Cougs are officially headed back to Kyle Smith's old stomping grounds

Dec. 23—With their top four scorers from last season gone and an uncertain conference future, it would've been easy for the Washington State men's basketball team and its fans to panic heading into this season.

Suddenly, things aren't looking so bad.

The Cougars are 9-2 going into conference play, just earned arguably the biggest nonconference win of sixth-year coach Kyle Smith's tenure against Boise State and found a solid home for the next two years.

Not a bad scenario for a team that was picked to finish near the bottom of the Pac-12 Conference in its final season as a 12-team league.

10 WSU sports to play in West Coast Conference

Smith is officially headed back to his old stomping grounds.

The West Coast Conference on Friday confirmed WSU will join the league in 10 sports for the next two years while the Cougars and Oregon State Beavers work behind the scenes to rebuild the Pac-12.

WSU will join WCC in men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's golf, rowing, soccer, tennis and volleyball.

Smith is no stranger to the WCC, where he coached at San Francisco for three years in 2016-19, earning at least 20 wins every season despite having to battle against Gonzaga year in and year out. Smith was also an assistant in the league at Saint Mary's for a decade from 2001-10.

"That's my nightmare — we're back," Smith said with a laugh when asked about the WCC and the Zags of Spokane. "I thought we escaped but they reeled me back in. God has a plan, baby."

In addition to Gonzaga, USF and Saint Mary's, the WCC is home to San Diego, Santa Clara, Loyola Marymount, Portland, Pacific and Pepperdine.

"It's a funky time," Smith said. "It's a great basketball league. Nobody knows it better than me. Just the irony of it is pretty funny."

WSU football is already slated to play in the Mountain West Conference next season. Track and field, swimming and baseball are still searching for temporary homes.

"As we explore long-term solutions for the Pac-12 Conference and Washington State University, we appreciate Commissioner Stu Jackson and the West Coast Conference for their partnership in providing 10 of our programs affiliate membership,"WSU athletic director Pat Chun said in a news release. "The WCC allows an opportunity for our 10 teams to have access to championships as well as high-level competition."

Victory over BSU a pivotal win for Cougs

WSU's 66-61 victory against the Broncos (8-4) on Thursday at Spokane Arena showed that the Cougars (9-2) might be far better than they were predicted to be when they were picked by the media to finish 10th in the Pac-12 this season.

BSU was an NCAA tournament team each of the last two seasons. It also beat WSU both seasons.

Now, Smith finally has a win against coach Leon Rice's Broncos.

After the win, Smith shared a story about how Rice actually offered him his first coaching job decades earlier when Rice was an assistant at NCAA Division II Northern Colorado in the early 1990s.

"I'm forever grateful for that," Smith said. "He's always been very kind to me and this is the first time I think we've beat him."

Jones, Rice have Cougars rolling

Between the play of Idaho transfer forward Isaac Jones and freshman point guard Myles Rice, the Cougars are in good hands.

The quick rise of the newcomer and the first-year player have helped ease the growing pains during the nonconference slate.

Jones had 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting and Rice had 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting in the win against Boise State. The duo are averaging a combined 31.1 points per game this season.

To top it off, senior guard Jabe Mullins had his best game of the season against the Broncos. The 3-point specialist had 13 points and went 3-of-7 from beyond the arc.

The Cougars will open Pac-12 play Dec. 29 at Utah (9-2).

"We lost a lot off of last year but I felt like our staff did a great job of bringing in great talent," Smith said. "Our culture is really good (and they're putting it) together quickly. Differently this year, we had a lot of home games and there's some positives with that where you get to identify your roles a little easier, you have some success build some confidence."

Wiebe may be contacted at (208) 848-2260, swiebe@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @StephanSports.