David Riley's roster vanished again. He rebuilt anyway. That's PullmanPULLMAN – After David Riley wrapped up his second season at the helm of Washington State’s men’s basketball program in April, he may have felt like he was having deja vu.
For the second straight year, his entire starting five had departed. For the second straight year, he would have to rebuild an entire roster from scratch. He’d have to do it all via the transfer portal, which had claimed each of the top scorers from his first two WSU teams.
So headed into his third season, the Cougars’ basketball roster looks almost entirely brand new, as it has each of the two years that preceded it. Gone are Ace Glass and ND Okafor, two staples of last year’s WSU team, as are all but two players from that team.
Riley spent much of the spring and summer constructing the roster for this 2026-27 team, which kicks off its season Monday at home against Davidson, one of the rare nonconference games at Beasley Coliseum to open the season.
Before that happens, though, let’s revisit how Riley’s third WSU team came together, the players, the fits and how it all rounded into shape for the Cougars. The good news for Riley: In late March and early April, before the transfer portal officially opened, many of the WSU players who planned on leaving announced their plans to do so. The Cougars knew the players they would have to replace and had more time to scour the portal for new fill-ins.
That stands in stark contrast to last spring, when the players leaving WSU didn’t make that decision until after the portal opened, leaving coaches with less time to find their replacements.
WSU’s team includes 14 newcomers, including nine from the transfer portal: Texas A&M transfer wing Ronnie Harrison, Northwestern transfer forward Tyler Kropp, Providence transfer wing Jaylen Harrell, Central Missouri (D-II) transfer guard Lazerek Houston, TCU transfer guard RJ Jones, Wake Forest transfer guard Sebastian Akins, Manhattan transfer forward Fraser Roxburgh, UNLV transfer forward Ladji Dembele and Oregon transfer guard Jamari Phillips.
Riley’s third roster also includes wing Casey Jones, who last played for Riley at Eastern Washington before taking the next two years off for a church mission, as well as Spanish guard Pedro Sancho Moraga, French forward Mohamed Sankhe Golden State Prep product Roman Stathis, freshman Brayden Kyman and returners Dominik Robinson and Dio Blakely.
“We’ve got a lot of new faces, and so it’s been a really busy preseason for us, trying to get in some concepts,” Riley said in late October. “I think we simplified a few things to make sure that we’re able to play together and play hard, and I think that’s something that just takes time. And I think we’re learning those lessons. I think we have more aggression, a little more confidence than last year.”
The Cougars’ first commitment of the offseason came courtesy of Roxburgh, who came over from Manhattan College in New York City, where he started in 31 of 32 games, averaging 11 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. Roxburgh also shot 44% from the field, including 32% from beyond the arc on four attempts per game.
He figures to play a stretch four role, not unlike that of former forward Simon Hildebrandt, who played for last year’s WSU team. In Roxburgh’s commitment, it became clear that Riley and coaches value some versatility at their small forward or power forward spots.
“I think when I was still at Eastern, we were looking at him more as a three-four,” Riley said in the spring. “He’s another guy who just brings a ton of versatility to the game. Can pass, can think the game.”
WSU coaches’ second addition of the offseason came from Houston, who lit up the Division II ranks last season, averaging 20.8 points, four rebounds and five assists on 46.2% shooting, including 37% from 3-point territory. A quick ball-handler and crafty finisher, Houston’s finalists included one of WSU’s future Pac-12 opponents, Boise State.
“On my visit, it kinda felt like a family,” Houston said. “Just talking to the coaches, it wasn’t awkward. I didn’t feel like I gotta portray myself as somebody else. I felt like I could be myself, talk to them, and I just felt like it was like a good community. And I wanted to be a part of that.”
Around the same time, Riley picked up commitments from two other players who figure to play cornerstone roles on this team, Akins and Harrison. Akins started his career at Denver before playing last season at Wake Forest, where he averaged 5.3 points in 15.2 minutes per game, starting in eight games.
Harrison started his career at Tarleton State before spending last season at East Texas A&M, where he averaged 14.7 points and 6.1 rebounds in 30 minutes per game, starting 28 of 30 games. He also shot an efficient 53% inside the arc.
“Ronnie is a guy that’s super talented,” Riley said. “Bigger than he looks on film. He came up on his visit, and just a big body, strong, really just a confident player that can do a little bit of everything.”
That’s also around the same time when Riley secured a commitment from Kropp, a transfer from Northwestern, where fans seemed disappointed to lose him. Starting 10 games that season, he averaged 3.1 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.
Other staples on this WSU team figure to include Phillips and Dembele, who joined Kropp, Houston and Harrison in the Cougars’ starting lineup for their exhibition opener, a 92-64 loss to New Mexico in October. Phillips profiles as a scoring guard, while Dembele provides some physicality underneath and some upside around the arc, where he can shoot it from 3.
Can that group help Riley put a forgettable season in the rearview mirror? It might help that over the offseason, his brother, Noah, gave David a hard time. “Riley teams are soft,” he would tell him.
Whether or not that’s true, what can David do to turn around that perception this season?
“I think it starts in practice,” Riley said. “With our teams in the past that have won championships and won a lot of games, there’s been chippy practices, and it’s uncomfortable. And you walk away from practice with just a little bit of uncomfortableness because someone had to lose. I think that’s something that we’ve taken away this year.”
Riley's Third Year Brings 11 Road Games and a Jan. 3 Tip in FresnoPULLMAN – Washington State’s first men’s basketball schedule in the rebuilt Pac-12 has arrived.
In coach David Riley’s third season, the Cougars have five home nonconference games in Pullman, and their Pac-12 opener is set for Jan. 3 at Fresno State. WSU will also play 11 nonconference games away from Pullman, the program’s most since 1973-74, underscoring the ways coaches have to keep budgets in mind when building schedules in this new athletics ecosystem.
WSU has a home game on Nov. 14 against Kirkland, of the NAIA ranks, marking the Cougars’ first time hosting a non-Division-I opponent since 2015.
WSU and Gonzaga will meet in Pullman on Jan. 6, which is a Wednesday during the Cougars’ winter break, and in Spokane on Feb. 17.
In the new Pac-12, it’s become clear that teams will play primarily on Wednesdays and Saturdays, which is the case for the majority of the Cougars’ games. They have a few games set for Sunday, particularly early in the conference slate, but those will be the most prevalent game days.
It’s also now official that for the first time since 1917, WSU and rival Washington will not play a regular-season game against each other. Instead, the clubs will meet for an exhibition matchup Oct. 25 in Seattle.
The beginning of the new Pac-12 schedule won’t be easy for WSU, which faces a stretch of three of four road games: at Boise State, at home against San Diego State, then on the road to face Colorado State and Utah State, the last of which figures to be a new conference power.
The Cougars also have what figures to be a brutal two-game stretch Feb. 17 and Feb. 20, which include road games against Gonzaga and San Diego State, respectively.
The new Pac-12 Tournament is set for March 9–13 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Cougs get Duke in Palm Springs for a November showdownPULLMAN – Washington State will take on a blue blood in the opening weeks of the basketball season.
The Cougars will square off with perennial powerhouse Duke on Nov. 21 in the opening game of the Acrisure Series, at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, California. It will be the program’s first matchup with the Blue Devils.
“Participating in the Acrisure Series is always an honor,” WSU coach David Riley said via release. “It presents an incredible opportunity for our program and Cougar nation to represent Washington State on a national stage against the country’s top teams. We look forward to a competitive matchup in greater Palm Springs in front of a Crimson crowd.”
The Cougars, whose roster next season includes 12 newcomers, will get a Blue Devil team that has also replenished at key positions. Jon Scheyer’s team lost star forward Cameron Boozer, widely projected to be a lottery pick in Tuesday’s NBA draft, but they return key pieces like guards Cayden Boozer and Cameron Foster, and they’ve added transfer guard John Blackwell (Wisconsin) and big man Drew Scharnowski (Belmont). After falling in a thriller to UConn in the NCAA Tournament, Duke will be likely favorites for a national championship next season.
It’ll be a real test for Riley’s bunch, which spent this offseason restocking its entire starting five for the second straight season. The Cougars’ new transfers include guards Sebastian Akins (Wake Forest), Jaylen Harrell (Providence), Lazerek Houston (Central Missouri, D-II), RJ Jones (TCU) and Jamari Phillips (Oregon) as well as forwards Ronnie Harrison (East Texas A&M), Ladji Dembele (UNLV), Tyler Kropp (Northwestern) and Fraser Roxburgh (Manhattan).
This game is the sixth known nonconference tilt on the Cougars’ 2026-27 schedule. The others are a home game against Davidson (date TBA), a home matchup with Idaho (Nov. 27), a road game against Murray State (Nov. 30), home game against North Dakota State (Dec. 6) and a neutral-site game against Eastern Washington in Spokane (Dec. 22).
Cougars’ known nonconference slate
Vs. Davidson, date TBA
Vs. Duke (Palm Springs), Nov. 21
Vs. Idaho, Nov. 27
At Murray State, Nov. 30
Vs. North Dakota State, Dec. 6
Vs. Eastern Washington (Spokane), Dec. 22
