Scouting report: Arizona Wildcats vs. Washington State Cougars

The Star's Bruce Pascoe previews game day essentials, from projected starting lineups to storylines and series history, ahead of the Arizona Wildcats' game against Washington State on Saturday. 

Game info

Who: Arizona (8-1, 2-1) at Washington State (8-0, 1-0)

Where: Beasley Coliseum, Pullman, Washington

When: Saturday, 8:30 p.m.

TV: Pac-12 Networks

Radio: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM

Social media: @TheWildcaster on Twitter / TheWildcaster on Facebook

Probable starters: Arizona

G James Akinjo (6-0 junior)

G Jemarl Baker (6-5 junior)

F Dalen Terry (6-7 freshman)

F Azuolas Tubelis (6-10 freshman)

C Jordan Brown (6-11 sophomore)

Probable starters: Washington State

G Isaac Bonton (6-3 senior)

G Noah Williams (6-5 sophomore)

F Andrej Jakimovski (6-8 freshman)

F Efe Abogidi (6-10 freshman)

C Volodymyr Markovetskyy (7-1 sophomore)

How they match up

The series: Arizona leads Washington State 66-17 overall and has only lost to the Cougars once since Klay Thompson was a WSU sophomore in 2009-10, a 69-55 shocker at McKale Center during the 2018-19 season. The Wildcats have won eight straight games in Pullman and are 15-3 overall against WSU during the Sean Miller era.

This season: The Wildcats and Cougars are scheduled to meet again on Feb. 25 at McKale Center.

Washington State overview: Already having won five more games last season under then-new coach Kyle Smith than in 2018-19, including wins over three of the Pac-12’s first four finishers, the Cougars are continuing their upswing so far this season even without star forward C.J. Elleby. They are 8-0 on a schedule of all home games so far, though games with Colorado and ASU have been postponed, leaving the Cougars with only one Pac-12 game so far, a 59-55 win over Oregon State.

Although the Cougars aren’t nearly as offensively efficient as the analytics-minded Smith would like, shooting just 45.6% from two and 32.0% from 3, they have successfully used a big front line to become the nation’s 58th most efficient defense while going on an all-home 8-0 start.

Freshman Nigerian forward Efe Abogidi is a force on both sides of the court, averaging nearly a double-double, and swatting away four shots in each of WSU’s past two games. The Cougars are also starting 7-1 Ukrainian Volodymyr Markovetskyy, giving them a much different look inside than Washington did on Thursday against the Wildcats.

Macedonian freshman Andrej Jakimovski brings versatility and size to the small forward spot, as Elleby did last season, while senior guard Isaac Bonton is the team’s top offensive threat, though he’s not efficient, shooting just 29.5% overall and 23.3% from 3-point range. Bonton also has 25 turnovers to his 25 assists.

Key player (Washington State): Efe Abogidi

In a lineup that starts two freshmen and two sophomores, Abogidi might be the biggest surprise. The big, physical forward has been a force on both sides of the court, ranking in the top 100 nationally for both offensive (12.9) and defensive (25.7) rebounding percentage while blocking 9.7% of opponents’ shots when he’s on the floor. Fouling him doesn’t work, either: Abogidi draws an average of 4.7 fouls per 40 minutes and has made 21 of 26 free throws so far.

Key player (Arizona): Azuolas Tubelis

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Tubelis again showed his progress and versatility Thursday at Washington, when he essentially acted as a point guard in transition to feed James Akinjo. The matchup with Washington State, against a number of fellow international players, suggests he’ll need force inside as much as finesse

Sidelines

Also canceled: Popcorn

Arizona’s 24-hour, COVID-restricted visit to Seattle didn’t leave UA assistant coach Jason Terry and his godson, guard Terrell Brown, a whole lot of time to reminisce or visit with family.

“It was limited,” Terry said. 

But the visit to Washington’s Alaska Airlines Arena — a venerable building still known to many as Hec Edmundson Pavilion — brought back plenty of memories for Terry, who used to sell popcorn at Husky basketball games.

“I think if the fans were there, it would have been even better,” Terry said. “But just walking those hallways and having those memories was a good feeling.”

Of course there was no popcorn being sold Thursday. Nor will there be Saturday in Pullman.

Mentally symptomatic

When Washington State coach Kyle Smith tested positive for COVID-19 late in the preseason, he reported relatively mild symptoms.

“I had about 36 hours of what I would call mild flu-like symptoms — headache, chills, fatigue,” Smith said. “ I was lucky. I didn’t have that much more than that. No fever. But I got it. Tried to be very diligent.”

The worst part for Smith was that the whole work-from-home thing didn’t really sit too well with him. He watched practices remotely, addressing the players beforehand via computer and then texting his basketball operations assistant with instructions during practices.

“Like a big brother,” Smith said, laughing. “I just kind of went over things, and I just kind of watched … it’s just frustrating. You’re not there.”

Smith was cleared just in time to coach the Cougars on Nov. 25 against Texas Southern, allowing him to mix with players in the way he craves.

“I’m a social being,” Smith said. “It’s just really, really hard on me personally. Now if I had a job where I can work from home, I’m used to that and still getting paid? I think you’re OK. But we’re socially face to face. Meeting with people is an important part of our job.”

COVID Cougs

When ASU pulled out of its game Thursday at Washington State because of COVID-19 issues, it was pretty much a normal day for the Cougars, whose interruptions have included have missing players to contact tracing, getting opponents to skip out, and dealing with Smith’s illness.

“We’ve touched every base,” Smith said, chuckling. “We’ve had injuries, surgeries, COVID, but we’ve kept it together. Our guys had a good attitude.”

Among other things, the Cougars also had a false positive test throw them off, leading to a postponed game against Colorado, while another player looked like he might be false negative.

“We had a guy that just had the flu,” Smith said. “Never really had symptoms, and he tested negative five times, all that good stuff. It was just the flu.”

The Cougars are also dealing with sorting out an overwhelmingly young rotation. The Cougars rank just 311 out of 357 Division I teams in Kenpom.com’s experience rating, which weighs the experience of each player on a roster by minutes played.

It helps that the Cougars have played all eight games at home, none against a team ranked in Kenpom’s Top 100.

“Obviously our schedule hasn’t been that demanding but we’ve got seven newcomers and six freshmen,” Smith said. “I just wish we could have eight guys who are playing together.”

Numbers game

7.2

Fouls Isaac Bonton draws per 40 minutes (though he makes only two-thirds of his free throws).

9

straight WSU wins, the longest streak in the Pac-12, counting the last fully played game in college basketball last season —  the Cougars’ first-round Pac-12 Tournament win over Colorado.

14

years since UA pulled in as many as the 58 rebounds the Wildcats did at Washington, having last done so against Houston on Dec. 17, 2006.