After losing its past two games against Pacific and Gonzaga, the WSU men’s basketball team is looking to turn things around this week against a pair of inferior opponents in San Diego and Portland.
WSU (13-5) first travels to San Diego, a city the Cougs are suddenly very familiar with this year. The Cougs have already beat San Diego State on the road in football and also won at USD in volleyball over the fall. If the Cougars can defeat the Toreros at the Jenny Craig Pavillion on Thursday, they will complete the road sweep over USD.
USD (4-14) has struggled to start the season. However, their lone conference win was against Pacific, who upset the Cougs in Beasley last week, so anything is possible. The Cougs should not take any opponent lightly; that was made clear after last week’s losses.
Despite hiring Steve Lavin, who guided UCLA and St. John’s to 11 NCAA tournaments, the Toreros have struggled to make noise in the WCC since he arrived in 2022. This year has been no different, as the Toreros often find themselves playing from behind against superior opponents.
Lack of student support has plagued the small private school for years, and the game Thursday could be particularly empty as USD is currently in their optional January term, meaning many students have either not returned from Christmas break or are abroad. It will be a massive difference compared to Gonzaga, whose student section helped create chaos and momentum for the Bulldogs last Saturday.
Kjay Bradley Jr. will likely cause the most problems for Wazzu. The junior guard is averaging 15.3 points per game and also leads the team with 25 threes this season. Outside of Bradley, the Toreros are limited.
USD is ranked No. 295 by KenPom and No. 323 by the NET rankings, compared to WSU, which is ranked No. 83 by KenPom and No. 76 by NET.
After playing at San Diego, the Cougars come home to host the Portland Pilots, who they already defeated once this year.
Portland (5-13) has yet to win a conference game this season and has lost five straight. They are ranked No. 311 on KenPom and No. 317 by the NET.
The games present a solid get-right opportunity for the Cougs, who are still without Isaiah Watts, and starting to get pretty banged up. Ethan Price exited last Thursday’s loss against Pacific with cramps and did not appear to be 100% against Gonzaga on Saturday. LeJuan Watts temporarily left Saturday’s loss at Gonzaga with what appeared to be a leg injury. Getting five days to rest and a pair of games against two of the WCC bottom-dwellers will be a great chance to right-the-ship for Wazzu
