The Washington State men’s basketball season is still months away from tipping off, but there’s already plenty to keep an eye on.
The Cougars will open their new-look run Saturday with the intra-squad “Crimson & Gray” scrimmage at Friel Court in Beasley Coliseum, giving third-year coach David Riley his first real chance to sort through a revamped roster. The transfer haul includes guard Lazerek Houston from Central Missouri, forward Ronnie Harrison from East Texas A&M and guard Jamari Phillips from Oregon.
With the 2026-27 schedule now largely set and released earlier this week, a handful of matchups stand out as the ones most likely to grab attention.
The biggest spotlight game on the slate is a first-ever meeting with Duke at the Acrisure Series holiday tournament in Palm Desert, California. Washington State has never faced the Blue Devils, and this one comes with all the usual Duke baggage: five NCAA Division I titles, a preseason profile that already has the Blue Devils projected by many outlets as a top-three team nationally, and a roster that looks loaded from top to bottom.
Jon Scheyer’s group returns junior center Ngongba, who could be the program’s best 2027 NBA Draft prospect, along with point guards Caleb Foster and Cayden Boozer. Duke also adds high-scoring transfer John Blackwell from Wisconsin and touted teenager Joaquim Boumtje, a 7-foot-2 center with a massive playmaking ceiling.
For Washington State, the ACC connection is a rare one. The Cougars’ last game against an ACC team came in the 2008 NCAA Tournament, when Tony Bennett’s squad fell to North Carolina, 68-47, in the Sweet 16.
The holiday tournament also gives WSU a look at LSU, though the Tigers arrive with a major question mark hanging over the roster. Will Wade is back for his second coaching stint in Baton Rouge, and he has brought in a wave of new talent, but eligibility remains the issue.
The headliner is RJ Luis Jr., the former Big East player of the year from St. John’s, who declared for the 2025 NBA Draft, signed a free-agent contract with Utah and never appeared in a pro game.
He is among a group seeking eligibility clearance, along with 2025-26 UCLA standouts Skyy Clark and Donovan Dent. For now, LSU has only four eligible players on the roster.
Another game with plenty of built-in intrigue is the meeting with Gonzaga, now part of Washington State’s second straight season in the newly shaped Pac-12. The rivalry has been lopsided for years: Gonzaga has won 17 of the 20 meetings, including an 83-53 win in Spokane last February, and the Bulldogs are riding a nine-game winning streak in the series.
Still, this version of Gonzaga has some uncertainty around it. The Bulldogs are waiting on eligibility rulings for three experienced transfers: Florida guard Xaivian Lee, Florida State forward Chauncey Wiggins and Dayton guard Javon Bennett.
They also need Braden Huff to look like himself again after a knee injury wiped out the second half of his junior year. If Huff is healthy, he and rising sophomore Davis Fogle could form one of the best duos in college basketball.
Washington State’s season opener also makes the list, even beyond the opponent. After last year’s 12-20 finish, the Cougars are in need of an early jolt, and they’ll get it against a Wildcats team that beat them on the road in North Carolina last season, 85-69.
Forward Josh Scovens is back as the Wildcats’ leading returning scorer, while transfers Jackson Keith from Butler and Nick Janowski from St. Thomas of Minnesota join the mix.
There’s also guard John Carter Jr., who played in 109 career games at Navy from 2018-22 before spending the last four years away from basketball in the U.S. Marine Corps.
The final game to watch comes at the end of the regular season in Pullman, when Washington State faces Utah State. By then, the Cougars will either be pushing for a spot in the conference postseason tournament or trying to close out another frustrating year.
The Aggies won the Mountain West title last season and bring back conference player of the year Mason Falslev, who should be one of the Pac-12’s top-scoring guards. New coach Ben Jacobson, who built a respected program at Northern Iowa, focused his offseason work on adding size up front, and he’s done that with reigning MWC sixth man of the year Karson Templin, former Northern Iowa player Will Hornseth and defensive-minded center Connor Turnbull.
The last time these teams met, in 2022-23, Utah State won 82-73.
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The strain has started to show up late in games, where the defense has been giving up more points in the fourth quarter than it did in the first. Kirby Moore has acknowledged the need for better complementary football, because if the offense cannot help control possession, the Cougars are going to keep testing the same group on a shrinking reserve of energy. [Read more 🡒]
Jackquintin Bal Just Gave Washington State A Reason To Believe
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Bals move to Pullman was an emotional one, but he has said the new environment and defensive scheme have made the transition easier. Coach Kirby Moores praise only adds to the sense that Washington State has found a player who is settling in quickly, even as the full picture of what he can become in this defense is still coming into focus. [Read more 🡒]
WSU Fans Just Got A First Look At A Very Different Schedule
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For a fan base still adjusting to the shape of the schedule, the details offer a clearer view of how the year will unfold from opening night into March. The slate runs through an early-March finish, giving Washington State a long runway to build momentum before the late stretch begins to matter most. [Read more 🡒]