SANTA CLARA BRONCOS (18-10, 10-5) at WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS (16-12, 6-9)

SATURDAY, FEB. 22, 2025
3:05 p.m. PT (6:05 p.m. ET)
Pullman, Washington
Friel Court at Beasley Coliseum
Capacity: 11,671

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
CBS Sports Network
Play-by-Play: Fran Charles
Analyst: Tre Demps
Producer: Tom Wicks

OPENING TIPS
1. Washington State plays host to Santa Clara in the second-leg of the season series in a nationally-televised contest on CBS Sports Network, Saturday, Feb. 22 at 3 p.m. The Cougars suffered their biggest defeat of the season at the hands of the Broncos, falling 65-93, at Santa Clara, Jan. 23. SCU has won five of the last six contests, with WSU's lone win coming at home in the 2022 NIT.
2. Nate Calmese leads WSU's active roster with 15.4 points and 1.6 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 sixth in the WCC in steals and scoring.
3. WSU ranks top-40 in the country in five team categories: 16th in 2-point FG% (.577), 21st in blocks per game (4.9), 22nd in FG% (.486), 25th in effective FG% (.561), and 40th in assists per game (16.3).
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 138 blocks, 22 more than the next-closest WCC team. ND Okafor leads WSU with 30 total blocks (1.2 bpg).

LAST TIME OUT
WSU lost to Gonzaga, 63-84, Wednesday night at Beasley Coliseum in the 152nd all-time game between the regional rivals. the Cougs jumped out to the early lead before Gonzaga's potent offense found its footing. The Zags took the lead just over five minutes into the contest and never relinquished it.  LeJuan Watts led WSU in scoring with 19 points and five assists, his 18th game leading Wazzu in scoring. Isaiah Watts scored 12 points and Tomas Thrastarson added 12 off the bench. The announced attendance of 10,219 marks the largest crowd at Beasley Coliseum since 10,380 attended Klay Thompson's jersey retirement game against Oregon State, Jan. 18, 2020.

UP NEXT
The Cougars conclude their 2024-25 home schedule against the San Diego Toreros for Senior Night, Thursday, Feb. 27 at 6:30 p.m. The Cougars and Toreros last played in Pullman, Dec. 19, 2017, a third-consecutive win for Wazzu. WSU holds a 4-1 record against USD, defeating San Diego, 65-61, Jan. 16. Nate Calmese scored 27 points to lead the Cougs, while Dane Erikstrup added a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

LAST TIME VS SANTA CLARA
WSU suffered its worst loss of the season at Santa Clara, 93-65, Jan. 23, despite an historic triple-double from sophomore LeJuan Watts. Watts led the team in scoring with 20 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high 10 assists, delivering just the second triple-double in program history. Ethan Price added 16 points and, in his third game of the season and first back from injury, Rihards Vavers scored a season-high 11 points with three triples.

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

EFFICIENT IN THE ARC
WSU boasts the top 2-point percentage and effective FG percentage in the WCC. The Cougs' 2-point percentage of 57.7% ranks 16th nationally, while their overall FG% of 48.6% is 22nd in the country and their effective FG% of .561 ranks 25th in Division-I as of Feb. 21. 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 16th nationally in 2-point field goal 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 13-5 record when tallying 15+ assists. In contrast, the Cougs are 3-7 when delivering fewer than 15 assists.

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.

RIM PROTECTORS
The Cougar team leads the WCC and ranks 21st in the country with 4.9 blocked shots per game. WSU boasts three of the top 15 shot blockers in the conference with Okafor at fifth, Erikstrup at 10th, and Price at 13th. As a team, WSU has swatted away a league-best 138 shot attempts, 22 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 (4.3), 10th in rebounding (6.7), and 12th in the League in scoring (13.8).

'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 and has delivered 10+ in four consecutive games. 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.

ROAD TO RECOVERY?
The Cougars suffered extreme injury losses early in the season. NBA prospect and preseason All-WCC selection Cedric Coward played six games before suffering a season-ending injury in his left shoulder that required surgery in December. True freshman and backup point guard Marcus Wilson suffered a shoulder injury after four games and had season-ending shoulder surgery. Sophomore Rihards Vavers returned to action at Santa Clara, Jan. 23, for just his third game of action and first since Dec. 2, after separate hand injuries sidelined him most of November-January. Isaiah Watts recently returned after missing 10 games at the start of WCC play with a left hand injury.

THE PRICE IS RIGHT
Ethan Price, a senior transfer from Eastern Washington, has started all 128 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 77.5 points per game, third in the WCC behind Gonzaga and 88th nationally. WSU is 5-11 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.v

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 19 of 25 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.