The Washington State Cougars (6-9, 7-8 ATS, 5-10 O/U) take on the Arizona State Sun Devils (11-3, 8-5-1 ATS, 5-9 O/U) in a PAC-12 battle on Thursday night. The Cougars collected their first conference win by defeating USC last time out. The Sun Devils lost to Arizona on Saturday. Each squad recorded a win in last year's two meetings.
The Washington State Cougars enter this one with confidence. They lost their first three conference games including an overtime loss to Utah and found the win column with a solid 81-71 home victory against USC on Sunday to snap a three-game losing streak. Washington State lost road decisions to Hawaii and Utah State during that three-game slide. The Cougars have covered the spread in two out of their last five games.
TJ Bamba has connected on 40% or fewer of his field goals in three consecutive games. The junior guard recorded 19 points in a loss to Utah State late last month and leads the squad with 15.9 PPG on 44% shooting. Mouhamed Gueye has surpassed 20 points in two out of his last five clashes. The sophomore forward has six double-doubles and has reported an average of 13.7 PPG and 8.6 RPG. Jabe Mullins collected 16 points in Sunday’s victory. The junior guard has filed an average of 1 1.7 PPG on a 47% mark from the field.
Andrej Jakimovski with a pair of made triples here today! A big one to put the Cougs up 15!
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??https://t.co/uE2vj0CGoJ#GoCougs | #WAZZU pic.twitter.com/oJJnqphgN9— WSU Men's Basketball (@WSUCougarMBB) January 1, 2023
Washington State is positioned 69th in the country in Ken Pomeroy’s ratings and has yet to earn a win on the road where they stand at 0-3 including a loss to Oregon. The Cougars have reached 80 points three times this season and are posting an average of 69.3 points, landing them 250th. They are conceding an average of only 65.7 points, positioning them 103rd in DI.