, WSU lost at USC, 70-80. Boogie Ellis scored 17 of his 23 points in the second half to offset a career night by Mouhamed Gueye and USC pulled away late for the victory Thursday night. Drew Peterson finished with 20 points, six rebounds, and four assists. Gueye finished with a career-high 31 points for the Cougars and grabbed 12 rebounds for his 10th double-double of the season. Justin Powell hit 3 of 4 from distance and scored 11.
3. The Cougars average 8.6 made 3-point field goals per game, more than any other team in the Pac-12 and 12th among major conference programs. WSU sits second in the Conference in 3-point percentage at 36.0%. Individually, three Cougars are amongst the top-10 shooters in the Conference, led by Jabe Mullins in second with a 44.1% (41-of-93) clip from beyond the arc. Justin Powell sits fifth at 41.1% and DJ Rodman is ninth in the Pac-12 with a 38.5% clip. Nine times this season WSU has made 10+ threes.
4. Mouhamed Gueye has turned into a double-double machine, with 10 double-doubles this season. Thursday night at USC, Gueye scored a career-high 31 points, 20 in the first half, and grabbed 12 rebounds for his third-straight double-double. The Senegalese sophomore is averaging 14.0 ppg (T-11th in Pac-12) and 8.4 rpg (third in Pac-12). Fifteen times this year Gueye has led the Cougs in rebounding, and he has grabbed more offensive rebounds than any other player in the Pac-12 with 83 offensive boards. Six times, Gueye has grabbed 6+ offensive rebounds in a game.
5. Justin Powell averages 2.8 assists per game with a 2.8 assist-to-turnover ratio. Powell's distribution rate ranks 13th in the Pac-12. Ten times this season Powell has not given up a turnover. The Prospect, Ky., native is also fifth in the Conference shooting from beyond the arc with a 41.1% clip.

COUGARS VS BRUINS
The Cougars wrap the Southern California road trip with a visit to No. 9/9 UCLA, Saturday, Feb. 4. WSU and UCLA will meet at 4 p.m. PT inside Pauley Pavilion with coverage on the Pac-12 Network. Earlier this season, the Cougars hosted the No. 11 Bruins on the Palouse, as UCLA escaped with a 67-66 victory. WSU led for over 35 minutes in the contest and DJ Rodman's last-second three bounced off the rim. Rodman led the Cougs with a season-high 19 points, while Mouhamed Gueye added a double-double of 18 points and career-high 18 rebounds.

LAST TIME OUT – AT SOUTHERN CAL
WSU 70 - USC 80 | FEB. 2, 2023 | LOS ANGELES
Boogie Ellis scored 17 of his 23 points in the second half to offset a career night by Washington State's Mouhamed Gueye and Southern California pulled away late for an 80-70 victory on Thursday night. Drew Peterson finished with 20 points, six rebounds and four assists. Gueye finished with a career-high 31 points for the Cougars, making 14 of 21 shots with a 3-pointer and grabbed 12 rebounds for his 10th double-double of the season. Justin Powell hit 3 of 4 from distance and scored 11.

NEXT UP
Washington State returns to the Palouse for its final homestand of the regular season. The Cougars host the Washington Huskies in the first half of the Boeing Apple Cup Series, Saturday, Feb. 11 at Beasley Coliseum. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. PT with coverage on Pac-12 Networks. Last season the programs split the series with matching 78-70 victories at home. In the first matchup, Feb. 23, 2022, Wazzu beat UW in Pullman behind a then-career-high 25 points from Mouhamed Gueye. Efe Abogidi added a 21-point, 14-rebound double-double. During the rematch in Seattle, Feb. 26, the Huskies returned the favor with a 78-70 win. Michael Flowers scored a season-high 30 points and Mouhamed Gueye added 10 points and seven rebounds in the loss.

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 10 double-doubles this season. Gueye has grabbed more offensive rebounds than any player in the Pac-12 with 83 offensive boards. Gueye is averaging 14.0 points per game (tied-11th in Pac-12) and 8.4 rebounds per game (3rd in Pac-12). Six times this year, he has grabbed six or more offensive rebounds. Thursday night at USC, the Senegalese sophomore scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for his third-straight double-double. Dec. 30 against No. 11 UCLA, he snagged a career-high 18 rebounds, most by a Coug since Josh Hawkinson tallied 20 against Washington (Jan. 9, 2016).

BOMBS AWAY
The Cougars aren't afraid to pull the trigger from deep. As a team, WSU makes 8.6 3-point field goals per game, more than any other team in the Pac-12 and 12th among major conference programs. Individually, three Cougars are amongst the top-10 shooters in the Conference, led by Jabe Mullins in second with a 44.1% (41-of-93) clip from beyond the arc. Justin Powell sits fifth at 41.1% and DJ Rodman is ninth in the Pac-12 with a 38.5% clip. Nine times this season WSU has made 10+ threes. 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. The Cougars are 6-3 with at least 10 made 3-point field goals.

DEFENDING THE PERIMETER
In addition to their offensive prowess from beyond the arc, the Cougars are also a top defensive team around the perimeter. WSU is tied for 18th in the country and best in the Conference in three-point field goal defense, limiting opponents to 5.4 made 3-pointers per game. The Cougar backcourt is also quick to run shooters off the line, limiting opponents to 17.1 attempts from deep per game - best in the Pac-12 and tied for 17th in Division I. Against Conference opponents, Wazzu is holding teams to 31.4% from 3-point range (fifth in Conference).

WINNING BIG, LOSING SMALL
Eight of the Cougars' 10 victories this season have come by at least 10+ points. Closing out close games is crucial for the Cougs, who lost to Utah, #11 Baylor, UNLV, #11 UCLA, Colorado, and #6 Arizona by a combined 20 points. Washington State's smallest margin of victory came Jan. 14 against Stanford, a 60-59 nailbiter and the smallest margin of victory in the Kyle Smith era (first since Santa Clara Dec. 17, 2016). Seven 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 2-7 in two-possession games this season.

THIS YEAR AGAINST CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS
The Cougars have already faced all four Pac-12 California schools at least once this season, with a 3-2 record. WSU completed a home sweep against the Bay Area schools for the third time in the Pac-12 era and second time under Coach Smith (2011-12 & 2020-21). Wazzu's home loss came at the hands of No. 11/8 UCLA in a 66-67 heartbreaker after the Cougs led for over 35 minutes. WSU dropped its second game against Southern California, Feb. 2 in Los Angeles.

RODMAN'S NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION
Since the Cougars' Dec. 25th game against Utah State, DJ Rodman has scored in double figures in six times, including a season-high 19 points in the Cougs' 1-point loss to No. 11/8 UCLA. The Newport Beach, Calif., native has averaged 12.0 points per game after averaging just 4.6 ppg through his first 12 games. Rodman is shooting 48% from 3-point range over that eight-game span (24-of-50).  The senior veteran is ninth in the Conference in 3-point shooting with a 38.5% clip (37-of-96).

BAMBA BRINGS THE BUSINESS
TJ Bamba returned from a 3-game absence with left-hand injury to lead the Cougars with 18 points at Colorado. Bamba has emerged as Washington State's leading scorer at 14.2 points per game, 10th in the Pac-12. Bamba has scored in double figures 14 games this season, including three games with 20+ points. Against Boise State, Nov. 12, Bamba scored a career-high 24 points - the first 20-point game of his career.

POWELL'S PERFECT PASSING
Junior transfer Justin Powell has been taking care of the rock all season, with a 2.8 assist-to-turnover ratio. Powell is averaging 2.8 assists per game, 13th in the Pac-12. He is also fifth in the Conference as a 3-point shooter at 41.1% (53-of-129). Ten 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.

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 sits second in the Pac-12 with a 44.1% (41-of-93) 3-point field goal percentage. Mullins averages 2.05 made 3-point field goals per game, eighth in the Pac-12. 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. The Snoqualmie, Wash., native also rarely misses from the line, having missed just once since arriving at WSU (22-of-23) at 95.7%.

JAK IS BACK
Andrej Jakimovski is finding his form, as the North Macedonian junior returned to the starting lineup after missing the first 10 games of the season with a foot injury. Last Saturday  against Arizona State, Jakimovski scored a career-high 22 points, leading WSU with his first 20-point game of his career. The North Macedonian has twice made five 3-pointers in a single game. In the win over Stanford, Jan. 14, Jakimovski scored a season-high 17 points to lead the Cougars. The sharp shooter made 5-of-6 from 3-point range, matching a career-high for made field goals from beyond the arc. Jaki became the third Coug this season to make 5+ 3-pointers in a single game.

COUGS CREATING SECOND CHANCES
The Cougars have become a prominent offensive rebounding team, leading to second-chance scoring opportunities. Washington State averages 11.2 offensive rebounds per game, which has led to an average of 11.0 second-chance points per game, compared to just 7.9 second-chance points per game for Cougar opponents on 8.3 offensive rebounds per game.

GETTING TO THE GLASS
Despite the Cougars lack of frontcourt experience, they hold a 3.4 rebounding margin this season (seventh 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.

ADRAME ANNOUNCES HIMSELF
Twice this season freshman Adrame Diongue showcased his defensive length with three rejections. Against No. 6 Arizona, Jan. 26, the Senegalese freshman registered three blocked shots, after swatting three attempts away against No. 11 UCLA, Dec. 30. Diongue ranks second on the team behind Gueye with 12 blocked shots and is averaging just over one blocked shot per Conference game (1.09).

TJ GETTING TO THE LINE
TJ Bamba has proven to be a formidable force, getting to the free throw line more than any Cougar in the backcourt and just behind Mouhamed Gueye for most free throws attempted (94). The Bronx native has made 65 of his attempts at the charity stripe, 11th in the Conference.

RODMAN RETURNING VETERAN
As the Cougars' veteran senior, Rodman leads the Cougars and Division-I with 21 charges drawn, more than double any teammate. On the offensive glass, Rodman has pulled in 41 offensive rebounds, second-most behind Gueye, and is second on the team with 5.5 total rebounds per game. The Newport Beach native has scored in double figures six of the last 10 games, including his second-career double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds at Arizona State (career-high vs Pac-12 opponent). Unofficially, Rodman leads Division I in charges drawn with 21 charges drawn this season. He is also second on the team in steals (18).

TOP-15 TOUGHEST SCHEDULE & TOUGH LUCK
According to the KenPom adjusted strength of schedule, Washington State has played the 11th toughest schedule in the country. WSU is ranked 59th in the current KenPom ratings and is the only sub-.500 program in the top 70. 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 fourth most-unlucky team in Division I this year, sitting at 360 out of 363 ranked programs.

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.

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 19,103 aeronautical miles and will conclude the LA road trip with over 19,984 miles traveled.