#18 WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS (23-7, 14-5) vs WASHINGTON HUSKIES (16-14, 8-11)
Thursday, March 7, 2024
6:07 p.m. PT // Pullman, Wash.
Beasley Coliseum  //11,671
Radio Coverage
Cougar Sports Network // KXLY 920AM
Matt Chazanow & Craig Ehlo
Television Coverage
FS1 // FOX Sports App
Guy Haberman & Dan Dickau
 
OPENING FIVE
1. The No. 18 Cougars host Washington in the Boeing Apple Cup Series, the final regular season game, Thursday, March 7 at 6 p.m. from Beasley Coliseum
2. Myles Rice is a strong candidate for Freshman of the Year as the Cougs' leading scorer at 15.5 ppg, a 7-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week, and the only player in League history to earn 4-straight weekly honors, while averaging 3.83 assists per game and 1.53 steals per game (both team highs)
3. The Cougars boast one of the longest lineups in the country and use it to hold opponents to just 41.7% shooting, best in the Pac-12, while blocking 5.0 shots per game, second in the Pac-12 and 20th in the country
4. No. 18 Wazzu's current AP Poll ranking is its highest since being ranked 17th in the February 18th, 2008 AP Poll – the Cougars have their best season of the Pac-12 era, reaching 20 wins in the regular season for the first time since 2007-08 and matching a program record with 14 Conference wins for the third time and first time since 1982-83 (also 1979-80)
5. WSU is 15-1 at home, its lone loss to Oregon, Jan. 6, matching a school record for single-season home victories. The Cougars have never won 16 home games in a season

SERIES HISTORY WITH WASHINGTON
Washington State and the University of Washington have played 298 times, dating back to the inaugural game on the Palouse in February 1910. The Huskies insisted on playing by the old game rules, which did not allow for dribbling, without the Cougar team getting the chance to practice. Since then, the rivalry has become the 9th-most-played series in Division-I basketball history. UW leads the series 187-111, while WSU has found the more recent success, with Kyle Smith holding a 7-2 record over UW. The Cougars have won four of the last five against the Huskies, including two of the last three games in Pullman.

LAST TIME AT WASHINGTON
Isaac Jones scored 20 points including a dunk in the closing seconds of regulation that forced overtime, Myles Rice scored five of his 18 points in the extra session, and Washington State rallied to beat Washington 90-87, Feb. 3. Rice was scoreless in the second half before hitting a pair of free throws and a key 3-pointer with 1:50 left in overtime. Jaylen Wells added a then-career-high 19 points for the Cougars and Oscar Cluff scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half. Washington's Keion Brooks Jr. scored a career-high 35 points, but missed an off-balance 3-point attempt with two seconds left in overtime as the Huskies fell in Seattle.

CURRENT COUGS VS WASHINGTON
WSU Head Coach Kyle Smith has led the Cougs to 7-2 record against Washington during his tenure in Pullman, winning four of the last five games. Jaylen Wells, Andrej Jakimovski, Isaac Jones, and Myles Rice all scored in double figures in the February win.

COUGARS VS HUSKIES
The No. 18 Cougars host the Huskies in the 299th all-time meeting between the programs, the regular season finale, and the final game as Conference opponents, dating back 114 years to the 1911 Northwest Collegiate Conference. Tip off is scheduled for 6 p.m., Thursday, March 7 from Beasley Coliseum. WSU has won the last two meetings in Pullman, with Coach Smith losing only once at Beasley to the Huskies.

LAST TIME OUT // VS UCLA
UCLA 65 // No. 19 WSU 77 // MARCH 2, 2024 // PULLMAN, WASH.
No. 19 Washington State defeated UCLA 77-65, Saturday afternoon in Beasley Coliseum to improve to 23-7, and 14-5 in Pac-12 play, tying the program record for most Conference wins in a season.  Jaylen Wells led the game in scoring with a career-high 27 points, while nailing all 10 of his free throws. Isaac Jones had 11 points and five rebounds. Andrej Jakimovski had 10 points with a pair of 3-pointers and grabbed nine rebounds. Myles Rice had 18 points, four rebounds, four assists, and grabbed a steal. Rueben Chinyelu also grabbed nine rebounds and three blocks, setting the WSU freshman single-season blocks record (40).

COUGS CLIMB TO 14 CONFERENCE WINS
With Saturday's win over UCLA, the No. 19 Cougars earned their 14th Conference win of the year,  matching a program record set in 1979-80 and 1982-83.

WATTS REPS WEST SEATTLE
True freshman Isaiah Watts popped off for a career-high 18 points in the win over USC, Thursday night. The Washington native finished 5 of 6 from 3-point range for the best performance of his young career. Watts led the Cougs in scoring for the first time in his career, while picking up his second double-digit performance this season.

SMITH NAMED TO COACH OF THE YEAR WATCH LIST
Kyle Smith was named to the 2024 Naismith Men's College Coach of the Year Late Season Watch List. Smith has guided WSU to its best season in the Pac-12 era and a 20-win regular season for the first time since 2007-08. Coach Smith is the first Cougar men's basketball coach to earn the recognition since Tony Bennett won the 2007 Naismith National Coach of the Year, following a second-place finish in the Pac-10 and an NCAA Tournament berth for the first time since 1993-94.

COUGS ON HISTORIC CURTAIN CALL THROUGH CONFERENCE
Kyle Smith has become associated with the most successful coaches to come through the Palouse, including George Raveling, Kelvin Sampson, and Tony Bennett. The Cougs are 23-7 for the first time since 2007-08, when Wazzu finished the regular season 23-7, and went to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. Kyle has guided the Cougs to their best 30-game start in the Pac-12 era with a 14-5 Conference record, matching the WSU all-time League wins record set in 1979-80 and 1982-83. Smith is the only coach in Cougar history to earn two top-10 wins in the same season. WSU won eight straight League games for just the third time in program history (1946-47), and strung together two 7-win streaks against Conference opponents in back-to-back seasons for the first time in WSU history. The Cougars have clinched back-to-back postseason berths for the first time since the Tony Bennett era (2008 and 2009) and are seeking three-straight postseason appearances for just the second time in program history.

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 20-7 and defeated all three regional rivals in back-to-back-to-back succession on the road for the first time since 1993-94 under Kelvin Sampson. The Cougars swept the Huskies, Ducks, and Beavers in Pullman for two-straight seasons and finished a 3-game PNW roadswing unblemished. Coach Smith is 11-2 at Beasley Coliseum against Conference PNW opponents.

WELLS IN THE CLUTCH
Jaylen Wells led the Cougs to their win at Arizona, marking the best road win in program history, with a career-high 27 points, including the game-tying 3-pointer and ensuing free throw for the win. Wells became the first Conference player since March 3, 2007 to make all of the team's 3-pointers in a win over an AP Top 5 opponent. He followed with 27 points in Saturday's win over UCLA, matching his Division-I career-high, including shooting a perfect 10 of 10 from the freethrow line to become the first Coug since Isaac Bonton (March 5, 2020) to finish 1.000 at the line with at least 10 attempts.

COUGS GARNER NATIONAL RANKINGS
Wazzu is ranked No. 18 in the latest AP Poll, and No. 20 in the USAToday Coaches Poll, marking the program's highest national ranking since Feb. 18, 2008 (No. 17). WSU tamed the Arizona Wildcats Feb. 22, beating No. 4 Arizona for a 2-0 mark against AP top-25 teams this season. The Cougs swept the home-and-home vs Arizona for the first time since 2009-2010 and won in consecutive seasons at Tucson for the first time since 1982-84. WSU followed by sweeping the USC Trojans for the first time since 2011-12 and secured a home sweep of the Los Angeles Pac-12 schools for the first time since 2012-13.

FULFILLING FEBRUARY IN PAC-12
For the first time since 1914-15 and the first time in the Pac-era, Washington State won seven League games in the calendar month of February. WSU has won seven games in the second month of the year seven times in program history, and the first time since the 1937-38 season. WSU's seven Pac-12 wins in February matches the seven League wins WSU had in the 1915 Northwest Collegiate Conference. The most February Conference wins came in the 1912-13 season, with Washington State College winning nine NWC games in February.

RUEBEN'S BIG BLOCKS
True freshman Rueben Chinyelu has turned heads on the West Coast with a 7'8" wingspan and as one of the best young rim protectors in college basketball. Chinyelu, a native of Nigeria, set the WSU freshman single-season blocks record with 40 rejections. Chinyelu averages 1.33 blocks per game, currently fourth overall in the Pac-12 Conference. Chinyelu also shoots the ball at an efficient 61.5% from the floor. If Chinyelu continues to average over two field goals per game at a similar clip, he will set the WSU freshman field goal percentage record. Chinyelu passed Klay Thompson in single-season freshman rebounding and is seventh in freshman program history.

TASTE OF THE TITLE
After the win in Tucson, Feb. 22, WSU briefly held first place in the Pac-12 until falling at ASU, Saturday. The last time the Cougars held first place in the Conference this late in the season was Feb. 14, 2007, after knocking off Washington for their fifth straight League win. The Cougs sat at 11-3 and in a tie with UCLA at 10-2 for top of the Pac-10, which ended abruptly the following day after a Bruins win. WSU has never won a Pac-12, Pac-10, or Pac-8 Conference title, with the last title as the 1949-50 Pacific Coast North champions.

RICE MAKING FRESHMAN HISTORY
Redshirt-freshman Myles Rice has emerged as a national story, as WSU's leading scorer at 15.5 points per game and 7-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week. Rice became the first player in Conference history to win 4-straight weekly awards, and moved into a tie with Evan Mobley for most Pac-12 Freshman of the Week awards in League history. Rice is the Pac-12's second-highest scoring freshman and the eighth-highest scoring freshman in the country. The Columbia, S.C. native has scored in double figures in 15 of the last 16 games, capped by a 25-point game in the win over California. Nine times in Pac-12 play, Rice has distributed at least five assists. Rice is re-writing several WSU freshman records, one steal shy of matching the freshman single-season record, six points from the freshman scoring record, 13 field goals from the all-time freshman FGM record, and 16 assists from the Cougar freshman record. Rice is also on pass to set the freshman freethrow percentage record.

JONES SURPASSES 1,000 CAREER POINTS
With 15 points in the Feb. 17 win over Stanford, Jones eclipsed 1,000 career points. Jones, who is ineligible for WSU's career record marks, which require two seasons on the Cougar team, became the first WSU student-athlete since C.J. Elleby to eclipse 1,000 career points, and the 39th in Cougar men's basketball history. Jones reached the milestone in efficient fashion, playing just 57 career games, averaging 17.7 points per game on 61.2% shooting.

JAKIMOVSKI ECLIPSES 500 CAREER REBOUNDS
Four-year veteran Andrej Jakimovski pulled down five rebounds in the win at No. 4 Arizona, surpassing the 500-career rebounds mark. The North Macedonian became the first Coug since Robert Franks (2015-19) to surpass 500 career rebounds.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME
The Cougars completed their nonconference schedule undefeated at Beasley Coliseum, and have only lost once in Conference (Jan. 6 vs Oregon), boasting a 15-1 home record. WSU's 15 wins matches a single-season record for home victories, last achieved in 1982-83. No Washington State team has ever won 16 games at home in a single-season.

CHINYELU WINS PAC-12 FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Rueben Chinyelu was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week, Feb. 26, after securing his first-career double-double in the win at No. 4 Arizona. Chinyelu played a career-high 28 minutes, finishing with 12 points and 11 rebounds. More recently, Chinyelu set the WSU freshman blocks record, and is on pace to finish in the top-5 for field goal percentage and rebounding in WSU freshman history.

COUGS CLOSE CONFERENCE ROAD SWING
Wazzu completes its regular season at home after finishing the Pac-12 road scheduled 6-4. It's the first time since 2007-08 WSU has finished with a winning record in road conference games, finishing 6-3 in Pac-10 road games that season.

LEAP DAY BASKETBALL
When the Cougs beat the Trojans last Thursday night, it marked WSU's first win on a Leap Day since 1936. WSU has played six times on Feb. 29, dating back to a win over Multnomah Air Command in 1924. WSU holds a 3-3 record on Leap Day.

ISAAC IS HIM
In his outing in the win vs Stanford, Jones scored 15 points, surpassing 1,000 career points and earning Pac-12 Player of the Week. Jones shoots the ball at a .583 clip,  fourth in the Pac-12 and 29th nationally. Jones has excelled on the glass and at the free throw line. The fifth-year senior is 119 of 165 at the charity stripe, increasing his free throw percentage by nearly five percentage points since last season. Jones has also led the Cougars in rebounding 14 times with eight double-doubles.

DON'T SQUANDER THE LEAD
Wazzu is 19-0 this year when entering the halftime break with a lead. Most recently, the Cougs beat UCLA, 77-65, after taking an 8-point lead into intermission. By contrast, WSU is 4-6 this year when trailing or tied at the half, beating USC Thursday, Feb. 29, after trailing by four at the break.

NEXT UP // PAC-12 TOURNAMENT
The Cougars travel to Las Vegas for the 2024 Pac-12 Men's Basketball Tournament at T-Mobile Arena, March 13-16. WSU secured a top-2 seed with Thursday's win over USC, earning an opening round bye for the first time in Pac-12 history and first time since the 2007 Pac-10 Tournament as a top-2 team.

TOMMY'S KRYPTONITE KYLE
Kyle Smith is the only head coach to hold Tommy Lloyd's Arizona Wildcats to under 35% field goal shooting on multiple occasions. Arizona has only shot under 35% five times under Lloyd, and WSU is the only school to claim multiple clampdowns against the 'Cats. With the win over then-No. 8 Arizona, WSU claimed wins over a top-10 team in back-to-back seasons since the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons. WSU snapped a 14-game home losing streak to U of A and secured wins over Arizona in consecutive seasons for the first time since the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons. Since taking over the Arizona program, Lloyd has lost just three times at McKale Center, twice to Coach Smith and the Washington State Cougars.

JAK IS BACK
Senior Andrej Jakimovski returned as the Cougars' only 4-year veteran and entered the season fully healthy for the first time since his freshman year. Most recently, Jakimovski surpassed 500 career rebounds, Feb. 22, to become the first Coug since 2019 to eclipse the mark. Jakimovski exploded for a game-high 21 points in the season opener, one shy of his career high. The North Macedonian made his 115th game appearance and started his 75th game against UCLA, Saturday, and has scored in double figures 17 times. Jakimovski dropped a team-high 20 points at Cal, marking his third 20+ point game of the season. Jakimovski has increased his points per game average output by 4.8 ppg since arriving on campus and upped his rebounding average by 1.5 rpg over the same four-year timeframe. Jakimovski has moved into the WSU record books top-10 for career 3-pointers made (177, ninth) and 3-pointers attempted (510, eighth).

MYLES MIXES IT UP
Myles Rice has shown his skills with the ball, dominating ball control on both the offensive and defensive ends. Rice dished out a career-high eight assists at Stanford, matching the career-high in the win over USC. Rice has distributed at least three assists in 16 of his last 18 games, and 5+ assists nine times. The standout freshman leads the Cougs with 115 assists (3.83 apg, 4th in Pac-12) and moved into second all-time by a Cougar freshman in season assists. Rice also averages a team-best 1.53 steals per game (46 total, 6th in Pac-12). Myles is on pace to score more points than any Coug in freshman history, averaging 15.5 ppg (second) with 465 total points (second).

STIFLING DEFENSE
The Cougars' defense has fit Coach Smith's mold of winning with grit, as WSU leads the Pac-12 Conference in field goal percentage defense (.417) and second in the League in blocks per game (5.0). The Cougs limit opponents to 67.1 ppg, second in the Pac-12. In the win over No. 8 Arizona, the Cougs held the Wildcats to their lowest output of the season, following with the lowest output by Utah (57) and its worst 3-point shooting game of the year (18.2%). More recently WSU clamped down Oregon for their lowest scoring total of the year (56) and just 22.2% from 3-point range.

JAYLEN JOINS THE CLUB
Junior transfer Jaylen Wells has found his form in Conference play, starting the last 15 games and averaging 16.3 ppg as a starter. Most recently, Wells matched a career-high with 27 points in the win over UCLA, his third 20-point game of D-I. Wells enjoyed double-digit performances in 14-straight games prior to the loss at ASU, averaging 14.8 points per game in Conference play. The former Division-II star and All-American has scored 10+ points 21 times.

NATIONAL RIM PROTECTORS
WSU has owned the height advantage early into conference play, boasting 151 blocks, 5.0 per game, second in the Pac-12 Conference. The Cougars' average is 20th nationally and the Cougs are ranked No. 29 in the country according to KenPom's effective block percentage. True freshman Rueben Chinyelu leads the Coug with 40 rejections, the all-time freshman blocks leader in WSU history. Four Cougs have 20+ blocks each (Chinyelu, Cluff, Houinsou, and Jones). In the Dec. 2 win over Portland State, the Cougs swatted away a season-high 10 shots, marking the first time since March 2022 with 10+ blocks in a game.

WEEKLY CONFERENCE AWARDS SWEEP
For the second time this season, Isaac Jones and Myles Rice swept the weekly awards from the Pac-12 Conference, Feb. 19, marking the first time in League history with same duo sweeping the weekly awards twice in a single season. The Cougs picked up the awards after a sweep of Cal and Stanford at home. The Cougars first earned both the Pac-12 Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week honors, Jan. 15, after winning at USC and beating No. 8 Arizona at home. WSU is the only school with multiple sweeps in the same season.

NEW YEAR SUCCESS
Washington State finished with a 6-2 record in January, marking the first time in 41 years with six Conference wins in the first calendar month. WSU last achieved the feat in 1982-83, wracking up a program-record eight wins in the month, seven Pac-10 victories under the direction of future Hall of Fame Head Coach George Raveling. The Cougars finished February with a 7-1 record and tallied their best 12-game Conference stretch since the 1944-45 season, finishing the Pacific Coast Conference schedule 13-1.

MYLES SETS FROSH SCORING MARK
The 7-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week continued to make a strong case for Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, dropping a WSU freshman single-game record 35 points at Stanford, Jan. 18. Rice scored more points than any freshman in the Pac-12 this year, adding eight assists. Rice became just the third freshman in the last 20 years to put up 35 points with eight assists as a freshman, joining Trae Young and Markelle Fultz. Rice finished 15 of 24 from the floor, including 5 of 10 from downtown in the win on The Farm, adding four steals with just two turnovers. Rice's performance is the highest single-game scoring output by a freshman in high-major basketball this year, matching Duke's Jarred McCain, and Kentucky's Rob Dillingham.

DIFFERENT KINDA COUGS
WSU is built different this season, regularly with two inside men, a different look from Coach Smith's recent Palouse teams, which played with four or all five men outside. The change has results in a higher percentage of shots in the paint, and a 2-point field goal percentage over 52%.

NOT SO FAST...
Fast break points have been hard to come by for Wazzu's opponents with just 180 transition points allowed all season. Wazzu is quick to get back on defense, outscoring opponents in fast break opportunities 8.1 to 6.0 points in transition per game.

GETTING PAINT TOUCHES
Kyle Smith has made it clear the Cougs thrive when everyone on the team gets paint touches. Wazzu has outscored its opponents 1020-852 in the key. Against Stanford, Jan. 22, WSU scored a season-high 58 points in the paint and three times has scored 50+ points in the key. The Cougars are getting just under 50% of their scoring from inside the key (34.9 points per game), while holding opponents to an average 29.5 points in the paint per game.

KYLE ECLIPSES 250 VICTORIES
With the Jan. 18 win over Oregon State in Corvallis, WSU Head Coach Kyle Smith earned his 250th Division-I coaching victory, the final 86 coming at Washington State. Smith holds the sixth-most wins in WSU coaching history, and sits eighth in all-time career wins by a WSU coach.

JONES CLAIMS NATIONAL AWARDS
Fifth-year senior transfer Isaac Jones has taken a leading role as the Cougars second-leading scorer at 15.3 ppg (13th in Pac-12) and top rebounder with 7.5 rpg (fourth in Pac-12). In January, the Spanaway, Wash., native recorded back-to-back double-doubles with 26 points and 11 rebounds in a win at Southern California, before scoring 24 points with a season-high 13 rebounds in a win over then-No. 8 Arizona. The performance earned Jones several national player of the week awards, including ESPN, Naismith, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association and the Pac-12 Conference honors. Jones recognition as Pac-12 Player of the Week marked the first Cougar honoree since Noah Williams was named the Conference Player of the Week, Feb. 22, 2021. Most recently, Jones surpassed 1,000 career points and has scored in double figures 17 times in Pac-12 play.

CLUFF CLIMBS TO DIVISION-I
Junior college transfer Oscar Cluff has come to life in Conference play. After 16 points in a loss at Colorado, Cluff led the Cougs with a career-high 20 points and matched a career-high with team-best eight rebounds against Oregon State. More recently, the Australian registered his first career double-double with a WSU single-game season high 14 rebounds and 12 points at Stanford, following with 13 points in the win over Utah. Cluff sits 11th in the Pac-12, just behind Jones, with a 53.6 field goal percentage.

KYMANY THE "FRENCH ARMY KNIFE"
Sophomore Kymany Houinsou does a little bit of everything and has taken over additional guard duties with Yesufu out, dishing out 64 assists. At USC, Jan. 10, Houinsou played in his 50th collegiate game. At Washington, Feb. 3, Houinsou sealed the win for Wazzu with clampdown defense on the final overtime possession. In the Cougars win over California, Feb. 15, Houinsou dished five assists, matching a Conference game career-high, while adding four rebounds and two blocks. In the loss at ASU, Houinsou matched a Pac-12 career-high with nine points, despite illness.

WINNING THE GLASS BATTLE
The Cougars have used their height advantage all season, outrebounding opponents in all but five games. On the defensive glass, WSU holds opponents to an average of 8.2 second-chance points per game. In the game at Utah, Dec. 29, the Cougs grabbed a season-high 51 rebounds, the most in two years. WSU boasts a +5.6 rebounding margin, which ranks 33rd nationally, and scores 12.3 second chance points per game. In the win over Utah, the Cougs outscored the Utes 21-4 on second-chance points, later beating Colorado with a 16-4 advantage in second-chance, outscoring the Buffs 13-0 in the second half.

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.

COUGS FLIRT WITH TOP 30 NET
In the 2023-24 season's NET rankings released by the NCAA, March 2, Washington State checks in at No. 39. The Cougars are the 3rd-highest Pac-12 team, ranked behind No. 4 Arizona and No. 31 Colorado. WSU climbed as high as No. 24 early in nonconference play.

TOP HALF OF THE PAC
The Cougars finished fifth in the Pac-12 last season, 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-8, Pac-10, or Pac-12 Conference era, WSU has posted 14 winning conference records.

A CENTURY'S ACHIEVEMENT
With the Feb. 3 win in Seattle, the Cougars won four of the last five games against the Huskies in the Emerald City. The feat marked the third time in the series history when WSU won four of five at Washington. The last time WSU traveled west and picked up as many wins came during a stretch from February 1918 to March 1920, part of a larger 6 of 7 and 7 of 9 winning streak at the University of Washington.

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.

TWO SIGN TO PLAY FOR WAZZU
WSU announced two new Cougars who signed National Letters of Intent to play college basketball in Pullman next fall. Evan Stinson signed as the No. 2 prospect in Washington State, a small forward from Cheney, Washington. Marcus Wilson, a native of Albuquerque, signed as a combo guard currently competing at highly-regarded Bella Vista Prep.