WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS (5-8, 0-0) vs PORTLAND PILOTS (7-6, 0-0)

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2025
2 p.m. PT
Portland, Oregon
Chiles Center
Capacity: 4,852

COUGAR SPORTS NETWORK
Seattle 770AM & 94.5FM 
Spokane 920AM & 100.7FM
Pullman 104.3FM | Tri-Cities 610AM
Chris King & Craig Ehlo

TV & STREAMING
ESPN+ & KUNP-TV & ESPN App

SERIES HISTORY
All-Time: 14-2
Record at Portland: 3-2
First Meeting: Dec. 9, 1938 (46-24)
Last Meeting: Jan. 18, 2025 (92-70)

OPENING TIPS
1. The Washington State men's basketball team begins the 2025-26 West Coast Conference basketball schedule in the Rose City to face Portland, Sunday, December 28, at 2 p.m. at the Chiles Center. WSU opened last year's conference slate at Portland, defeating the Pilots 89-73.
2. True freshman Ace Glass was named WCC Freshman of the Week for a second time, after leading the Cougars in scoring to close nonconference play. Glass broke the WSU freshman scoring record with 40 points vs ASU, Nov. 25, earning his first WCC weekly honor. The Rialto, California native leads WSU averaging 15.9 ppg and shoots at a 48.9% clip.
3. ND Okafor is leading the team in efficiency, shooting the ball at 60.5% from the floor. Okafor scored a career-high 27 points, Nov. 19. The Irishman averages 5.2 rebounds per game and delivered a career-high eight rebounds and five blocks versus Nevada. Okafor is second in WCC in blocks (21), averaging 1.62 bpg.
4. Eemeli Yalaho averages a team-high 5.8 rebounds per game, delivering three double-doubles in his Cougar career. The Finn scored 14 points with 10 rebounds to close nonconference vs Mercer. Yalaho is 10th in WCC in total rebounds and led the Cougs in rebounding six times.
5. Sophomore Tomas Thrastarson had the best offensive game of his career vs Nevada, scoring a career-high 20-points to lead the Cougs in scoring for a fifth time. He is second on the team in scoring at 10.0 points per game and shoots the ball over 46% from the floor. 

LAST TIME OUT
Washington State defeated the Mercer Bears, 84-78, December 20, at Beasley Coliseum in Pullman to conclude nonconference play. Five Cougars scored in double figures, led by true freshman Ace Glass with 24 points. The teams traded runs in the opening half with eight lead changes and five ties. WSU entered the break with a narrow 41-39 advantage before starting the second half on a 20-9 run in the first nine minutes. Glass and Eemeli Yalaho carried WSU in the opening stanza with 26 combined points and nine of WSU's 17 rebounds.

UP NEXT
Washington State travels north to face new WCC member Seattle U at Climate Pledge Arena, Tuesday, December 30. The Cougars and Redhawks will meet for the first time as conference opponents at 7 p.m. in the Emerald City and live on ESPN+.

OKAFOR EFFICIENCY
Returning redshirt-junior ND Okafor delivered a career-high 27 points and career-high eight rebounds against Southern Utah, November 19. Okafor shot 12-of-14 from the floor, the best single-game percentage by a Coug with as many attempts since at least 1996. The Irishman is leading the team at 60.5% from the field and swatted away a career-high five blocks against Nevada, Dec. 7. On the defensive end, ND Okafor has led the Cougs nine times in single-game blocks, totalling 21 on the season, second in WCC.

DEFENSIVE GLASS
WSU ranks 16th in the country in defending against offensive rebounding, according to KenPom - that is, they prevent opponents from getting second-chances from offensive boards - holding opponents to a 24.5% defended offensive rebounding percentage.

GO YALAHO GO
Junior Texas Tech transfer Eemeli Yalaho has quietly become a double-double threat, delivering three this season. The Finn is averaging 10.0 points per game and a team-best 5.8 rebounds per game. Twice this season Yalaho has pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds and scored 10+ points on nine occasions.

AARON ACES NONCONFERENCE
True freshman Ace Glass has stepped into a leading roll for the Cougars, averaging a team-high 15.9 points per game, breaking the WSU freshman single-game scoring record with 40 points versus Arizona State, and picking up a pair of WCC Freshman of the Week honors. The Rialto, California kid is sixth in the West Coast Conference in scoring.

MORTON MOJO
Junior Morehead State transfer Jerone Morton has found a starting role in the Cougar lineup, sharing ballhandling responsibilities through 12 starts, and leading the team in assists seven times. Morton is averaging 6.2 points per game, 2.8 assists per game, and one steal per game. At Bradley, the Lexington, Kentucky native finished a perfect 6-of-6 at the free throw line, a career high from the charity stripe. 

UNFORCED ERRORS
In non-steal turnovers, the Cougars rank 330th, while they rank 89th in steal turnover percentage. In other terms, the majority of the Cougars turnovers are unforced, despite the Cougs taking care of the ball and not allowing opponents to force steals.

COMEBACK KIDS
Washington State is the only Division-I team in the country since the start of last season to play multiple games in which both team held a 17-point lead. WSU won both contests. Against Chaminade, November 24, the Cougars trailed by as many as 17 points before rallying to victory. In David Riley's first game as Cougar head coach in 2024-25, WSU rallied from a 17-point deficit against Portland State, to secure victory.

ROAD WARRIORS
Cougs have played the 47th toughest schedule in the country according to NCAA NET rankings. WSU has traveled over 15,500 miles and played games in four time zones. 

BATTLING BAD LUCK
According to KenPom's Luck metric, the Cougars rank 341st out of 365 teams as one of the unluckiest teams in the country. KenPom's Luck metric is calculated using the deviation in winning percentage between a team's actual record and their expected record using the correlated gaussian method. 

LINE IN THE SAND
As a team, Washington State is shooting the ball at 47.1%. When the Cougars shoot over 50%, they are 5-1 and are 0-7 when held under 50% shooting. The Cougs are also 5-2 this season when scoring 70+ points, however when they are held under 70 points, WSU is 0-6.

TOMAS TURNS UP
Returning sophomore Tomas Thrastarson has turned heads with his offseason development after being named to the 2024-25 WCC All-Freshman Team, playing in 31 games with 11 starts, averaging 4.5 ppg, 3.1 rpg, and 19 blocks. Since the season opener against Idaho, Thrastarson has matched or bested his career-high three times, including a 20-point game versus Nevada. In the opener against Idaho, Thrastarson finished 11-of-12 from the charity stripe. 

SPOKANE ARENA HISTORY
Washington State will host Oregon State at Numerica Veterans Arena in Spokane, Sunday, January 4. The Cougars hold an all-time record of 23-19 at Spokane Arena dating back to 1995. Last season, WSU played LMU in its first conference game in Spokane since 2016-17, defeating the Lions to improve to 3-1 all-time in conference games at Numerica Veterans Arena.

BENCH BUCKLES DOWN
Four times this season the WSU bench has scored 40+ points in a single game, most recently dropping 45 rotation points on Eastern Washington. The WSU bench scored a season high 67 points in the Maui opening win over Chaminade and average 30.8 ppg from the rotation, outscoring opponent benches by an average of 6.8 points per game.

EMMANUEL ENCHANTS
Transfer Emmanuel Ugbo (Boise State) led the Cougars in scoring twice and rebounding in three of the first four games, before delivering a career-high 20 points against Eastern Washington, December 17. Ugbo is averaging 7.9 ppg and 3.5 rpg after suffering an ankle injury at the start of the November 19 win over Southern Utah. In his WSU debut in the season opener versus Idaho, Ugbo matched his career high with 17 points and added a career-high eight rebounds. At Davidson, Ugbo earned his first Coug start, delivering 16 points and five rebounds. The Dutchman is shooting over 54% from the floor. 

ADRIA DISHES SPANISH FLARE
Incoming senior Adria Rodriguez, a member of Spanish second-division club Alicante, has shown is floor general prowess as the Cougs leading assister in seven of the first 13 games. The Catalonia kid is averaging 2.6 assists per game, including some eye-popping between-the-legs passes through heavy traffic. Adria has also led the team in steals six times.

RILEY RUNS IT BACK
David Riley began his second season at WSU after finishing his first season on the Palouse 19-15 with a postseason berth to the inaugural College Basketball Crown. The selection marked a third postseason in four seasons for Coach Riley, and fourth-consecutive postseason for the Cougs. 

COUGS BOND IN EUROPEAN TRIP
The Cougars took an international tour this summer, visiting England and Spain. WSU played three exhibition games over 10 days, while sightseeing London, Malaga, and Barcelona. The Cougs say the London Eye, Big Ben, La Sagrada Familia, and excursioned around the Mediterranean Sea in southern Spain. Division-I teams are allowed foreign tours once every four years. The Cougar men last traveled in 2015 to Italy. Freshman Brunel Madzou and senior adrià Rodriguez did not play, as they were not cleared through the NCAA at the time of the tour, and Rodriguez joined the Spanish national team for a pair of exhibition matches.

COUGARS PICKED SIXTH IN WCC
Entering the 2025-26 season as an affiliate member of the West Coast Conference, Wazzu was selected sixth in the preseason coaches poll. The Cougars did not receive an honoree on the conference preseason team.

BRAYDEN KYMAN INKS DEAL
Class of 2026 senior Brayden Kyman, a 6-8 power forward from Rancho Santa Margarita, California, signed a financial aid agreement to play basketball at Washington State beginning next season. The versatile forward can score at all three levels with a deep range and length to work inside. 

OFFENSIVE FIREPOWER
During Riley's first season the Cougs set school records in shots made (968) and assists (574), more than any previous team in school history. The Cougs finished ninth in the country in field goal percentage, 19th in assists, and 20th in blocks.

NEW PAC-12 ON THE HORIZON
The revitalized Pac-12 Conference is set to launch July 1, 2026 with a strong slate of men's basketball programs including Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Gonzaga, Oregon State, San Diego State, Texas State, and Utah State.

COWARD JOINS THE ASSOCIATION
Cedric Coward, a 2024 WCC All-Preseason selection, and graduate of WSU, was drafted No. 11 in the 2025 NBA Draft, joining the Memphis Grizzlies after a trade. Coward, who played just six games last season prior to suffering a season-ending injury, linked up with 2024 WSU Draftee, Jaylen Wells. There are currently five Cougars playing in the NBA — Cedric Coward, Mouhamed Gueye, Isaac Jones, Klay Thompson, and Jaylen Wells.