WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS (9-3) vs NORTHERN IOWA PANTHERS (7-4, 1-0)
Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024
1 p.m. PT (4 p.m. ET)
Las Vegas, Nevada
Orleans Arena
Capacity: 7,471

Cougar Radio Network
KXLY 920AM // KHTR 104.3FM
KTTH 770AM // KONA 610AM
Play-by-Play: Chris King
Analyst: Craig Ehlo

Television & Streaming
FloHoops
Play-by-Play: Trey Bender
Producer: Unknown

OPENING TIPS
1. The Cougar men will conclude the nonconference schedule with a neutral site meeting against Northern Iowa at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, the same venue as the upcoming 2025 WCC Tournament Championships in March. Coach Riley and Wazzu will get familiar with the venue, Saturday, December 21 at 1 p.m. PT on FloHoops.
2. Coach David Riley has the Cougs off to a 9-3 start, the best start by a first-year WSU coach since Ken Bone started 10-2 in 2009-10. Tony Bennett boasted the best start in the 2006-07 Coug season at 11-1. Riley is the fourth Wazzu coach in school history to start his first season at 9-3 or better.
3. Five Cougs are averaging 10+ points per game and at least four Cougs have scored in double figures in eight games, while five different players have tallied 20-point games.
4. Nate Calmese leads WSU's active roster with 16.0 points, 4.4 assists, and 2.0 steals per game. The junior transfer sits eighth in the WCC in scoring, fifth in steals, and sixth in assists per game.
5. LeJuan Watts notched his fourth double-double, Dec. 7, finishing with a season-high 20 points and game-high 11 rebounds. Watts has scored in double figures 11 times, and ranks sixth in the WCC with 7.5 rpg.

LAST TIME OUT
The Cougs fell to the Washington Huskies, 89-73, Wednesday night in Seattle in the 300th all-time meeting between the programs. Nate Calmese led the Cougs in scoring with 21 points and grabbed five rebounds. LeJuan Watts scored 15 points and grabbed team-high eight rebounds. Ethan Price matched a season-high 16 points, grabbed six rebounds, and dished out four assists. Wazzu struggled to stay out of foul trouble, committing a season-high 26 personal fouls and turning the ball over a season-high 22 times. Despite the struggles, the Cougs dominated the glass, outrebounding the Huskies, 42-23 for their best rebounding margin of the season.

PICK YOUR POISON
The Cougars have distributed scoring across the majority of the playing rotation with all five starters averaging 10+ points through 12 games. At least four Cougs have scored in double figures eight times, while five individuals have tallied 20-point performances. Nate Calmese sits eighth in the conference in scoring and LeJuan Watts ranks sixth in the WCC in rebounding.

SHARING THE ROCK
The Cougs dished out a season high 24 assists in the win over Eastern Washington, Nov. 21, marking the most assists by a WSU team in nearly six years, when Wazzu tallied 27 assists against CSUN, Nov. 27, 2018 (2,186 days). The Cougs followed with 22 assists against Fresno State for the second-consecutive 20-assist game. WSU is undefeated at 9-0 when tallying 15+ assists, most recently defeating Missouri State after dishing out 17 assists. In contrast, the Cougs are 0-3 when delivering fewer than 15 assists.

UP NEXT
Washington State begins its 2024-25 West Coast Conference campaign on the road, Saturday, Dec. 28, at the Portland Pilots. Coach Riley has never faced the Pilots as a head coach, while the Cougars hold a 12-2 all-time record against Portland. The schools last met in 2012, a sixth-consecutive win for WSU, at Beasley Coliseum. Wazzu has only lost to Portland in the Rose City, first in 1989 and again in 2000. WSU defeated Portland at the Chiles Center in 2011 and holds a 2-2 record against the Pilots in the building.

RIM PROTECTORS
The Cougar team leads the WCC and ranks seventh in the country with 6.2 blocked shots per game. WSU boasts two of the top four shot blockers in the conference with Okafor at second and Erikstrup at fourth.

INJURY BUG BITES EARLY
Coach David Riley confirmed last week the successful shoulder surgeries of senior Cedric Coward and freshman Marcus Wilson, both of whom will miss the remainder of the 2024-25 season on a 4-6 month recovery timeline. Sophomore Rihards Vavers is out indefinitely, likely for the season, with broken bones in both hands.

DIFFERENT KINDA COUGS
WSU is built different this season, regularly playing with four or all five men around the perimeter, a different look from the 2023-24 Cougs, which played with two bigs inside. The change has results in a higher 2-point field goal percentage, over 55%, and a larger portion of points coming from beyond the arc. The Cougars rank 32nd nationally in 2-point percentage.

FLOOR GENERAL CALMESE
Nate Calmese, who began his college career as the Southland Conference Freshman of the Year at Lamar, has seen all his ballhandling statistics improve over three seasons, including increases in assists (120%), steals (+67%), and rebounds (40%).

'ZAY SETTLES AS A STARTER
Isaiah Watts, the only returning letterwinner from the 2023-24 roster, is on pace to quadruple his scoring, rebounding, assists, and steals output from his freshman season. The West Seattle sophomore has already eclipsed his freshman season totals in points, rebounding, steals, and assists. Three times Isaiah has surpassed 20 points, including a career-high 22 points against Eastern Wash. Zay made his first career start in place of an injured Cedric Coward, Nov. 26, grabbing a career-high five steals and has remained in the starting lineup since. In the win at Nevada, Watts secured a then-career-high six rebounds, only to surpass the mark in his outing at Boise with seven rebounds, before matching it against Missouri State.

THE PRICE IS RIGHT
Ethan Price, a senior transfer from Eastern Washington, has started all 112 games of his career for Coach Riley. The Englishman surpassed 1,000 career points during his junior season with the Eagles. Early this season, Price dished out his 200th career assist and the senior most recently surpassed 500 career rebounds to become the first Cougar player since Kyle Weaver (2004-08) to record at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, and 200 career assists.

EFFICIENT IN THE ARC
In the Nov. 18 win over Northern Colorado, the Cougars shot 76.7% from 2-point range, led by redshirt-sophomore LeJuan Watts with a perfect 7-of-7 from the floor. The team percentage marked the highest single-game 2-point percentage by a Wazzu team since December 9, 2007, when the Cougs shot 76.7% from inside the arc against Portland State (26-40). WSU boasts the top effective FG team in the WCC with a .560 eFG%, 51st in Division-I as of Dec. 19.

TINKERING WITH TEMPO
The Cougs are averaging 81.3 points per game, second in WCC behind Gonzaga, and 66th nationally. The Cougars are 7-0 when scoring over 80 points. WSU got its first win when being held under 70 points in a 68-57 mudfight at Nevada, Dec. 2, in Reno.

TOMAS TEASES TALENT
With a short bench, true freshman Tomas Thrastarson has found himself playing more significant rotation minutes. The Icelandic native played a season-high 22 minutes at Nevada, Dec. 2, scoring a 3-pointer and setting career highs with four rebounds, three assists, and two blocks.

TRIPLE-DOUBLE THREAT
Head Coach David Riley has describe LeJuan Watts as a consistent threat for a recording a triple-double. The sophomore standout got the closest he's been as a Coug with six assists in a Dec. 7 win over Boise State. Watts has tallied four double-doubles and five double-digit rebounding games so far.

TRIO OF 20-PIECES
When Cedric Coward, Dane Erikstrup, and Isaiah Watts combined for 68 points against Eastern Washington, Nov. 21, they became the first Cougar trio to scored 20 points each in the same game in 3,598 days. The last WSU trio to achieve three 20-point games at once came Jan. 15, 2015 against Oregon when Josh Hawkinson, Ike Iroegbu, and DaVonte Lacy combined for 70 points.

DOWNTOWN DOWNPOURS
Wazzu had its best game of the season from beyond the arc against Eastern Washington, Nov. 21, hitting 16 triples at a 53% clip (16-of-30). It marked the most 3-pointers by the Cougs in a single game since setting the school record with 18 three-pointers in a win over Detroit Mercy, Nov. 25, 2022. Dane Erikstrup led Wazzu with six 3-pointers, becoming the first Coug since current Memphis Grizzlies' rookie Jaylen Wells made six triples in a win at No. 4 Arizona last February.

CALMESE SETS SEASON-HIGH
Nate Calmese scored a season-high 27 points, Nov. 15 against Iowa, his first 20-point performance since Feb. 25, 2023 as a freshman at Lamar. The junior transfer scored in double figures in eight of his first 10 games at WSU, adding his second 20-point game in the win over Fresno State.

ERIKSTRUP EXCELLENCE
Dane Erikstrup scored a WSU career-high 24 points in WSU's win over his former team Eastern Washington, Nov. 21, becoming the fourth Coug this year with a 20-point game. The Beaverton, Oregon native also grabbed eight rebounds, setting a WSU career high.

OKAFOR BACK ON THE FLOOR
Junior ND Okafor, a transfer from California, played his first minutes as a Coug in the Nov. 11 win over Idaho. Okafor missed the first two games due to concussion protocol. In his Cougar debut, Okafor delivered a career-high 12 points, with six rebounds, a block, and a steal. In the Nov. 15 game against Iowa, Okafor pulled in five boards to eclipse 100 career rebounds. Against Fresno State, Okafor rejected a career-high three shots, and has established himself as the Cougs premier rim protector.

COWARD NAMED WCC POTW
Cedric Coward was named WCC Player of the Week, Nov. 25, for the first time in his career after matching his D-I career-high with 30 points vs Northern Colorado, while committing zero turnovers, the first 30-point performance of the season by a Coug. The Fresno native followed with 22 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, two blocks, and a steal against his former team, Eastern Washington. Over two games, Coward shot 19-of-30 (.633) from the floor, including 5-of-11 from deep (.455). However, Coward has not seen the floor since winning the award, out indefinitely with a left shoulder injury.

THE CENTURY MARK
When the Cougs defeated Portland State, 100-92, in the season opener, the Cougars eclipsed 100 points for the first time since beating Oregon State, 103-97 in overtime, Feb. 28, 2022, in Corvallis, Ore. It marked the first triple-digit performance at Beasley Coliseum since beating CSUN, 103-94, Nov. 27, 2018. WSU scored 100 points in regulation for the first time since beating Idaho 109-61, Nov. 18, 2021 in Moscow, Idaho.

COUGS PICKED FIFTH IN WCC
Entering the 2024-25 season as an affiliate member of the WCC, Wazzu was selected fifth in the preseason coaches poll. The last time a David Riley team was selected fifth in the preseason conference poll, at EWU in 2022-23, his team rattled off an 18-game unbeaten streak on the way to a Big Sky Conference regular season championship.