Washington State will play its second road game of the season on Tuesday night against Prairie View A&M in Prairie View, Texas.
The Pac-12 Conference’s Cougars (1-1) will try to come back from a 71-61 defeat at Boise State on Saturday night.
“You can’t have three assists and 15 turnovers and think you’re going to have a chance to win on the road,” Cougars coach Kyle Smith said.
Washington State also would be helped by shooting better. Through two games, the Cougars are shooting 43.2 percent from the field and 32.6 percent from 3-point range.
Errant shooting helped DJ Rodman, son of former NBA star Dennis Rodman, grab a career-high 14 rebounds in Saturday night’s loss to the Broncos.
“For me, if I’m not going to shoot it well, I’m going to go as hard as I can to get us extra shots, because more shots mean more opportunities to make baskets,” Rodman said.
TJ Bamba, who scored a career-high 24 points against Boise State, and Mouhamed Gueye each are averaging at least 15 points a game.
“Bamba was able to get in there and make baskets and make plays and played hard,” Smith said of the guard’s effort Saturday night. “He’s also taking on their point guard, so he’d doing double duty — he has to guard the ball and then be counted on to make some big plays.”
Talented freshman Dylan Darling, who has been sidelined with a hip injury, remains questionable to play against Prairie View A&M.
The Southwestern Athletic Conference’s Panthers (2-0) defeated NAIA member North American University 95-68 on Wednesday night.
Will Douglas and Hegel Augustin each are averaging 15.5 points per game for Prairie View A&M through the first two contests.
The Panthers are averaging 94.5 points per game and allowing 73.5 via wins against Kansas Christian College and North American. They’ve shot 50 percent from the field overall, but only 33 percent from 3-point range.
–Field Level Media