The WSU men’s basketball team announced its full slate of non-conference matchups for 2024. The schedule includes six home games, five road games and a tournament in California.
The season will tip off Nov 4, when the Cougs will play their first of three home games to open the season. They start with the Portland State Vikings, a team they hosted last year and defeated 71-61. The Vikings finished sixth in the Big Sky last year with a 17-15 record, and are still looking for their first win against the Cougars, who hold a 10-0 all-time record in the series.
Following Portland State the Cougars will host the Bradley Braves on Nov 8. Bradley finished third in the Missouri Valley Conference in 2023, with a 23-12 record. Their tenth-year coach Brian Wardle is back after winning MVC Coach of the Year. This will be the first time since 1949 that the Cougars have played the Braves.
Nov 11 marks the first marquee game on the schedule when the Cougars host cross-state rival Idaho. WSU is riding a five-game win streak against the Vandals, dominating them with a 25-point victory last year. They lead the all-time series 167-110 and in Pullman, they are 102-38.
The Vandals struggled last year finishing 11-21, ninth in the Big Sky. They have brought in a new head coach, Alex Pribble, who previously led Saint Martin’s University to an 83-40 record in four seasons, and won three DII tournament games. 2024 will be his first season as a head coach for a D1 program.
The Cougars will then head to the road, when they take on the Iowa Hawkeyes on Nov 15. Iowa saw their streak of four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances end in 2023, going 19-15 and reaching the second round of the NIT. Iowa and WSU have faced off just once before, when the Hawkeyes defeated the Cougars 74-66 in 1963.
Wazzu returns to Pullman on Nov 18 to host Northern Colorado, a team they beat 82-56 in 2021. Expect a closer matchup in 2024, as the UNC Bears are coming off a second-place finish in the Big Sky.
Nov 21 will mark an exciting game for new WSU Head Coach David Riley, as the Cougars will travel to the Spokane Arena for a neutral site matchup against his former team, the Eastern Washington Eagles.
Eastern was the top team in the Big Sky in 2021 and was the favorite in 2023 before a tournament upset, but with Riley now coaching for the Cougars, they are not expected to field as competitive of a team. That’s also due to the losses of Cedric Coward, Dane Erikstrup, LeJuan Watts and Ethan Price, who followed their coach to Pullman. The game might be emotional, but it should not be close.
Over the Thanksgiving Holiday, the Cougars will escape the cold and head to Palm Desert, CA for the Acrisure Holiday Invitational. Their first-round matchup is against Fresno State, who hired Vance Walberg April 6 as their new head coach. Walberg has very limited collegiate coaching experience but has won 16 league titles between three high schools in California.
The Cougars stay on the road in December, traveling to Reno on Dec 2 to play Nevada and then to Boise on Dec 7 where they will visit the Broncos. It will not be an easy road trip, as they’ll face a pair of squads who are coming off back-to-back NCAA tournament Appearances. The Wolf Pack finished 26-8 in 2023, while Boise State finished 22-11.
The Cougars then return home on a short flight from Boise for their Dec 14 matchup against Missouri State. The Bears went a solid 17-16 last year, and are set to return to Pullman for the second time in school history. Previously, the Cougars beat the Bears 89-84 in 2014.
WSU will remain in Washington, as they head to Seattle on Dec 18 to take on the Huskies in the Apple Cup. The rivalry now takes on a whole new meaning and a new level of competition. Previously UW and WSU would square off twice a season, but with Washington jumping ship to the Big 10, that is no longer the case.
The Cougars, who defeated the Huskies in Seattle in 2023, have one game to prove themselves as the top team in the state. The state rivals split the Apple Cup Series in 2023.
Finally, the Cougars will wrap up their non-conference play with a Dec 21 home game against Northern Iowa. They’ll host a Panthers squad that lost in the semifinals of the MVC tournament and then get to relax for the holidays before kicking off league play with the West Coast Conference on Dec 28 at Portland.
