WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS (17-13, 7-10) at PEPPERDINE WAVES (10-20, 4-13)

SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 2025
7 p.m. PT (10 p.m. ET)
Malibu, California
Firestone Fieldhouse
Capacity: 3,104

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
ESPN+

OPENING TIPS
1. WSU concludes the regular season at Pepperdine, Saturday, March 1. The Cougs defeated Pepperdine, 87-86, in Pullman, Feb. 8. All five Cougar starters scored in double figures, led by  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. LeJuan Watts' field goal gave WSU the lead with seven seconds left.
2. Wazzu honored Cedric Coward, Dane Erikstrup, and Ethan Price on Senior Day, Thursday. Price has played and started in all 130 games of Coach David Riley's head coaching career and combined with Erikstrup for 40 points in their final home game.
3. WSU ranks top-40 in the country in five team categories: 11th in 2-point FG% (.583), 11th in overall FG% (.491), 16th in effective FG% (.566), 20th in blocks per game (5.0), and 39th in assists per game (16.2).
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 149 blocks, 28 more than the next-closest WCC team. ND Okafor leads WSU with 34 total blocks (1.2 bpg).

FIGHTING FOR SIXTH
The Cougars are currently seventh in WCC standings, entering the final day of conference play. If WSU wins, they will earn a valuable double-bye into the third round of the Credit Union 1 WCC Championships next week. WSU holds the tie-breaker over both LMU and Portland, with the Lions half a game up on the Cougs. A positive result for Wazzu puts them at No. 6, while a loss would leave WSU in seventh place or eighth place should Portland defeat San Diego.

LAST TIME OUT
WSU defeated San Diego, 93-86, Thursday for Senior Night in Beasley Coliseum. Erikstrup scored a team-high 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 from three. Ethan Price added 17 points with seven rebounds. LeJuan Watts recorded his eighth double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Isaiah Watts added 11 points, with 10 in the first half. Despite allowing a season-high 61 points in the second half, a dominant first half proved to be too much for the Toreros to overcome. Wazzu scored a season-high 53 first half points on 65% shooting from the field and 57% from beyond the arc.

LAST TIME VS PEPPERDINE
Washington State defeated Pepperdine, 87-86, Feb. 8 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. 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
Washington State will return to Las Vegas and Orleans Arena for the second time this season for the Credit Union 1 WCC Basketball Championships. The first round begins Thursday, March 6 with the championship game concluding the tournament, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. WSU is 9-24 all-time in conference tournaments, dating back to the Pacific-8 Tournament. WSU has won at least one game of the conference tournament in four of the last five seasons, including a victory last March over Stanford in the Pac-12 Tournament.

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 15 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 58.3% ranks 11th nationally, while their overall FG% of 49.1% is 13th in the country and their effective FG% of .566 ranks 16th in Division-I as of Feb. 28. 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 11th 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 14-5 record when tallying 15+ assists. In contrast, the Cougs are 3-8 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 20th in the country with 5.0 blocked shots per game. WSU boasts three of the top 15 shot blockers in the conference with Okafor at fourth, Erikstrup at 11th, and Price at 13th. As a team, WSU has swatted away a league-best 149 shot attempts, 28 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 has registered eight double-doubles this year. He ranks sixth in the WCC in assists (4.2), 10th in rebounding (6.7), and 14th in the League in scoring (13.5).

'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 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 130 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.

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.

TINKERING WITH TEMPO
The Cougs are averaging 78.1 points per game, third in the WCC behind Gonzaga and 77th nationally. WSU is 5-12 when being held under 80 points. By contrast, the Cougs are 12-1 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 four 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 fourth in the WCC with 1.2 blocks per game, recording at least one block in 21 of 28 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.