WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS (10-13, 5-5) vs PORTLAND PILOTS (10-13, 3-7)

SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 2026
3:02 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
ESPN+ & ESPN App
Play-by-Play: Trevor Williams
Analyst: Ernie Kent
Producer: Zohra Ziani

SERIES HISTORY
All-Time: 15-2
Record at Pullman: 9-0
First Meeting: Dec. 9, 1938 (46-24)
Last Meeting: Dec. 28, 2025 (67-62)

OPENING TIPS
1. Washington State concludes the month of January and a 3-game home stand against visiting Portland, Saturday, January 31 at Beasley Coliseum. The Cougars opened WCC action in the Rose City, defeating the Pilots 67-62, December 28. Saturday's rematch is scheduled to tip off at 3 p.m. and on ESPN+.
2. True freshman Ace Glass is the reigning  WCC Freshman of the Week, his third honor as 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 16.7 ppg, fifth in the WCC, best by a freshman, and 17th 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 62.4% from the floor and averaging a team-best 5.7 rebounds per game, 11th in the WCC. Okafor is third in the WCC in blocks with 31 rejections and ranks 90th nationally.
4. Eemeli Yalaho averages 9.7 points per game and 5.7 rebounds per game, 12th in WCC. Against San Francisco, the Finn scored a career-high 21 points and has led the Cougs in rebounding nine times with three double-doubles.
5. Since returning from a two-game injury, Rihards Vavers has dominated the Cougar offense, averaging 18.7 points per game over the 3-game stretch, including 24 points against Seattle U, one shy of his career high. Vavers is a lethal outside shooter, delivering 12 three-pointers on 50% shooting over three games.

LAST TIME OUT
Washington State held Seattle U to a season-low 58 points and never trailed in the second half, defeating the Redhawks 70-58, Wednesday night at Beasley Coliseum. The Cougars attempted a season-low 45 shots, shooting an efficient 55.6 percent from the floor with 25 field goals. WSU jumped out to a double-digit first-half lead thanks to leading scorer Rihards Vavers with 16 first-half points. The Latvian delivered a Division-I career-high 24 points against Seattle, including a career-high five 3-pointers and eight field goals. The Cougars came out playing physically in the second half, forcing Seattle's three leading scorers to the bench with foul trouble. WSU's ND Okafor took advantage of the opportunity, expanding the lead to 55-42, the largest lead of the game. Okafor finished with 13 points, complementing Ace Glass who added 14 second-half points.

ABOUT THE PILOTS
Portland is led by fifth-year head coach Shantay Legans, the former head coach at Eastern Washington when David Riley was an assistant. The Pilots are led by freshman Joel Foxwell, scoring 15.0 points per game and shooting 40.4% from the floor. Cameron Williams, a junior forward from Missouri leads Portland on the glass and the Pilots have picked up conference wins over Pacific, Oregon State, and LMU.

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.

HONORING GEORGE RAVELING
In partnership with Nike, Washington State will wear custom pre-game shooting shirts and shoes to honor former WSU Head Coach George Raveling. The shoes, with custom 'RAVE' typography on them, were provided to all schools the former Coug coached at. Raveling, the first Black coach in the Pac-10 Conference, elevated the Cougar men's basketball program to national prominence during his time in Pullman. Raveling guided the Cougars from 1972-1983. During his 11 years in Pullman, Raveling led WSU to two NCAA tournaments in 1980 and 1983. WSU's 1980 NCAA appearance was the first for the Cougars since finishing national runner-up in 1941. The 80-64 win against UCLA at Beasley Coliseum, the first win against the Bruins since 1966, Raveling stated as his favorite memory during his time as coach of the Cougars.

AARON ACES NONCONFERENCE
True freshman Ace Glass has stepped into a leading roll for the Cougars, averaging a team-best 16.7 points per game, breaking the WSU freshman single-game scoring record with 40 points versus Arizona State, and picking up three WCC Freshman of the Week honors. The Rialto, California kid sits fifth in the West Coast Conference in scoring, best by a freshman, and 17th nationally by a freshman. Most recently, Glass scored 14 points in the win over Seattle U, delivering his 12th-consecutive double-figure game and 18th in the last 19 contests.

OKAFOR BLOCKS MORE
ND Okafor is the Cougars' leading rim protector, having led the Cougs 14 times in single-game blocks, totalling 31 on the season, third in WCC and 90th nationally. The Irishman has registered at least one rejection in 13 of the last 18 games, including a career-high five blocks against Nevada, Dec. 7.

UP NEXT
WSU makes a midweek trip to Corvallis, Oregon to face the Oregon State Beavers, Wednesday, February 4, at 8 p.m. from Gill Coliseum and live on CBS Sports Network. The Cougars defeated the Beavers, January 4 in Spokane, 81-67. Ace Glass led four double-digit scorers with 16 points.

ROAD WARRIORS
The Cougs have played the 90th toughest schedule in the country according to NCAA NET rankings. With its arrival back from San Diego, WSU has traveled over 20,500 commercial airline miles and played games in four time zones. 

WINNING THE GLASS BATTLE
WSU ranks 20th in the country in defending against offensive rebounding, according to KenPom - that is, they prevent opponents from getting offensive boards - holding opponents to a 26.1% 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 5.5 rebounds per game. Twice this season Yalaho has pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds and scored 10+ points on 13 occasions.

MORTON MOJO
Morehead State transfer Jerone Morton has found his footing, sharing ballhandling responsibilities through 20 starts in 23 games, and dished 60 assists. Morton is averaging 7.2 points per game, 2.6 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. The Kentucky kid followed with a career-high nine assists against Saint Mary's. 

CONTROL THE ROCK
Washington State has struggled to control the ball in several key areas including assist-to-turnover ratio, turnovers forced, turnover margin, and three-point defense. The Cougars assist-to-turnover ratio of 0.96 ranks 305th national. WSU is forcing just 10.35 turnovers per game, 319th in Division-I. WSU ranks 345th nationally with a negative turnover margin of -3.2, while sitting 317th in defensive 3-point percentage.

LINE IN THE SAND
As a team, Washington State is shooting the ball at 47.3%. When the Cougars shoot over 45% they have won nine times, but just once when held under 45% shooting. The Cougs also have nine wins when scoring 70+ points, however when held under 70 points, WSU is just 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. 

EFFICIENCY IS THE KEY
The Cougars have steadily improved their overall field goal percentage, three-point field goal percentage, rebounding margin, and effective field goal percentage. Nationally, WSU ranks in the top-100 with a 47.3% field goal percentage (75th), a 36.2 three-point field goal percentage (t-64th). The Cougars also make 9.1 three-pointers per game 88th) and hold the 53rd-best effective field goal percentage at 55.3%.

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 325th 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 8.9 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 1-2 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 points per game and 3.5 rebounds per game. 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 11 of his first 23 games. The Catalonia kid is averaging 2.6 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.