Beasley Coliseum feels a little different these days. It’s not just the new logo on the floor or the fact that the schedule now features trips to places like Moraga and San Francisco instead of Tucson and Los Angeles. It is the palpable sense of a program that refused to die when the Pac-12 collapsed.
Washington State men’s basketball should have been a casualty of conference realignment. When Kyle Smith bolted for Stanford after that magical 2024 NCAA Tournament run, he didn't just take his "Nerdball" analytics with him. He took the momentum. Then the roster evaporated. Jaylen Wells went to the NBA. Myles Rice, the heart of the team, headed to Indiana. Isaac Jones graduated.
Basically, the cupboard wasn't just bare—it was gone.
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Enter David Riley. Coming over from Eastern Washington, he didn't just bring his coaching whistle; he brought a system that prioritizes offensive efficiency over everything. Honestly, people were skeptical. You can’t just replace an entire starting five and move to the West Coast Conference (WCC) without some serious growing pains. But as we sit here in 2026, the narrative is shifting.
The WCC Transition: It’s Not a Step Down
If you think the move to the WCC was going to be a cakewalk for the Cougs, you haven't been watching Saint Mary’s or Gonzaga lately. The WCC is a gauntlet of mid-major giants.
In the 2024-25 season, Washington State finished 19-15. That’s a respectable number for a team that was essentially built in a month through the transfer portal. They went 8-10 in conference play, which sounds mediocre until you realize they were fighting for oxygen against Top-25 mainstays every other week. They ended up in the College Basketball Crown—a new postseason tournament—where they lost a nail-biter to Georgetown, 85-82.
Riley's first year was a roller coaster. They started 13-3. People were whispering about another NCAA bid. Then, the reality of a thin bench and the defensive struggles of a 334th-ranked scoring defense (78.6 points allowed per game) caught up to them.
But here is the thing: the offense was electric. They averaged nearly 79 points a game. That’s the Riley way. He wants to play fast, shoot a ton of threes, and out-skill you. It’s a far cry from the grind-it-out style of the Bennett years or the deliberate pace of Kyle Smith.
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The New Faces of Pullman
You’ve got to admire how Riley used his connections. He leaned heavily on his Eastern Washington ties initially, but the 2025-26 roster is a global melting pot.
- Emmanuel Ugbo: A 6'8" bruiser from Boise State who has become the team's double-double threat.
- Jerone Morton: The Morehead State transfer who provides the veteran backcourt stability they lacked in 2024.
- Adria Rodriguez: A Spanish guard who plays with a level of "flair" that makes him a Discover feed favorite.
The most intriguing part of this roster isn't just the transfers, though. It’s the international scouting. Between players from Iceland, Latvia, and Spain, WSU is leaning into the "global' strategy that Mark Few perfected up the road in Spokane.
Why Most People Get the "Rebuild" Wrong
The common mistake is comparing this team to the 2024 squad that beat Drake in the Big Dance. That was a veteran group with NBA-level talent in Jaylen Wells. You can’t replicate that overnight.
What Riley is doing is building a system-dependent program. In the past, Washington State men's basketball lived or died by the occasional "superstar" recruit like Klay Thompson or Josh Hawkinson. If they didn't have a star, they won 10 games.
Riley’s system is different. It’s built on spacing and "high-IQ" passing. The ball moves. They ranked 19th in the country in assists last season. Even when they lose a game, they’re usually fun to watch, which is a massive win for a fan base that has sat through some historically boring basketball in the 2010s.
The Defensive Elephant in the Room
We have to be real here: the defense has been a problem. You can’t give up 95 points to Pacific and expect to be a serious contender.
The 2024-25 season saw the Cougs get torched on the perimeter. They were 297th in defensive rating. If Riley doesn't fix the "matador defense" in the paint, the ceiling for this program is a middle-of-the-pack WCC finish and an occasional NIT invite.
Reports from the 2025-26 practices suggest a much heavier emphasis on "rim protection." Adding guys like ND Okafor (the Cal transfer) was a direct response to getting bullied in the low post by Gonzaga’s bigs.
What’s Next for the Cougs?
The path back to the NCAA Tournament isn't as wide as it used to be. Without the "Power 5" label, WSU has to be nearly perfect in the non-conference schedule to earn an at-large bid.
Watch the schedule closely. Wins over teams like Boise State and Nevada—which they pulled off last year—are non-negotiable. They need those "Quad 1" wins because the WCC schedule only offers a few chances at them.
If you're a fan looking for a reason to be optimistic, look at the recruiting. Riley is pulling in three-star and four-star kids who fit his offensive mold. He isn't chasing "stars"; he's chasing "fits."
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Actionable Insights for Fans
- Don't judge the season by the Gonzaga games. The Zags are in a different stratosphere right now. Judge this team by how they handle Santa Clara and San Francisco. Those are the benchmarks.
- Keep an eye on the "Net Rating." In the modern game, how much you win by matters. Riley’s offense usually keeps the Net Rating high, even in losses, which helps with seeding.
- Show up to Beasley. The "Beasley Bump" is real, but it only works if the students show up. Home court advantage is the only way a team with a sub-par defense survives a long conference stretch.
The Cougs aren't a finished product, but they aren't the basement-dwellers the experts predicted they'd be after the Pac-12 dissolved. They're fast, they're global, and they're dangerous.