WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS (13-5, 3-2) at SAN DIEGO TOREROS (4-14, 1-4)
THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2025
7 p.m. PT (10 p.m. ET)
San Diego, Calif.
Jenny Craig Pavilion
Capacity: 5,100

COUGAR RADIO NETWORK
KXLY 920AM // KHTR 104.3FM
KTTH 770AM // KONA 610AM
Play-by-Play: Chris King
Analyst: Craig Ehlo

TELEVISION & STREAMING
ESPN+
Play-by-Play: Jack Cronin
Analyst: Braden Surprenant

OPENING TIPS
1. Washington State heads south to face San Diego in the first contest against USD since 2017. The Cougars and Toreros last played in Pullman, Dec. 19, 2017, a third-consecutive win for Wazzu. WSU holds a 3-1 record against USD, with the only loss coming at San Diego's old basketball facility, the Sports Center.
2. Coach David Riley has WSU off to its best start since 2009-10 and tied for the second-best start by a first-year head coach in program history. Riley is the third Wazzu coach to start with at least 13 wins in 18 games.
3. WSU ranks top-25 in the country in five team categories: 18th in blocks per game (5.3), 18th in 2-point FG% (.587), 20th in effective FG% (.572), 21st in FG% (.494), and 25th in assists per game (17.3). Individually, Nate Calmese ranks 16th nationally with 120 field goals and 27th with 37 steals.
4. Nate Calmese leads WSU's active roster with 16.4 points, 4.6 assists, and 2.1 steals per game. The junior transfer sits second in the WCC in steals, fifth in scoring, and sixth in assists per game.
5. Ethan Price has come alive in conference play with three 20-point games in the first five WCC games. The senior is the first Coug since Kyle Weaver (2004-08) with 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, and 200 assists.

LAST TIME OUT
WSU lost to No. 18, 88-75, Saturday night in Spokane in the programs' first meeting since 2015. The Cougars held the lead for most of the first half, entering the locker room down three points. The Zags did not relinquish the lead in the second half, going on a 24-7 run to secure the win. Nate Calmese led the team in scoring with 20 points and a career-high eight assists. Calmese delivered his fifth 20-point game and eighth-straight game in double figures. LeJuan Watts had 17 points with six assists and five rebounds. Dane Erikstrup had 11 with seven rebounds.

PICK YOUR POISON
The Cougars have distributed scoring across the majority of the playing rotation with four active players averaging 10+ points through 17 games. At least four Cougs have scored in double figures 11 times, while six different individuals have tallied 20-point performances. Nate Calmese sits fifth in the conference in scoring and LeJuan Watts ranks fifth in the WCC in rebounding.

SHARING THE ROCK
The Cougs dished out 24 assists in the win over Portland, Dec. 28, matching the season-high with the most single-game assists in six seasons. WSU is boasts a 12-2 record when tallying 15+ assists, most recently suffering its second loss with 20 assists in the loss at Gonzaga. In contrast, the Cougs are 1-3 when delivering fewer than 15 assists, securing their first win with 14 assists against San Francisco, Jan. 4.

UP NEXT
WSU hosts Portland for the return trip after beginning WCC play with an 89-73 win against the Pilots, Dec. 28, at the Chiles Center. The Cougars holds 13-2 all-time record against Portland and have won seven-straight against the Pilots. Wazzu has never lost to Portland in Pullman, holding an 8-0 record with three wins on the Palouse since the turn of the century.

RIM PROTECTORS
The Cougar team leads the WCC and ranks 18th in the country with 5.3 blocked shots per game. WSU boasts two of the top six shot blockers in the conference with Okafor at second (1.6) and Erikstrup at sixth (1.1). As a team, WSU has swatted away a league-best 96 shot attempts, 20 more than the closest WCC team.

INJURY BUG BITES
Coach David Riley confirmed in December 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 4-6 month recovery timelines. Sophomore Rihards Vavers is out indefinitely, likely for the season, with broken bones in both hands. Isaiah Watts suffered a hand injury against Washington, Dec. 18, and will miss several weeks. Riley stated in a press conference he hoped to have Isaiah back by the end of January. Since Dec. 18, the Cougs have operated with eight healthy players in rotation, plus a redshirt (Vukicevic) and a preferred walk-on (Sessoms).

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 most nights. The change has results in higher field goal percentages everywhere on the court, including a larger portion of points coming from beyond the arc. The Cougars rank 18th nationally in 2-point FG 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 from 2.0 to 4.6 per game (+130%); steals from 1.2 to 2.1 per game (+75%), and rebounds from 2.5 to 3.3 per game (+32%).

THE PRICE IS RIGHT
Ethan Price, a senior transfer from Eastern Washington, has started all 118 games of his career for Coach Riley. Since WCC play began, Price is averaging 16.0 points per game, with three 20-point performances in five games. The Englishman delivered a career-high 28 points, Jan. 9, against Pacific, with a career-high six 3-pointers. Price 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.

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 eight points, 11 rebounds, and career-high eight assists in the Dec. 30 win over LMU. It was the most complete performance since Kyle Weaver delivered the only triple-double in WSU history, Jan. 13, 2007 with 14 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists. LeJuan Watts notched his sixth double-double, Jan. 4, against San Francisco with a career-high 24 points and team-high 12 rebounds. Watts has led the Cougs in rebounding 13 times and ranks fifth in the WCC with 8.1 rpg.

EFFICIENT IN THE ARC
In the Nov. 18 win over Northern Colorado, the Cougars shot 76.7% from 2-point range, 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 .570 eFG%, 21st in Division-I as of Jan. 10.

NONCONFERENCE SUCCESS
The Cougars concluded the nonconference schedule at 10-3, earning 10 nonconference wins for the first time since 2010-11, a group that ultimately reached the NIT semifinals with junior Klay Thompson. Coach David Riley became the first WSU first-year head coach since Ken Bone in 2009-10 to win 13 of his first 17 games. Riley became the third coach in Coug history to start 13-5 or better in his first season on the Palouse.

TINKERING WITH TEMPO
The Cougs are averaging 81.9 points per game, second in the WCC behind Gonzaga, and are 12-3 when scoring over 70 points. WSU got its only win when being held under 70 points in a 68-57 mudfight at Nevada, Dec. 2.

TOMAS TEASES TALENT
With a short bench, true freshman Tomas Thrastarson made his first career start against Northern Iowa, Dec. 21, and has held the starting spot ever since. The Icelandic native delivered a season-high 17 points and six rebounds in the WCC home opener against LMU, Dec. 30. The freshman has gone on to score in double figures in three of the last four games, averaging 10.0 in WCC play.

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 of six Cougs this year with a 20-point performance. The Beaverton, Oregon native also grabbed eight rebounds, setting a WSU career high, and has started every game as a Cougar. Erikstrup made a homecoming in the Cougars' inaugural WCC game, playing his 80th career Division-I game at Portland, Dec. 28, and is one of four active Cougars averaging double figures. Erikstrup delivered a career-high vs D-I opponent nine rebounds against USF, Jan. 4.

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. Okafor ranks second in the WCC with 1.6 blocks per game, recording at least one block in 15 of 16 games played. 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. Okafor matched his season-high in the WCC opener at Portland, scoring 12 points.

AT HOME IN SPOKANE ARENA
The Cougars hold an all-time record of 22-19 at Spokane Arena dating back to 1995. Wazzu holds an all-time conference record of 3-1 in the Lilac City venue.

'ZAY SETTLED 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. In 10 games, the West Seattle sophomore  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 remained in the starting lineup until an injury in his non-shooting hand against UW that will sideline him for several weeks.

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.

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 Eastern Washington. However, Coward has not seen the floor since winning the award, out for the season following left shoulder surgery.

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 Riley team was selected fifth in the preseason 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.