A trip to The Garden on the line, Cougs take on BYU Wednesday
at (2) BYU (24-10) | Wed., March 23 | 7 pmMT | Marriot Center
Live Stats | StatBroadcast
Watch | ESPN2 (Dave Feldman & Perry Clark)
Listen | WSU Learfield Radio Network (Matt Chazanow & Craig Ehlo)
OPENING FIVE
> For the third time in six NIT appearances the Cougs are headed to the Third Round as they take on BYU Wednesday in Provo for the right to go to Madison Square Garden. WSU and BYU face off for the 11th time all-time and the first time since 2005. Remarkably the Cougs are 3-3 all-time in Provo including winning the last two in 1997 and 1985
> The Cougs defeated SMU in Round 2 in Dallas knocking off the 1-seed and handing the Mustangs their first home loss of the season, snapping the nation's 3rd longest home win streak. The road win was just the second all-time on the road in the NIT for the Cougs.
> In two games in the NIT the Cougs have been dominant on the glass posting team records for rebounds in back-to-back games including a 46 rebound effort at SMU. It's been their presence on the offensive glass grabbing 27 o-boards leading to 27 second-chance points.
> Michael Flowers enters the game just 2 three-pointers shy of tying Klay Thompson's (2011) single-season three-point record of 98.
> Defensively the Cougs have allowed 64.9 points per game and are 27th in the country in defensive rating at 93.4 per 100 possessions. (DI average of 102.9). Efe Abogidi leads the way with a defensive rating of 90.2.
WSU IN THE NIT
The Cougs enter the third round of the NIT for the third time in six tournament appearances and for the first time since 2011. All time at the NIT the Cougs are 9-5 including going 3-1 in 2011 as the WSU, led by Klay Thompson, played its way to the semifinals, defeating Long Beach State, Oklahoma State, and Northwestern before falling to Wichita State.
The Cougs opened the 2022 tournament with an impressive 63-50 win over Santa Clara at home at Beasley Coliseum. All-time the Cougs are 7-0 at home in the NIT. On Sunday the Cougs took down 1-seed SMU, 75-63, in Dallas, handing the Mustangs their first loss at home in 2021-22. The win was just the second on the road in the NIT for the Cougs and the first since 1995.
On the road WSU is 2-4 in the NIT.
In back-to-back games the Cougs have dominated the glass grabbing NIT game records for rebounds with 44 against Santa Clara and 46 against SMU.
Against SMU the Cougs went 23-of-26 from the line - 3rd most FT makes in an NIT game for WSU and the best shooting percentage (88.5%) in the tournament all-time
THE KYLE SMITH EFFECT - FAST FACTS ABOUT THE 2021-22 COUGS
- First 20-win season since 2011 (8th 20 win season since the Pac formed in 1968-69)
- Back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2010-11 and 2011-12
- First winning season in Pac-12 play (11-9) since 2007-08 (13th time since the Pac formed)
- First top-5 finish in Pac-12 play since 2007-08
- First postseason berth since 2011
- First postseason ROAD victory since 1995 (defeated SMU in Dallas in the NIT 2nd Round)
- Largest win in program history over Idaho defeating their Palouse rival 109-61, Nov. 18, 2021 (third largest margin of victory in program history all-time)
- First win in Salt Lake City over Utah, 77-61 (Jan. 8, 2022) since 1946
- First sweep of the season series against the Utes all-time
- First Cougar team to beat Utah and Colorado in a home weekend sweep (Jan. 2022)
- First win at Stanford (66-60, Feb. 3, 2022) since 2011
- First sweep the Bay Area Schools on the road (Feb. 2022) since the 1993 season
- First Pac-12 team since 2014-15 to hold multiple conference opponents under 45 points in the same season (29 at ASU, 43 vs Colorado)
- Have allowed less than 60 points or less 11 times on the year and are 9-2 in those games.
- 315 made three-pointers the second most all-time – 933 attempts the most all-time
- program record 160 team blocks
FLOWERS CHASING KLAY
Coming in as one of the best shooters in the country, Michael Flowers is chasing legendary status as the 5th year sniper has the Klay Thompson's WSU single-season three-point record in sight.
Flowers enters the game needing just 2 more three-pointers to tie Klay's record of 98 three-pointers in a season set in 2011.
Flowers became just the third Coug all-time with 90+ three pointers in a single season and currently sits 2nd all-time with 96 three-pointers
He posted the Cougs' first 30-point game of the year at Washington while tying a career high with 7 made three-pointers.
He is 1st in the Pac in 3pt shooting at 2.7 per game on 37.5% shooting. He has a True Shooting% of 56.1%.
Flowers saw his streak of 36-straight games with at least one three-pointer, including every game at WSU, come to an end against UCLA in the Pac-12 Tournament as he went 0-for-8 from deep. He has made a 3 in 34 of 35 games as a Coug.
He has posted an offensive rating of 116.6.
Of eligible FT shooters Flowers is 2nd in the Pac-12 at 86.0% (79-93).
CAREER- Flowers has scored 2,202 points including hitting 329 three-pointers (both would be WSU records). He currently ranks 8th among all active DI players in scoring.
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