New coach, new look for WSU men’s hoops

The Washington State men’s basketball team that runs onto the court on Monday will more closely resemble last season’s Eastern Washington team than last year’s WSU squad.

WSU opens the season at 8 p.m. Monday versus Portland State at Beasley Coliseum.

Last season, the Cougs won 25 games and qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008. There, they beat Drake in the first round and lost in the Round of 32 to Iowa State.

Then, former coach Kyle Smith took his dream job at the helm of Stanford, WSU hired Eastern Washington coach David Riley to lead the Cougars and only two players — Isaiah Watts and Parker Gerrits — chose to remain in Pullman.

Riley got straight to work securing the signing of Lapwai’s Kase Wynott, the all-time leading scorer in Idaho prep history. Wynott chose the Cougs over offers from Utah State and UW after finishing his prolific high school career.

“He can really score it,” Riley said of Wynott. “He’s a tough defender, and he’s a very, very high IQ basketball player. He’s one of those guys that his smarts really, really show on the floor.”

In addition to a new coaching staff and largely new roster, the Cougs will play their inaugural season in the West Coast Conference as an affiliate member alongside Oregon State following the implosion of the traditional Pac-12. That means the rebirth of an intriguing Pacific Northwest rivalry with national juggernaut Gonzaga coming to Pullman and the Cougars making the trip to the intimate McCarthey Athletic Center.

Gone are breakout star Jaylen Wells, who was drafted 39th overall in the NBA draft by the Memphis Grizzlies, and former Vandal Isaac Jones, who ran the Cougar offense and earned an All-Pac-12 honor before signing with the Sacramento Kings.

Other core contributors chose to transfer, including Myles Rice (Indiana), Andrej Jakimovski (Colorado) and Rueben Chinyelu (Florida).

Bringing a bit of Cheney to Pullman

Riley brought several staff members from EWU to Pullman, including assistant coaches Jerry Brown and Donald Brady.

He also brought the bulk of his starting lineup to WSU, including senior guard Cedric Coward, senior forward Ethan Price, senior forward Dane Erikstrup and redshirt sophomore forward LeJuan Watts.

Those four former Eags were four of EWU’s top six scorers in 2023-24. Then there’s Casey Jones, EWU’s second-leading scorer, who committed to WSU for the 2027-28 season after he goes on a mission for his church and takes another year to get back in basketball shape.

Coward paced EWU with 15.4 points per game, Price dished out 71 assists and each of the four averaged 9.4 points per game or more.

“Wherever he was at, I was at,” Coward said of following his coach to Pullman. “My heart was always set on Washington State with my coach and my coaching staff and being able to develop me the best way possible.”

In the transfer portal, Riley signed junior guard Nate Calmese of WSU’s cross-state rival Washington, 6-foot-9 forward ND Okafor of California and Tayon Sessoms of North Idaho College.

“We’ve been putting our nose down and working; we had to build a roster all spring,” Riley said. “All summer just kinda putting the basics in and so now we’re already right here.”

Riley said the Cougs are a particularly deep team this year.

“We wanted skill guys, we wanted high-IQ guys, you gotta have a big motor and you gotta be a high-character person,” Riley said.

From freshman to face of the team

Watts sank the decisive 3 that sent the Cougars to the second round of March Madness, continuing a clutch 3-point stroke that he had curated during the season, especially in a glowing performance versus USC in February.

Watts, along with fellow second-year Coug Gerrits of Olympia, Wash., chose to stay.

Riley said he recruited Watts and Gerrits out of high school while at Eastern and that the two already fit his scheme.

“We play really fast and we’re a great shooting team,” Watts said. “Defensively, we’re just gonna get out and run. Defense leads to offense and we understand that and I’m actually proud of our team for getting that down.”

A WCC schedule, a renewed PNW matchup

Without powerhouses like UCLA and Arizona on the schedule, WSU will have no shortage of competition as the WCC includes the rebirth of an intriguing Pacific Northwest rivalry with national juggernaut Gonzaga coming to Pullman and the Cougars making the trip up to “The Kennel” in Spokane.

WSU will also challenge Saint Mary’s and San Francisco as well as play a nonconference schedule that includes Idaho in Pullman and UW in Seattle.

“We gotta go through some adversity and really see how each of us responds, and that’s gonna be the big determining factor if we can build a cohesive unit,” Riley said.

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam_C_Taylor.