Friel Court at Beasley Coliseum

Friel Court, located in the Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum, has been the home of men's basketball since 1973 and women's basketball since 1996.

The Washington State men’s basketball team recently completed its 51st-consecutive season playing at Friel Court inside Beasley Coliseum. WSU won its 200th game all-time at the venerable facility Dec. 2, 1998, when the Cougars defeated Portland State 74-71 and its 250th game Nov. 17, 2007, with a 67-44 victory over Texas-San Antonio. WSU’s most recent milestone came with its 400th win at Friel Court, Nov. 12, 2021, a 79-61 victory over Seattle U. The Cougars first moved to Friel Court Dec. 1, 1973, and christened their new home with an 80-78 victory over LSU in front of 9,000 fans.

WSU has earned a postseason berth 12 times while calling Friel Court home. The 1979-80 season marked the first of those 12 occasions as the Cougars advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 1940-41 team finished as the national runner-up. During the 2010-11 season, the Cougars hosted, and won, three NIT games at Beasley Coliseum, advancing to the NIT Semifinals in New York for the first time in school history, while winning a school-most three postseason games. The following season, 2011-12, the Cougars posted an 11-3 record on their home floor, including wins in their first eight games at Beasley of the season. WSU hosted two College Basketball Invitational (CBI) games that season, winning both.

Friel Court has been the site of NCAA first and second round games (1975, 1982 and 1985). In fact, Friel Court was the first stop on UCLA’s 1975 NCAA title run, the 10th and final championship for head coach John Wooden. The Bruins needed overtime to defeat Michigan 103-91.

The arena, which currently seats 11,671 for basketball, was formally dedicated in honor of longtime Washington State Head Coach Jack Friel, who directed the Cougars to the 1941 NCAA title game. In the spring of 1981, the coliseum was named in honor of past Washington State Vice President Wallis Beasley.

Prior to the 2007-08 season, the court got a new look after being newly refurbished and painted. Prior to the 2011-12 season, the center-hung scoreboard was added to the coliseum, enhancing the fan experience at basketball games. Also at that time, the floor was refurbished again as part of WSU’s rebranding initiative.

In the summer of 2011, work was completed on the WSU men’s and women’s practice facility, which features multiple courts, video and editing capabilities, 24-hour access for basketball student-athletes, as well as updating branding throughout the facility.

The most recent addition to the venerable facility was a new playing surface installed in the fall of 2019, in honor of the Evergreen State and the WSU System throughout the state. The new court features WSU's colors, with the court in gray and bordered by anthracite, and the iconic Cougar Head logo showcased in crimson at midcourt. In addition, the landscape of the state of Washington decorates the court highlighting WSU Everett, WSU Vancouver, WSU Tri-Cities, WSU Spokane, WSU Global and WSU Pullman.

The court displays artwork of the following images: the Cascade Mountains, the Seattle skyline, the Ed Hendler Cable Bridge that spans the Columbia River, the Riverfront Park Pavilion and Clock Tower and the Bryan Clock Tower.

The new court replaces the parquet floor that was in place since the 2000 season. That court replaced the old maple floor that had been laid down for the 1983-84 season.

On Jan. 18, 2020, Washington State Athletics retired Klay Thompson’s No. 1 jersey in front of a crowd of 10,380, the largest crowd to see a Cougar home game since the 2011 season.