Washington State Aims to Right Ship vs. Upstart Pacific Squad

The Washington State Cougars return home this week looking to bounce back in a big way as they prepare to face one of the biggest surprises in the WCC in the Pacific Tigers. Pacific currently sits alone in fourth place in the conference standings, a position few would have predicted before the season began.

At 17–11 overall, the Tigers have already secured their highest win total since the 2019–2020 season. Even more impressively, their eight wins in WCC play mark their best conference performance since the 2019-2020 season as well. After finishing near the bottom of the league in recent seasons, Pacific has made a dramatic leap forward and has become one of the most improved teams in the conference.

According to KenPom, Pacific ranks No. 104 in the country — its highest rating since 2010. To fully understand how significant that jump is, consider where the Tigers have been recently: they ranked 358th nationally just two seasons ago and 284th last year. That type of improvement in such a short span speaks to how good of a job coach Dave Smart has done.