WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS (16-10, 6-7) at SAINT MARY'S GAELS (22-4, 12-1)

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2025
7:05 p.m. PT (10:05 p.m. ET)
Moraga, California
University Credit Union Pavilion Capacity: 3,500

COUGAR RADIO NETWORK
Seattle 770AM & 94.5FM
Spokane 920AM & 100.7FM
Pullman 104.3FM | Tri-Cities 610AM
Play-by-Play: Chris King

TELEVISION or STREAMING
ESPN2
Play-by-Play: Dave Feldman
Analyst: Jerod Haase
Producer: Kevin Clark

OPENING TIPS
1. The Coug had a full week rest before traveling to Moraga, for the return trip the Gaels made at the end of January, when SMC escaped with an 80-75 win. Saint Mary's welcomes WSU for a nationally-televised game on ESPN2 at 7 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 15. SMC beat the Cougs in the previous Moraga meeting, ending the Cougs season in the first round of the 2009 NIT.
2. Nate Calmese leads WSU's active roster with 16.2 points and 1.7 steals per game. The junior recently surpassed 1,000 career points at Oregon State, Feb. 6, and has led WSU in scoring 13 times. Calmese sits second in the WCC in steals and fifth in scoring.
3. WSU ranks top-40 in the country in five team categories: ninth in 2-point FG% (.589), 13th in FG% (.492), 13th in effective FG% (.568), 32nd in assists per game (16.5), and 34th in blocks per game (4.8).
4. LeJuan Watts became the second Coug in program history to record a triple-double, at Santa Clara, Jan. 23. Watts' triple-double was the first of his career, the second all-time at WSU after Kyle Weaver at Stanford, Jan. 13, 2007.
5. The Cougars are the top shot-blocking team in the WCC, leading the League with 125 blocks, 23 more than the next-closest WCC team. ND Okafor leads WSU with 29 total blocks (1.2 bpg).

LAST TIME OUT
Washington State defeated Pepperdine, 87-86, last Saturday in Pullman, snapping a five-game losing streak. All five Cougar starters scored in double figures, led by Nate Calmese with 16 points, four rebounds and two assists. Isaiah Watts added 15 points with four 3-pointers made, including the game-timing triple with 28 seconds left. Dane Erikstrup had 15 points with eight rebounds and Ethan Price added 12 points and five rebounds. LeJuan Watts added 14 points, team-high six assists, and four rebounds. LeJuan's final field goal gave WSU the lead with seven seconds left.

UP NEXT
The Cougars host the Bulldogs in one of the most anticipated home games of the season. WSU and GU meet for the second time to continue a series that dates back to 1907 with a 98-52 WSU advantage. Gonzaga University, which was announced as an expansion school to the Pac-12 Conference beginning in the 2025-26 season, holds a 20-49 record at Beasley Coliseum, but have won three of the last four games in Pullman dating back to a win in 2008 against Tony Bennett's Cougars which went on to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament.

LAST TIME VS SAINT MARY'S
The Cougars lost to Saint Mary's, 75-80, in the teams' first meeting this season. Ethan Price led the team in scoring with 20 points, his fourth of WCC play. Dane Erikstrup had 16 points with three rebounds and two assists. Wazzu led the Gaels for 30 minutes before a 20-5 run gave SMC the edge with 10 minutes to play. WSU recorded a season-low 18 rebounds, its fewest since the 2006-07 season.

PICK YOUR POISON
The Cougars have distributed scoring across the majority of the playing rotation with all five starters averaging 10+ points through 26 games. At least four Cougs have scored in double figures 14 times, while six different individuals have tallied 20-point performances.

CALMESE CROSSES 1K
Junior Nate Calmese eclipsed 1,000 career points scored with his fourth field goal at Oregon State, Feb. 6. The Arizona native accomplished the feat in 72 career games, averaging 14.1 points per game.

EFFICIENT IN THE ARC
WSU boasts the top 2-point percentage, overall field goal percentage, and effective FG percentage in the WCC. The Cougs' 2-point percentage of 58.9 ranks ninth nationally, while their overall FG% of 49.2% is 13th in the country and their effective FG% of .5678 ranks 13th in Division-I as of Feb. 13. 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.

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 and more efficiency around the rim. The Cougars rank ninth nationally in 2-point FG percentage.

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 boasts a 13-4 record when tallying 15+ assists. In contrast, the Cougs are 3-6 when delivering fewer than 15 assists, recently earning a win over Pepperdine with 14 assists.

RIM PROTECTORS
The Cougar team leads the WCC and ranks 34th in the country with 4.8 blocked shots per game. WSU boasts three of the top 15 shot blockers in the conference with Okafor at fifth, Erikstrup at 12th, and Price at 13th. As a team, WSU has swatted away a league-best 125 shot attempts, 23 more than the next-closest WCC team.

'JUAN, TWO, THREE
Coach Riley prophesied LeJuan Watts as a triple-double threat, which rang true with the sophomore's first-career triple-double and just the second triple-double in program history, Jan. 23, at Santa Clara. Watts delivered his third 20-point game, to go with 11 rebounds, and a career-high 10 assists. Kyle Weaver tallied the first triple-double in WSU history, Jan. 13, 2007 with 14 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists. Watts ranks sixth in the WCC in assists (4.2), ninth in rebounding (7.1), and 12th in the League in scoring (13.4).

'ZAY RETURNS AS STARTER
Isaiah Watts, the only returning letterwinner from the 2023-24 roster, returned from an injury in his non-shooting hand suffered at Washington, Dec. 18. Zay returned after missing 10 games at Pacific, Jan. 30. In his second game back, at Oregon State, the sophomore delivered 11 points for his first double-digit performance since Dec. 14. Watts is on pace to quadruple his scoring, rebounding, assists, and steals output from his freshman season. In just 10 games, the West Seattle sophomore  eclipsed his freshman season totals in points, rebounding, steals, and assists. Three times this season Isaiah has surpassed 20 points, including a career-high 22 points against Eastern Washington.

THE PRICE IS RIGHT
Ethan Price, a senior transfer from Eastern Washington, has started all 126 games of his career for Coach Riley. 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.

RIHARDS RETURNS TO ACTION
Sophomore transfer Rihards Vavers returned to the court, Jan. 23, at Santa Clara in just his third game of the season. Vavers had played the first game of the season, Nov. 4, before suffering a hand injury. The Latvian returned, Dec. 2, at Nevada, only to suffer a separate hand injury just five minutes into play. In his first action of WCC play, Vavers scored 11 points in 20 minutes of play for his first double-digit performance as a Coug.

NONCONFERENCE SUCCESS
The Cougars concluded the nonconference schedule at 10-3, earning 10 nonconference wins for the first time since 2010-11, a squad 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 78.9 points per game, third in the WCC behind Gonzaga and 68th nationally. WSU is 5-9 when being held under 80 points. By contrast, the Cougs are 11-1 when scoring at least 80 points.

TOMAS TEASES TALENT
With a short bench and Isaiah Watts injured, true freshman Tomas Thrastarson made his first career start against Northern Iowa, Dec. 21, and held the starting spot until Watts' return Jan. 30. 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 three times.

ERIKSTRUP EXCELLENCE
Dane Erikstrup has started every game as a Coug and scored a WSU career-high 24 points in WSU's win over his former team Eastern Washington, Nov. 21. Erikstrup made a homecoming in the Cougars' inaugural WCC game, playing his 80th career Division-I game at Portland, Dec. 28. Since WCC play began, Erikstrup has delivered career-highs in rebounding three times, including his first Cougar double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds in the win at San Diego.

OKAFOR BACK ON THE FLOOR
Redshirt-sophomore 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 fifth in the WCC with 1.2 blocks per game, recording at least one block in 18 of 24 games played. In the Nov. 15 game against Iowa, Okafor pulled in five boards to eclipse 100 career rebounds. Okafor has twice matched his season-high in WCC play, scoring 12 points in both meetings with Portland.