WSU Men's Basketball Releases Strong Non-Conference Schedule

WSU men's basketball recently released the non-conference schedule for the 2025-2026 basketball season. In this post I will be using Bart Torvik’s preseason rankings when talking about teams preseason projections. Obviously these are just preseason rankings and should be taken with a grain of salt but it is a good way to measure where each team is heading into the season. 


The Cougs will open up the season with a home rivalry game against Idaho. They will then travel to play an away game against Davidson. An away game against Davidson should be a really good test for this team, Bart Torvik has Davidson ranked at number 161 heading into the season. While this number shows them to be a middle of the road mid major, a cross country away game to start the season certainly presents a unique challenge. 


The next big test on the schedule comes with a November 14th home game against UW. Unfortunately UW projects to be a much improved basketball team this year. Bart Torvik has them ranked number 48 in his preseason rankings. After the UW game WSU will host Southern Utah before heading off to Maui for the Maui Invitational. 


Depending on who you ask WSU either got extremely lucky or extremely unlucky in who they drew for their first opponent in Maui. David Riley and the team will open the Maui Invitational against Division 2 opponent Chaminade. Assuming they win that game they would play the winner of the ASU VS Texas game.


ASU is ranked number 70 in Bart Torvik's preseason rankings and Texas is ranked number 36. Beating either of those teams would be huge towards vying for an at-large NCAA tournament berth. WSU will play a final game in the Maui Invitational but it is hard to predict who that game might be against. 


After the Maui Invitational WSU will have six days off before playing an away game against Bradley. WSU had an impressive home win against Bradley last year. Bradley is ranked at 108 which is 35 spots ahead of where WSU lands in the preseason rankings. This will be another tough away game against a really good mid major program. 


After Braldey, WSU comes back to Pullman for a Sunday home game against Nevada. Nevada is a very solid basketball school and should be a tough matchup this year. Nevada starts the season ranked 12 spots ahead of WSU. A very short handed WSU team beat Nevada last year. 


A week after playing Nevada in Pullman WSU will head to L.A. to play USC. This game has the potential to be the toughest on the non-conference schedule. USC is ranked 25th in Bart Torvik’s preseason rankings. USC will have a lot of talent but I don't think I have to remind WSU fans about the 2-0 series sweep in 2023! WSU will finish the non-conference slate with a game in Spokane against Eastern Washington and then a game in Pullman against Mercer. 


IF WSU can win some of these key non-conference games they could set themselves up to earn an at-large bid with a top 3 or 4 finish in the WCC.


Comments

  1. ZeppyfishAugust 21, 2025 at 11:28 PM

    So hard to predict the Cougs' b-ball team this season. It doesn't feel like they're bringing a whole lot back, but you never know with transfers. I lost a lot of faith in Riley last year when things imploded down the stretch, but I guess he's young and still learning. Hopefully playing games in Europe and hanging out with Klay Thompson will inspire these kids. I don't have big expectations, but I would hope to at least be over .500 for the year.

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