As WSU and UW prepare for 300th all-time meeting, new head coaches differ on series’ importance

PULLMAN – In the spring, when David Riley became Washington State’s new head basketball coach, he had a lot on his plate. Could he keep an NCAA Tournament roster together? How would the Cougars fare as West Coast Conference affiliate members? Who would replace departing players?

Not long after facing those questions, Riley had one for the administration that had hired him: How could WSU keep rival Washington on the schedule, even as a nonconference game?

We have to keep this thing alive, Riley told them.

“I think that’s something that we’ve with all these Northwest teams, is to make sure that we’re, we’re doing right by what I think is good for college basketball and playing these local teams,” Riley said. “I think this is just a heck of a game.”

Riley got his wish. In the summer, WSU and UW agreed to a home-and-home series for the next two seasons. The teams’ first game is set for Wednesday at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle, where the Cougars and Huskies will tip off at 8 p.m.

It’s the first meeting in the rivalry for both teams’ new head coaches. It’s the debut for UW coach Danny Sprinkle, who previously spent one season at Utah State, as well as for Riley, who is coming off three years as Eastern Washington’s head coach. All-time meeting No. 300 is also the first of its kind, now that UW is part of the Big Ten and WSU is playing as a WCC affiliate member for the next two years.

After splitting last year’s series, the Cougars winning in Seattle and the Huskies winning in Pullman, the teams are set for a new kind of clash. UW (7-3) is coming off a home win over EWU, which followed road setbacks to USC and UCLA. No. 119 in the NCAA NET rankings, Washington has three players scoring in double figures, led by veteran big man Great Osobor with 14.1 points per game.

UW, which also has guard Tyler Harris scoring 13.4 points and freshman guard Zoom Diallo scoring 10.1 points, has earned wins over UC Davis, Seattle Pacific, UMass Lowell, Alcorn State, Colorado State and Santa Clara. The Huskies’ other loss came against Nevada.

UW runs a bit of a smaller lineup, at least to start games. The bigs, Osobor and Harris, are both listed at 6-foot-8. Small forward Mehki Mason is 6-5, guard DJ Davis is 6-1 and point guard Tyree Ihenaco has some size at 6-4. Even so, the Huskies have generated an offensive rebounding percentage of 27%, No. 91 nationally, backing up what Riley has noticed on film about the group.

“Overall, it’s their physicality,” Riley said. “I think the games that they’ve won, they tend to be the more physical team. No. 2 is they’re very disruptive on defense. They do a great job mixing up defenses and trapping, and mixing up ball-screen coverages and zone. So I think – are we gonna be able to adjust that offensively, and are we gonna be able to answer the bell physically and be ready to fight?”

The Cougars (9-2) have been up to the task lately. With three straight wins, including key road wins over Nevada and Boise State last week, WSU has made do with a shorthanded roster. Star wing Cedric Coward, who averaged 17.7 points and 7.0 rebounds in six games this season, will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery to address a shoulder injury. Also out for the season are guard Marcus Wilson and transfer wing Rihards Vavers.

It hasn’t seemed to bother the Cougars. Guard Nate Calmese, who played last year at UW, has taken over the scoring lead with 15.5 points per game. Four of his teammates are also averaging in double figure: wing LeJuan Watts with 13.0, guard Isaiah Watts with 12.8, and forwards Dane Erikstrup with 12.5 and Ethan Price with 10.5.

They’ve fueled much of the Cougs’ rise to No. 67 in the NET rankings, on the bubble of several NCAA Tournament projections from national publications. WSU is converting 59.9% of its shots inside the arc, No. 12 nationally, and with an effective field-goal percentage of 56.7, the Cougars are No. 36 nationally in that category.

It comes from Riley’s wide-open offense, which relies less on set plays and more on players’ ability to read and react. The Cougars might struggle with turnovers – their 14.7 per game rank No. 327 nationally – but they’ve made that work, too.

They’re scoring enough to make up for it. Calmese has scored in double figures in five of his past six games, and Seattle native Isaiah Watts has done so for three straight games. Watts is coming off a 20-point outing against Missouri State, hitting 4 of 7 on 3-pointers, raising his season 3-point percentage to 40.9%.

Under last season’s Kyle Smith-coached team, Riley pointed out, WSU ran more sets on offense, which helped Watts to understand when and where his shots would be coming. That’s not the case under Riley, who does run sets, but he also trusts his guys to make their own decisions.

“For him now, I want him to be a complete player,” Riley said. “I want him to put pressure on the rim early in the games, early in the possession. Obviously, if he can get a little bit of separation, I always want him shooting it, but it’s just kind of finding that balance and understanding when to take those early transition 3s, when to attack the paint, and that’s a process.”

For Sprinkle’s part, he didn’t share the same sentiment about keeping the rivalry game going. In a Monday news conference, the Washington native complimented WSU’s team, but he also indicated the game wasn’t as important to him.

“It’s a rivalry. It wasn’t that important to me to keep it on the schedule,” Sprinkle said. “It’s important to a lot of other people. They’ve always been good. It’s gonna be a really tough game.”