It will be a milestone moment when visiting Washington State tips off against rival Washington on Wednesday night in Seattle.
The teams will be meeting for the 300th time, the ninth-most in NCAA Division I history. It will be a nonconference game, as Washington has joined the Big Ten and Washington State is playing in the West Coast Conference until the Pac-12 is reassembled.
Washington State (9-2) has won three consecutive games, including a 91-78 victory against Missouri State on Saturday, but it has been hit hard by injuries.
Cedric Coward, who led the Cougars with 17.7 points per game, will miss the rest of the season along with fellow guard Marcus Wilson after both underwent shoulder surgery this week.
Meanwhile, forward Rihards Vavers will “most likely” miss the rest of the season after breaking bones in both of his hands, WSU coach David Riley said.
Nate Calmese, a transfer from Washington, is averaging 15.5 points, 4.5 assists and 2.1 steals for the Cougars, and LeJuan Watts adds 13.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.
“I think they’ve rallied around each other and really started to understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses, which has allowed them to play a little more confident,” Riley said, per The Spokesman-Review.
The Huskies (7-3) rallied from a pair of conference losses by defeating Eastern Washington 87-69 on Dec. 10, with Mekhi Mason scoring a season-high 23 points and making 5 of 7 3-point attempts in his return to the starting lineup.
“I’m really proud of Mekhi, because I challenged him a lot the last month. Took him out of the starting lineup. Got after him and he’s coming out of the other side of that now,” Huskies coach Danny Sprinkle said. “Really proud of how he’s handled that adversity.”
Sprinkle said Mason’s 3-point accuracy opened up the rest of the offense for the Huskies, who shot a season-best 60.7 percent from the field against the Eagles.
“The 3-point shooting is one of the things we’ve been struggling with a little bit, but we all know we’re all great shooters,” Mason said. “This game just proved it.”
