After losing to Oregon last Wednesday, the Cougs finally wrapped up their lengthy six-game road trip and returned home to close out the non-conference schedule. Beasley Coliseum will be treated to a battle of the Cougars as WSU takes on Brigham Young on Friday before playing Division II foe Saint Martin’s on Sunday.
With the loss to the Ducks, WSU dropped to 4-5 and remains without a road win this season. In a tough road stretch with little margin for error, the Cougs now turn their attention to two chances to flip the momentum back in their favor and potentially enter conference play above .500.
In a matchup between two Cougar squads, there is not much in common between the two teams other than their mascots. While WSU is sitting under .500 with back-to-back losses, BYU is currently 8-2 on a two-game win streak. BYU is also 2-0 on the road this season.
BYU is entering just its second season in a Big 12 conference that welcomes four new members this season in Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah. On the other hand, WSU is in its first season as a West Coast Conference affiliate and is working with Oregon State to rebuild the Pac-12.
Despite different early-season tales, WSU can confidently say it is the more battle-tested of the two teams. While both teams beat Idaho and were blown out by Iowa, WSU has faced four top-75 NET teams while BYU has faced just one. Three of those four opponents received votes in the latest AP poll including No. 21 Iowa, and two are ranked in NET top 35.
BYU does not hold a significant advantage over WSU in any one area. Still, the team’s ability to score from anywhere on the floor presents a difficult challenge for a WSU defense that is 318th nationally in opponent points per game.
The Cougars from Utah feature a new-look roster this year, including four transfers and just three players returning who started ten or more games last season. Despite the roster turnover, BYU is seeing positive signs out of its young core, as guards Delaney Gibb and Amari Whiting are the first and third-leading scorers on the team. Transfer guard Kemery Congdon from Cal is also providing a spark as the team’s fourth-leading scorer.
Gibb has been the highlight of the first half of BYU’s season and is exactly the kind of player the team needed as it entered the season searching for a new offensive leader. After losing its top two leading scorers, Gibb quickly took their place as a freshman, averaging 16.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists. Gibb is a strong all-around guard and scores efficiently, shooting 44% from the field, 80% from the line and 36% from three on over seven attempts a game. Gibb was ranked No. 77 in the 2024 ESPN HoopGurlz recruiting rankings and was the 22nd-ranked point guard in the class. WSU head coach Kamie Ethridge said that the team tried to recruit Gibb before she ultimately landed with BYU.
Whiting, a sophomore, is the other leader of BYU’s underclassmen who will take over for five seniors next season. Whiting is averaging 10.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists this season and was nearly the first player in program history to record a triple-double last season. Another double-edged sword at the guard position, Whiting is also averaging 1.8 steals. The sophomore guard is just 14% on threes this season, but sports the kind of energy that can decimate any opponent.
Whiting is the daughter of head coach Amber Whiting who played at BYU during the 2000-2001 season before becoming the head coach in 2022. This matchup presents a full circle moment for the coach as she earned her first college coaching win against WSU on Nov. 18, 2022.
Ethridge highlighted both Gibb and Whiting as points of emphasis in the team’s scouting process for BYU, but also said BYU’s post presence was something to watch out for.
As always, the important matchup for WSU comes down low as teams have consistently beat them on the glass and they are in a transition period in the frontcourt. Forward Emma Calvert is BYU’s tallest player at 6-foot-4 and is averaging 5.1 boards per game. Calvert is one of the top returners from last year’s squad and has nearly doubled her scoring output to 14.7 points per game this year.
WSU center Alex Covill, who is third in the WCC in blocks per game (2.1), is 6-foot-6 and does have the height advantage on Calvert and forward Dayana Mendes has the versatility to put Calvert in tough positions in the post. For a team that currently ranks 270th in rebounding, WSU must win the rebounding battle to slow down the BYU offense and its scoring elsewhere on the floor. Despite needing to see improvement in the rebounding department and in post defense, coach Ethridge said she has liked what has she has seen on the defensive side of the ball from Mendes so far.
“Her defense is really good,” Ethridge said. “Her on-ball defense and presence on ball and her pick-and-roll coverage defense is amazing.”
After playing a team that currently ranks just inside the NET top 100, the Cougs should be able to catch a breather with DII opponent Saint Martin’s who is 7-2 this season but has yet to face a Division I opponent and is not currently ranked in the DII regional rankings.
The Saints are led by guards Jada Travis and Kiana Rios who are averaging 14.3 and 12.6 points respectively. Both guards are averaging over two steals a game on a stout Saints defense that only allows 54.2 points per game. Travis is shooting 39.4% from three and Rios is shooting 96.2% on free throws. The Saint Martin’s backcourt is undersized and the team lacks high-level experience, but the Cougs should not underestimate them and instead take the opportunity to get on the right track.
The Cougs will have to watch to out for potential health issues in the lead up to their end-of-week matchups, as guard Eleonora Villa suffered an ankle injury in the Nov. 29 game against Virginia and Ethridge said the team is currently dealing with a “bug” which has held the team’s only senior Tara Wallack out for a couple of practices. Villa appeared on “The Cougar Basketball Hour” on Monday and did not mention her injury.
Ethridge said this season’s schedule was set up to challenge the team and help prepare them for conference play, something she said the next two games can provide an opportunity to do.
“The conference schedule, the non-conference schedule is set up to see if we can handle physicality, can we handle zone, can we handle athleticism, can we handle people that press us,” Ethridge said. “Have we prepared ourselves for whatever we might see at nine games into the season? This a great opportunity for us to host them and again we need a win and we need to show up.”
WSU hosts BYU and Saint Martin’s to end this week at Beasley Coliseum before starting conference play at San Diego on Dec. 19.
