PEPPERDINE WAVES (9-14, 3-7) at WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS (15-10, 5-7)

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2025
3:02 p.m. PT (6:02 p.m. ET)
Pullman, Washington
Friel Court at
Beasley Coliseum (11,671)

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

TELEVISION or STREAMING
ESPN+ (remote)
Play-by-Play: Ted Robinson
Analyst: Mike Montgomery
Producer: Tim Sullivan

OPENING TIPS
1. WSU will host Pepperdine, Saturday, Feb. 8, at 3 p.m. on ESPN+. The Cougars are 4-3 all-time against the Waves, last defeating Pepperdine at Beasley Coliseum, 78-61, in 2013. Head Coach David Riley has never coached against the Waves. The Cougars have won three of the last four meetings and two of three games since the turn of the century.
2. Nate Calmese led the Cougs with 25 points at Oregon State, surpassing 1,000 career points scored in the first half. Calmese leads WSU's active roster with 16.2 points, 4.3 assists, and 1.8 steals per game. The junior sits second in the WCC in steals, fifth in scoring, and seventh in assists.
3. WSU ranks top-40 in the country in five team categories: eighth in 2-point FG% (.590), 14th in FG% (.492), 15th in effective FG% (.567), 36th in assists per game (16.6), and 40th in blocks per game (4.7).
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. Isaiah Watts returned to action at Pacific, Jan. 30, for the first time since Dec. 18 at Washington, and scored in double figures, at Oregon State, for the first time since Dec. 14.

LAST TIME OUT
Washington State lost to Oregon State, 74-82, in the 307th all-time meeting between the programs, Thursday night in Gill Coliseum. Nate Calmese led the game in scoring with 25 points and eclipsed 1,000 career points in the first half. The Cougars committed a season-high 29 fouls, allowing a season-high 30-of-38 free throws by the Beavers. It marked the most made free throws by a Coug opponent since February 2016. In contrast, WSU committed a season-low five turnovers, its fewest since November 2023.

UP NEXT
The Cougars will get a full week respite before traveling to Moraga, California. WSU visits to return the trip the Gaels made at the end of January when SMC escaped with an 80-75 win. Saint Mary's welcomes Wazzu for a nationally-televised game on ESPN2 at 7 p.m., Feb. 15. SMC beat the Cougs in the previous Moraga meeting, ending the Cougs season in the first round of the 2009 National Invitational Tournament.

PICK YOUR POISON
The Cougars have distributed scoring across the majority of the playing rotation with all five starters averaging 10+ points through 25 games. At least four Cougs have scored in double figures 13 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 59.0% ranks eighth nationally, while their overall FG% of 49.2% is 14th in the country and their effective FG% of .567 ranks 15th in Division-I as of Feb. 7. 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 eighth 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 2-6 when delivering fewer than 15 assists, recently falling at Oregon State with 12 assists.

RIM PROTECTORS
The Cougar team leads the WCC and ranks 40th in the country with 4.7 blocked shots per game. WSU boasts two of the top 10 shot blockers in the conference with Okafor at fifth and Erikstrup at 10th. As a team, WSU has swatted away a league-best 117 shot attempts, 24 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 eighth in the WCC in assists (4.2), ninth in rebounding (7.2), and 13th in the League in scoring (13.4).

FLOOR GENERAL CALMESE
Nate Calmese leads the Cougars in scoring, steals, and assists. The junior sits second in the WCC in steals (1.8), fifth in scoring (16.2), and seventh in assists (4.2). Calmese has seen all his ballhandling statistics improve over three seasons, including increases in assists from 2.0 to 4.2 per game (+110%); steals from 1.2 to 1.8 per game (+50%), and rebounds from 2.5 to 3.1 per game (+24%).

'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 125 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 78.6 points per game, third in the WCC behind Gonzaga and 80th nationally. WSU is 5-9 when being held under 80 points. By contrast, the Cougs are 10-1 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 17 of 23 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.