As conference play begins, where does the Washington State men’s basketball team stand?

It’s usually easy to tell when Kyle Smith is about to get funny. A smile will curl around the Washington State men’s basketball coach’s lips, and he’ll look off into the distance, trying to select the right words for whatever amusing thought is on his mind. Then he might straighten his look in an attempt to come off as serious.

In that way, it came as no surprise last week when Smith opened up about his team’s place in the West Coast Conference, where the Cougars will play for the next two seasons as an affiliate member as they try to identify a more permanent home.

“Are we Jesuits?” Smith asked after WSU took down Boise State in Spokane last week, referencing the faith-based WCC schools. “Or Christian brothers?”

For the next two months, it won’t matter for WSU, which kicks off its Pac-12 slate with a road game against Utah on Friday, then on the road against Colorado on Sunday.

The Cougars’ final march through the Pac-12 as we know it starts against the Utes, off to a 9-2 start. Utah is coming off six straight wins, a stretch that includes victories over ranked foes such as BYU and overmatched ones like Bellarmine, which Utah defeated 85-43 .

Utah features three players scoring in double figures: center Branden Carlson (16.8 ppg), guard Gabe Madsen (14.2) and guard Rollie Worster (10.4), providing the scoring punch for a team hitting 38% of its 3-pointers, ranking 28th nationwide. The Utes knocked down 11 in their last outing, their win over Bellarmine.

The most compelling part about this matchup might be that Utah ranks first in the nation in average height, coming in at 6-foot-7½. Four of their five starters stand at least 6-6. Carlson is a 7-footer, and their true center, Colorado transfer Lawson Lovering, checks in at 7-1. No matter where Utah turns, it has size.

For the Cougars, it’s a chance to see how their size stacks up. They rank seventh in the country in average height, at 6-7, which doesn’t represent much difference from Utah’s size. Their best perimeter scorer, guard Myles Rice, stands 6-3, and from there it’s length across the starting lineup: 6-7 Kymany Houinsou, 6-8 Andrej Jakimovski, 6-9 Isaac Jones, then either Rueben Chinyelu or Oscar Cluff – both of whom stand 6-11.

The Cougars have been tested recently, following a setback to Santa Clara with a tight win over Boise State last week, which is the kind of barometer Smith appreciates. This, though, is a different kind of measuring stick.

“It’s gonna be another good test for us,” said Rice, who scored 14 points against Boise State, playing with a wrap on his shooting hand, installed for precautionary reasons, according to a source familiar with the situation. “I think us playing in this neutral site still felt like a home game in a sense, but it kind of still gave us that road feeling. So that’s gonna help us when we go to Utah and Colorado, as well.”

At the heart of the Cougars’ bigs-first approach is Jones. He’s WSU’s leading scorer by a hair, averaging 15.6 points to Rice’s 15.5, and he’s also the team’s best rebounder. He averages 7.3 rebounds, sixth in the conference among qualified players, and he’s averaging one block per game. He’s becoming the complete player the team hoped he would, and the Cougars are reaping the benefits.

For WSU, one of the best parts of his development is his comfort at the free-throw line. There, he sank 7 of 10 shots against Boise State, including a 5-for-5 mark in the final 3 minutes, helping the Cougars ice the win. He made 2 of 3 against Santa Clara, 4 of 5 against Grambling, 5 of 5 against UC Riverside and 4 of 4 against Portland State.

Over his past five games, Jones is shooting 22 for 27 from the line, a mark of 81%. In the win over BSU, Houinsou also hit two clutch free throws.

The Cougars are hitting just 67% of their free throws, though – a sign that, optimistically speaking, they’re improving in that department.

Where WSU could really improve, though, is beyond the arc. Headed into conference play, the Cougars are knocking down just 32.9% of their 3-pointers, a mark that ranks No. 294 nationwide. Their two best shooters are Rice and transfer forward Jaylen Wells, who are shooting 38.1 and 37.8%, respectively of their 3-pointers.

Absent in that group is Jakimovski, who profiled as one of the team’s best headed into the season, particularly because he shot 35% on 3s last season. He’s in a slump, hitting just five of his past 21 attempts from beyond the arc (24%). He’s made more of an effort on defense in response, pulling down 13 rebounds against Boise State.

WSU guard Jabe Mullins is coming along strongly on this front, hitting three crucial 3-pointers against Boise State in what could signal a key backcourt emergence. If Mullins keeps shooting like this, he could earn more minutes, which could in turn stretch the floor and give the Cougars’ bigs more space to operate.

Either way, though, WSU could benefit from the return of guard Joseph Yesufu, who has sat out the past five games with a hip injury. Smith has yet to offer a timetable on Yesufu’s return. The Cougars have largely been able to tread water in his absence, but that might change when conference play starts.

They may find out on Friday.