The announcement was made last week
It was announced last week that Washington State will head to the 2023 Hall of Fame Tip-Off to begin the basketball season next year. The Cougs will join Mississippi State, Rhode Island, and Northwestern as the four schools invited to the tournament. The four games will be played at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
The first game is scheduled for Saturday, November 18th against Mississippi State with the winner going on to play the winner of the Rhode Island / Northwestern game that will also tip off on Saturday. The two winners will play in a championship game on Sunday with the other two schools matching up Sunday as well.
Last season, Mississippi State finished the season 21-13 and were bounced out of the NCAA Tournament the first day with a 60-59 loss to Pitt in the first four. Rhode Island finished last season 9-22 and have not had a winning season since the 2019-20 season. Northwestern had a great season last year finishing 22-12 and made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament as a #7-seed last year before eventually losing to #2-seed UCLA.
Head to head, the Cougs lead the all-time series 2-0over the Bulldogs with victories in 2008 and 2010. They are split with both the Wildcats (3-3) and the Rams (1-1) in the all-time series.
The Cougs are coming off of a disappointing 17-17 season that ended with a first round NIT loss to Eastern Washington. Head coach Kyle Smith will have plenty of rebuilding to do as they lost a lot of talent to the transfer portal or to the draft. Starting the season off with a possibility of two tournament team matchups could be a great start to the 2023-24 season.
Tickets for the games will go on sale on September 8th with start times and TV details being released around the same time.
*****
Basketball:
Cougars Selected for 2023 Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off
Washington State will participate in the 2023 Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament, Nov. 18-19 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced Tuesday.
Football:
What would the best-case scenario be for each Pac-12 team in 2023?
The Pac-12 Conference is one of the biggest question marks in college football. Cam Rising, Bo Nix, Michael Penix Jr. and Caleb Williams all returned to their respective programs.
Athletics:
Pac-12, by the numbers: Washington State among the schools making the most out of the dollars spent
Which Pac-12 athletic departments did the most with what they have? The following assesses performance in football and men’s and women’s basketball in 2022-23 against each school’s operating expenses. In other words: Wins per dollar spent.
Commentary: Will Washington State’s budget trouble surface on other campuses?
Washington State’s athletic department was in the news for all the wrong reasons earlier this week when president Kirk Schulz announced cost-saving measures designed to offset a 2023 budget deficit resulting from “tremendous headwinds.”