WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS (8-10, 3-2) vs #9/9 GONZAGA BULLDOGS (17-1, 5-0)

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15
7:10 p.m. PT
Pullman, Washington
Friel Court at Beasley Coliseum
Capacity: 11,671

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

TV & STREAMING
CBS Sports Network
Play-by-Play: Rich Waltz
Analyst: Dan Dickau
Sideline: Hailey Sutton

SERIES HISTORY
All-Time: 98-54
at WSU: 49-21
First Meeting: Dec. 16, 1907 (21-18)
Last Meeting: Feb. 19, 2025 (63-84)

OPENING TIPS
1. Washington State will host No. 9 Gonzaga, Thursday, January 15 at Beasley Coliseum. The Cougars and Bulldogs are scheduled to tip off at 7:10 p.m. from Friel Court and live on CBS Sports Network. While WSU holds the all-time advantage 98-54, the Zags have dominated the series this century with a 14-3 record and have won four of the last five games in Pullman.
2. True freshman Ace Glass is a two-time WCC Freshman of the Week after leading the Cougars in scoring to close nonconference play and breaking the WSU freshman single-game scoring record with 40 points vs ASU. The Rialto, California native leads WSU averaging 15.9 ppg, sixth in the WCC, best by a freshman, and 14th nationally for a freshman.
3. ND Okafor recorded his first-career double-double to close 2025, scoring 11 points and adding a career-best 12 rebounds. Okafor is leading the team in efficiency, shooting the ball 60% from the floor. Okafor is second in the WCC in blocks (30) and ranks 47th nationally, having recorded a rejection in 12 of the last 13 games.
4. Eemeli Yalaho averages 9.7 points per game and a team-best 5.9 rebounds per game, 12th in WCC. The Finn scored 14 points with 10 rebounds to close nonconference, his third double-double as a Coug. Yalaho has led the Cougs in rebounding seven times.
5. Jerone Morton has found his groove in WCC action, delivering a complete performance in the win over Oregon State, with 13 points. The Kentucky kid followed with a career-high nine assists against Saint Mary's. In conference play, Morton leads the team with 3.0 apg and scores 9.4 ppg in WCC.

LAST TIME OUT
Washington State lost to the Saint Mary's Gaels, 82-88, Saturday in Moraga. After trailing by as many 18 points, the Cougars pulled within two possessions on multiple occasions in the second half, cutting the deficit to three points with just over seven minutes to play, but a trio of 20-point performances for SMC doomed the Cougs. The Cougars were led by freshman Ace Glass with 24 points, his sixth-consecutive game in double figures and a conference-game high. Glass benefitted from a career-high nine assists from junior Jerone Morton. The junior added three rebounds and tallied a block.

SERIES HISTORY WITH GONZAGA
Washington State College and Gonzaga University first met in Spokane in December 1907 and went on to become one of the longest running series in Division-I history until the home-and-home matchup was not renewed for the 2016-17 season. All-time the Cougars hold a 98-54 advantage, while the Bulldogs have garnered success in the 21st century with a 14-3 record. In Pullman, WSU is 49-21, but Gonzaga has won four of the last five at Beasley Coliseum with Wazzu's last home win in 2010.

ABOUT THE ZAGS
Gonzaga is led by Mark Few in his 27th season at the helm of the Bulldogs' program. GU is one of six teams in the nation with both its offense (7th) and defense (12th) in KenPom's Top 12. The Zags currently lead the WCC in assist-to-turnover ratio, assists, bench points, effective field goal percentage, fast-break points, field goal percentage, field goal percentage defense, defensive rebounds per game, and rebounds. GU tops the nation in points in the paint averaging 48.4 per game. Graham Ike is the reigning WCC Player of the Week, fifth in the nation, and first in the WCC, with 10 double-doubles this season. 

AARON ACES NONCONFERENCE
True freshman Ace Glass has stepped into a leading roll for the Cougars, averaging a team-best 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 sits sixth in the West Coast Conference in scoring, best by a freshman, and 14th nationally by a freshman. Most recently, Glass delivered his fifth 20-point game of the season with a WCC-game high 24 points at Saint Mary's.

OKAFOR BLOCKS MORE
ND Okafor is the Cougars leading rim protector, having led the Cougs 13 times in single-game blocks, totalling 30 on the season, second in WCC and 47th nationally. The Irishman has registered at least one rejection in 12 of the last 13 games, including a career-high five blocks against Nevada, Dec. 7. Against Seattle U, Okafor recorded his first-career double-double with 11 points and a career-high 12 rebounds.

UP NEXT
The Cougars will return to the road for a California swing through San Francisco and San Diego beginning, Sunday, January 18, at War Memorial Gym in San Francisco. The Cougs and Dons are scheduled to tip off at 4 p.m. on ESPN+.

PICK YOUR POISON
Five Cougars average 9.0+ points per game, while five different Cougs have delivered 20-point performances at least once this season, including Glass, Okafor, Thrastarson, Ugbo, and Vavers. Both Okafor and Yalaho have each recorded double-doubles.

WINNING THE GLASS BATTLE
WSU ranks fifth 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 23.5% defended offensive rebounding percentage. Against Seattle U Dec. 30, the Cougars grabbed 54 rebounds the most in a single-game since 1997 when pulling down 58 rebounds against Oregon. WSU outrebounded the Redhawks 54-28, a +26 rebounding margin, the largest of Coach Riley's tenure and the second +20 rebounding margin for the Cougs this season.

GO YALAHO GO
Junior Texas Tech transfer Eemeli Yalaho has quietly become a double-double threat, delivering three this season. The Finn is averaging 9.7 points per game and a 5.9 rebounds per game. Twice this season Yalaho has pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds and scored 10+ points on 11 occasions.

UNITED NATIONS OF COUGS
WSU boasts players from eight different countries across North America and Europe. The West Coast Conference men's basketball teams have the greatest percentage of international student-athletes of any Division I conference with 39.3  percent of rosters made of international student-athletes. 

ROAD WARRIORS
The Cougs have played the 50th toughest schedule in the country according to NCAA NET rankings. WSU has traveled over 18,200 commercial airline miles and played games in four time zones. 

SPOKANE ARENA HISTORY
Washington State hosted Oregon State at Numerica Veterans Arena in Spokane, January 4, improving to 24-19 all-time at Spokane Arena dating back to 1995. The Cougars are 4-1 all-time in conference games at Veterans Arena and improved to 4-0 against OSU in the Lilac City.

MORTON MOJO
Junior Morehead State transfer Jerone Morton has found his footing, sharing ballhandling responsibilities through 15 starts in 18 games, and leading the team in assists (52). Morton is averaging 7.1 points per game, team-best 2.89 assists per game, and 1.7 rebounds per game. In the Cougs' win over LMU, January 2, Morton delivered a season-high 15 points, matching his career-high with three 3-point field goals, before following with 13 points against Oregon State and another three triples over the Beavers. Most recently, Morton dished out a career-high nine assists at Saint Mary's, January 10.

CONTROL THE ROCK
Washington State has struggled to control the ball in several key areas including turnovers forced, turnover margin, steals, and assist-to-turnover ratio. The Cougars are forcing just 10.4 turnovers per game, 324th in Division-I. WSU ranks 343rd nationally with a negative turnover margin of -3.1, 307th in steals per game (5.7), while ranking 321st nationally with a 0.92 assist-to-turnover ratio.

LINE IN THE SAND
As a team, Washington State is shooting the ball at 46.2%. When the Cougars shoot over 45%, they are 7-2, but are just 1-8 when held under 45% shooting. The Cougs are also 7-3 this season when scoring 70+ points, however when they are held under 70 points, WSU is 1-7.

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 20 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 104th toughest schedule in the country according to NCAA NET rankings. WSU has traveled over 16,600 miles and played games in four time zones. 

UNFORCED ERRORS
In non-steal turnovers, the Cougars rank 334th nationally, according to KenPom. In other terms, the majority of the Cougars turnovers as unforced errors and not caused by the opponent defense.

TOMAS TURNS UP
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. 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. Thrastarson is currently out for 3-5 weeks with a left foot stress fracture.

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, Dec. 17. The WSU bench scored a season high 67 points in the Maui opening win over Chaminade and averages 27.8 ppg from the rotation.

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. 

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 7.1 ppg and 3.6 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.

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 eight of the first 18 games. The Catalonia kid is averaging 2.4 assists per game, including some eye-popping between-the-legs passes through heavy traffic. Adria has led the team in steals seven times and pulled down a career-high seven rebounds in the win over Oregon State, January 4.

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.

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.

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.