# 2019–20 Washington State Cougars men's basketball team

The 2019–20 Washington State Cougars men's basketball team represented Washington State University during the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team was led by first-year head coach Kyle Smith. The Cougars played their home games at the Beasley Coliseum in Pullman, Washington as members in the Pac-12 Conference. They finished the season 16–16, 6–12 in Pac-12 play to finish in 11th place. They defeated Colorado in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament and were set to face Arizona State in the quarterfinals before the remainder of the Pac-12 Tournament was cancelled amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 12, all other conference tournaments and postseason tournaments were cancelled, making the Cougars win over Colorado on March 11 the final game to be completed in the 2019–20 basketball season.

## Previous season

The Cougars finished the 2018–19 season 11–21, 4–14 in Pac-12 play to finish in 11th place. They lost in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament to the eventual tournament champion Oregon.
At the conclusion of the season, head coach Ernie Kent was fired. On March 27, 2019, the school hired former San Francisco Dons head coach Kyle Smith as the new head coach.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for Departure |
| Ahmed Ali | G | 5'11" | 160 | Senior | Toronto, ON | Transferred to Hawaiʻi |
| Davante Cooper | C | 6'11" | 235 | Senior | Atlanta, GA | Graduated |
| Viont'e Daniels | G | 6'2" | 175 | Senior | Federal Way, WA | Graduated |
| Robert Franks | F | 6'9" | 225 | Senior | Vancouver, WA | Graduated & 2019 NBA draft |
| Carter Skaggs | G | 6'5" | 215 | Junior | Logansport, IN | Graduate transferred to UNC Wilmington |
| James Streeter | C | 6'10" | 255 | Junior | Coon Rapids, MN | Transferred |
| Isaiah Wade | F | 6'8" | 210 | Junior | Minneapolis, MN | Transferred |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous school |
| Isaac Bonton | G | 6'2" | 175 | Junior | Portland, OR | Casper College |
| Daron Hansen | F | 6'8" | 190 | Junior | Mission Hills, CA | Salt Lake Community College |
| Deion James | F | 6'6" | 220 | Senior | Tucson, AZ | Colorado State University |
| Tony Miller | G | 6'6" | 215 | Junior | Woodinville, WA | University of Puget Sound |

### 2019 recruiting class

College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Volodymyr Markovetskyy C | Truskavets, Ukraine | BC Žalgiris-2 | 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) | 230 lb (100 kg) | May 15, 2019 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: N/A ||||||
| Ryan Rapp G | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | Mazenod College | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | May 3, 2019 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: N/A ||||||
| DJ Rodman F | San Juan Capistrano, CA | JSerra Catholic High School | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | May 18, 2019 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: N/A ||||||
| Noah Williams G | Seattle, WA | O'Dea High School | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 174 lb (79 kg) | May 9, 2019 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: ESPN: ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2019 Washington State Commits". Rivals.com. "Men's Basketball Recruiting". Scout.com. "ESPN- Washington State Cougars Men's Basketball Recruiting". ESPN.com. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. "2019 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 7, 2019* 6:00 pm, P12N | | Seattle | W 85–54 | 1–0 | Beasley Coliseum (2,810) Pullman, WA |
| November 12, 2019* 7:00 pm | | at Santa Clara | L 62–70 | 1–1 | Leavey Center (1,202) Santa Clara, CA |
| November 17, 2019* 1:00 pm, P12N | | Idaho State | W 72–61 | 2–1 | Beasley Coliseum (2,704) Pullman, WA |
| November 21, 2019* 4:00 pm, P12N | | Omaha Cayman Islands Classic campus-site game | L 77–85 | 2–2 | Beasley Coliseum (2,204) Pullman, WA |
| November 25, 2019* 4:30 pm, FloSports | | vs. Nebraska Cayman Islands Classic Quarterfinals | L 71–82 | 2–3 | John Gray Gymnasium (660) George Town, Cayman Islands |
| November 26, 2019* 2:00 pm | | vs. Old Dominion Cayman Islands Classic Consolation 2nd Round | W 66–50 | 3–3 | John Gray Gymnasium (406) George Town, Cayman Islands |
| November 27, 2019* 10:30 am | | vs. Colorado State Cayman Islands Classic 5th place game | L 69–79 | 3–4 | John Gray Gymnasium (1,023) George Town, Cayman Islands |
| December 4, 2019* 7:00 pm | | at Idaho Battle of the Palouse | W 78–65 | 4–4 | Cowan Spectrum (1,316) Moscow, ID |
| December 7, 2019* 12:00 pm, P12N | | vs. New Mexico State | W 63–54 | 5–4 | Spokane Arena (1,222) Spokane, WA |
| December 15, 2019* 1:30 pm, P12N | | UC Riverside | W 70–56 | 6–4 | Beasley Coliseum (1,995) Pullman, WA |
| December 19, 2019* 7:30 pm, P12N | | Florida A&M | W 87–73 | 7–4 | Beasley Coliseum (1,987) Pullman, WA |
| December 21, 2019* 4:00 pm, P12N | | Incarnate Word | W 87–59 | 8–4 | Beasley Coliseum (2,037) Pullman, WA |
| December 29, 2019* 5:00 pm, P12N | | Arkansas–Pine Bluff | W 65–50 | 9–4 | Beasley Coliseum (2,122) Pullman, WA |
| Pac-12 regular season ||||||
| January 2, 2020 7:30 pm, P12N | | USC | L 56–65 | 9–5 (0–1) | Beasley Coliseum (2,256) Pullman, WA |
| January 5, 2020 4:00 pm, P12N | | UCLA | W 79–71 | 10–5 (1–1) | Beasley Coliseum (2,825) Pullman, WA |
| January 9, 2020 7:30 pm, P12N | | at California | L 66–73 | 10–6 (1–2) | Haas Pavilion (3,953) Berkeley, CA |
| January 11, 2020 3:00 pm, P12N | | at Stanford | L 62–88 | 10–7 (1–3) | Maples Pavilion (3,526) Stanford, CA |
| January 16, 2020 6:30 pm, FS1 | | No. 8 Oregon | W 72–61 | 11–7 (2–3) | Beasley Coliseum (3,082) Pullman, WA |
| January 18, 2020 1:00 pm, P12N | | Oregon State | W 89–76 | 12–7 (3–3) | Beasley Coliseum (10,380) Pullman, WA |
| January 23, 2020 7:00 pm, P12N | | at No. 23 Colorado | L 56–78 | 12–8 (3–4) | CU Events Center (7,864) Boulder, CO |
| January 25, 2020 4:00 pm, P12N | | at Utah | L 64–76 | 12–9 (3–5) | Jon M. Huntsman Center (9,807) Salt Lake City, UT |
| January 29, 2020 8:00 pm, ESPNU | | Arizona State | W 67–65 | 13–9 (4–5) | Beasley Coliseum (2,811) Pullman, WA |
| February 1, 2020 5:00 pm, P12N | | Arizona | L 49–66 | 13–10 (4–6) | Beasley Coliseum (4,032) Pullman, WA |
| February 9, 2020 2:00 pm, ESPNU | | Washington Rivalry | W 79–67 | 14–10 (5–6) | Beasley Coliseum (4,866) Pullman, WA |
| February 13, 2020 8:00 pm, P12N | | at UCLA | L 83–86 $^{OT}$ | 14–11 (5–7) | Pauley Pavilion (5,125) Los Angeles, CA |
| February 15, 2020 5:00 pm, P12N | | at USC | L 51–70 | 14–12 (5–8) | Galen Center (4,057) Los Angeles, CA |
| February 19, 2020 7:00 pm, P12N | | California | L 57–66 | 14–13 (5–9) | Beasley Coliseum (2,860) Pullman, WA |
| February 23, 2020 3:00 pm, ESPNU | | Stanford | L 57–75 | 14–14 (5–10) | Beasley Coliseum (3,618) Pullman, WA |
| February 28, 2020 6:00 pm, FS1 | | at Washington Rivalry | W 78–74 | 15–14 (6–10) | Alaska Airlines Arena (9,131) Seattle, WA |
| March 5, 2020 7:30 pm, FS1 | | at Arizona | L 62–83 | 15–15 (6–11) | McKale Center (13,052) Tucson, AZ |
| March 7, 2020 3:30 pm, P12N | | at Arizona State | L 74–83 | 15–16 (6–12) | Desert Financial Arena (8,829) Tempe, AZ |
| Pac-12 Tournament ||||||
| March 11, 2020 8:30 pm, P12N | (11) | vs. (6) Colorado First round | W 82–68 | 16–16 | T-Mobile Arena (7,452) Paradise, NV |
| March 12, 2020 8:30 pm, FS1 | (11) | vs. (3) Arizona State Quarterfinals | Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | T-Mobile Arena Paradise, NV |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Pacific Time. ||||||