WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS (8-13, 3-5) vs PEPPERDINE WAVES (6-15, 1-7)

SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 2026
3:02 p.m. PT at Pullman, Washington
Friel Court at Beasley Coliseum (11,671)

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

OPENING TIPS
1. Washington State returns to the Palouse to beginning a three-game home stand, Saturday, January 24. The Cougars host Pepperdine at 3 p.m. at Beasley Coliseum with coverage on ESPN+. The Cougars are on a four-game losing streak after winning five of six games to conclude the calendar year and begin 2026.
2. True freshman Ace Glass is a two-time WCC Freshman of the Week and the Cougars' leading scorer. Glass broke the WSU freshman single-game scoring record with 40 points vs ASU. The Rialto, California native averages a team-best 16.8 ppg, sixth in the WCC, best by a freshman, and 12th 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. He leads the team in efficiency, shooting the ball at 61.1% from the floor and averaging a team-best 5.7 rebounds per game, 12th in the WCC. Okafor is second in the WCC in blocks with 30 rejections and ranks 74th nationally.
4. Eemeli Yalaho averages 10.0 points per game and 5.6 rebounds per game, 13th in WCC. Against San Francisco, the Finn scored a career-high 21 points and team-high five rebounds. Yalaho has led the Cougs in rebounding nine 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. Morton leads the team with 2.7 assists per game and scores 10.4 points per game in WCC play.

LAST TIME OUT
Washington State's second-half comeback fell short against San Diego, Wednesday night at San Diego. The Cougars rallied from an 18-point first-half deficit, pulling within two points in the final 10 seconds, but could not complete the comeback despite 29 points from Ace Glass and 21 points from ND Okafor. The Cougars scored 60 points in the second half, more than any other half this season, but allowed San Diego to make 15 three-pointers and shoot 54 percent from beyond the arc to clinch the win. WSU's Rihards Vavers delivered 16 points, including 10 second-half points, in his return to action after missing two games with a head injury. Vavers added a career-high seven rebounds and complemented Glass, who poured in 24 second-half points in the Cougs' comeback effort. Glass notched his best game of WCC play, including a career-high seven rebounds to lead WSU with Vavers and Okafor.

ABOUT PEPPERDINE
The Waves are one of two teams in the West Coast Conference to have four players averaging 10.5+ points per game. Seven players have finished as the leading scorer in a game for Pepperdine this season, the most in the WCC, with only six teams in the country having more. Pepperdine currently ranks fifth in the WCC and 57th in the country in free throw percentage at .758. Styles Phipps is one of three players in the country averaging over 12.5 points, six rebounds and 4.5 assists per game.

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

AARON ACES NONCONFERENCE
True freshman Ace Glass has stepped into a leading roll for the Cougars, averaging a team-best 16.8 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 12th nationally by a freshman. Most recently, Glass scored 29 points against San Diego, delivering his ninth-consecutive double-figure game and 16th in the last 17 contests.

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 74th nationally. The Irishman has registered at least one rejection in 12 of the last 16 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
WSU welcomes new conference foe Seattle U to Beasley Coliseum, Wednesday, January 28. The Cougars and Red Hawks met in Seattle, December 30 when SU claimed a narrow victory at Climate Pledge Arena. Tip off in Wednesday's rematch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. with coverage on ESPN+.

ROAD WARRIORS
The Cougs have played the 42nd toughest schedule in the country according to NCAA NET rankings. With its arrival back from America's Finest City, WSU has traveled over 20,500 commercial airline miles and played games in four time zones. 

WINNING THE GLASS BATTLE
WSU ranks 26th in the country in defending against offensive rebounding, according to KenPom - that is, they prevent opponents from getting offensive boards - holding opponents to a 26.4% 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 most recently scored a career-best 21 points at San Francisco and is averaging 10.0 points per game and 5.6 rebounds per game. Twice this season Yalaho has pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds and scored 10+ points on 12 occasions.

MORTON MOJO
Morehead State transfer Jerone Morton has found his footing, sharing ballhandling responsibilities through 18 starts in 21 games, and leading the team in assists (57). Morton is averaging 7.8 points per game, team-best 2.7 assists per game, and 1.6 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. More 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, three-point defense, and assist-to-turnover ratio. The Cougars are forcing just 10.14 turnovers per game, 327th in Division-I. WSU ranks 344th nationally with a negative turnover margin of -3.2, 343rd in defensive 3-point percentage (37.0), while ranking 314th nationally with a 0.94 assist-to-turnover ratio.

LINE IN THE SAND
As a team, Washington State is shooting the ball at 46.6%. When the Cougars shoot over 45%, they have seven wins, but just one win when held under 45% shooting. The Cougs also have seven wins when scoring 70+ points, however when they are held under 70 points, WSU is 1-8.

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. 

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. 

UNFORCED ERRORS
In non-steal turnovers, the Cougars rank 314th nationally, according to KenPom. In other terms, the majority of the Cougars turnovers as unforced errors and not caused by the opponent defense with an 8.7 non-steal turnover percentage.

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.

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 3-4 weeks with a left foot stress fracture.

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 6.7 ppg and 3.3 rpg. 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 his floor general prowess as the Cougs leading assister in 10 of his first 21 games. The Catalonia kid is averaging 2.7 assists per game, including some eye-popping between-the-legs passes through heavy traffic. Adria has led the team in steals eight times and pulled down a career-high eight rebounds against No. 9 Gonzaga, January 15.

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.