The Washington State Cougars men's basketball team opened their 2026-27 season with a 76-61 loss to the Davidson Wildcats.
Despite WSU (0-1) hauling in 15 offensive rebounds—32.6% of their misses—and winning the turnover battle 15-9, the offense shot just 35.3% from the field and 20.8% from beyond the arc. Jaylen Harrell led the Cougars with 13 points.
Davidson (1-0) was able to overcome those extra possessions they gave to WSU on offensive rebounds and turnovers by shooting 54.7% from the field and 52.2% from three. Stephen Curry's alma mater made him proud with that kind of shooting, especially from Sam Brown, who knocked down six three-pointers and finished with a game-high 22 points.
If it weren't for the game finally starting to stream on the WSU Cougar Athletics YouTube page in the second half, the only people who may have known what happened would be the few thousand in attendance at Beasley Coliseum. The game was originally slated to be broadcasted on the Pac-12's YouTube channel, but due to technical difficulties, that stream never appeared on the conference's YouTube.
Due to this, it's hard to give a full breakdown of what went wrong. When the game was finally available to watch, the offense didn't look much different than last year. Quick possessions, hurried shots with questionable selection, and a defense that allowed way too many open looks.
Maybe the biggest concern for WSU from this game came before tipoff. Transfer forward Ronnie Harrison was unable to play with what was reported as an ankle injury suffered before the game started. Harrison, transferring in from East Texas A&M, figures to play a big role on this WSU team. They'll hope to have him back for their next game on Saturday when they travel to play High Point.
