Ronnie Harrison
Wazzu keeps Ronnie Harrison in one place: 3 stories so far. The section currently leads with “Cougs and Redhawks to clash at Climate Pledge in December doubleheader”, “Cougs add a 6-8 forward who likes to score”, and “Another big body joins the Cougs as Ladji Dembele signs on”. David Riley is doing something smart: getting the Cougs back in front of the Seattle crowd. The Cougs just added a 6-8 forward who likes to score, and that's a good thing for a roster that lost 12 players. The unofficial read for people who left Pullman and stayed Cougs. The list below is every Ronnie Harrison story on Wazzu, newest first.
Cougs and Redhawks to clash at Climate Pledge in December doubleheader
David Riley is doing something smart: getting the Cougs back in front of the Seattle crowd. On Dec. 19, Wazzu meets Seattle U at Climate Pledge Arena as part of a doubleheader that also features UW and Baylor. That's a good night of hoops in a building that deserves it. This is the third meeting in two seasons between the Cougs and Redhawks. They split last year, Seattle U won 69-55 at home, WSU answered 70-58 in Pullman. Those games had some juice. Riley and Seattle U coach Chris Victor worked together at Eastern Washington, and last season they even ran the same first play. Riley called it funny. He's right. That kind of history makes a mid-December game feel like more than a tune-up. Riley's roster is almost entirely new, 13 newcomers, including transfers from TCU, Wake Forest, UNLV, and Oregon. That's a lot of new faces to gel before conference play. A game like this, in front of Coug fans west of the mountains, is a chance to build something. For more on the schedule and what's ahead, check out our coverage of WSU and Gonzaga closing league play. That one's a Wednesday night showdown worth circling. Go Cougs.
Cougs add a 6-8 forward who likes to score
The Cougs just added a 6-8 forward who likes to score, and that's a good thing for a roster that lost 12 players. Ronnie Harrison, out of East Texas A&M, put up 14.7 points and 6.1 boards last season, shooting 53% inside the arc. He's not a three-point gunner, 30% from deep, but he gets buckets from everywhere else. He also blocks shots and picks pockets, so the two-way stuff is there. Harrison is the fourth addition this spring for David Riley and his staff. He joins Manhattan's Fraser Roxburgh, TCU's RJ Jones, and Central Missouri's Lazerek Houston, who averaged over 20 points as a true freshman. That's some serious scoring depth. Harrison mostly played power forward and center for the Lions, so he gives Riley flexibility up front. The Cougs are essentially rebuilding. Of last season's team, only Dominik Robinson and walk-on Dio Blakely return. Ace Glass is gone to the SEC, and we wrote about that in "Ace Glass trades Crimson for Gold as fourth Coug exits Pullman." That one stung, but Harrison is the kind of get that helps you move on. He's a Dallas kid who started at Tarleton State before finding his groove at East Texas A&M. He became their top scorer in a hurry. Now he's a Coug. For a team that needed bodies and buckets, this is a solid pickup. Go Cougs.
Another big body joins the Cougs as Ladji Dembele signs on
Ladji Dembele is a 6-foot-8, 255-pound forward who played five games for UNLV last year because of an injury. He's now a Coug. That makes eight offseason commitments for David Riley, and this one looks like the first true big man in the group. Dembele spent two years at Iowa before that, starting 21 games his second season, and he played for Mali's U-19 team at the 2021 World Cup. He's from Newark, originally, by way of Mali and Spain. The guy has been around. What matters here is what Riley is building. The Cougs lost 12 players, including 10 to the transfer portal. Ace Glass is at Vanderbilt. Eemeli Yalaho is headed to NC State. ND Okafor to Ole Miss. That's a lot of turnover. But Riley keeps signing bodies. Tyler Kropp is listed at 6-9 but has a thinner frame, so Dembele gives them the center they needed. That matters when you're starting almost from scratch. We wrote the other day about Jamari Phillips coming in from Oregon, and about Riley saying this roster has more talent walking in than last year's. That quote ages well with each signing. Dembele isn't a star on paper, 5.2 points at UNLV, 4.5 at Iowa, but he's a veteran who has played Power 4 minutes and knows what a real frontcourt looks like. For a team that returns two players, that kind of experience is worth more than the stat line. Go Cougs.