PULLMAN — When David Riley became Washington State’s new head basketball coach this spring, he had a lot on his plate. Could he hold together an NCAA Tournament squad? How would the Cougars fare as affiliate members of the West Coast Conference? Who would replace departing players?

Shortly after facing those questions, Riley posed a question to the administration that hired him: How could WSU keep rival Washington on schedule, even if it was a non-conference game?

“We have to keep this thing alive,” Riley told them.

“I think that’s something we have with all these Northwest teams, is making sure we’re doing the right thing by doing what I think is good for college basketball and playing these local teams.” said Riley. “I think it’s just a damn good game.”

Riley got his wish. Over the summer, WSU and UW agreed to a home-and-home series for the next two seasons. The teams’ first game is Wednesday at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle, where the Cougars and Huskies face off at 8 p.m

For the new head coaches of both teams, it is the first meeting in the rivalry. It’s the debut for UW coach Danny Sprinkle, who previously spent a season at Utah State, as well as Riley, who has been Eastern Washington’s head coach for three years. The No. 300 all-time meet is also the first of its kind as UW is now part of the Big Ten and WSU will play as a WCC affiliate member for the next two years.

After splitting last year’s series – the Cougars won in Seattle and the Huskies won in Pullman – the teams now face a new kind of matchup. UW (7-3) is coming off a home win against EWU after road setbacks against USC and UCLA had given. At No. 119 in the NCAA NET rankings, Washington has three players scoring in double figures, led by veteran big man Great Oobor at 14.1 points per game.

UW, whose guard Tyler Harris also scored 13.4 points and freshman guard Zoom Diallo scored 10.1 points, has victories over UC Davis, Seattle Pacific, UMass Lowell, Alcorn State, Colorado State and Santa Clara. The Huskies’ other loss came against Nevada.

UW has a slightly smaller lineup, at least early in games. The bigs, Oobor and Harris, are both listed at 6-foot-8. Small forward Mehki Mason has a 6-5 record, guard DJ Davis has a 6-1 record and point guard Tyree Ihenaco has some size at 6-4. Still, the Huskies posted a 27% offensive rebounding rate, 91st nationally, backing up what Riley noted about the group on film.

“Overall, it’s her physicality,” Riley said. “I think they tend to be the more physical team in the games they’ve won. No. 2 is that they are very disruptive on defense. They do a great job of confusing defenses and traps as well as ball screen coverages and zones. So I think – are we going to be able to adjust that offensively and are we going to be able to physically answer the bell and be ready to fight?”

The Cougars (9-2) have been up to the task lately. With three straight wins, including key road wins over Nevada and Boise State last week, WSU has made do with an undermanned roster. Star winger Cedric Coward, who averaged 17.7 points and 7.0 rebounds in six games this season, will miss the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery for a shoulder injury. Guard Marcus Wilson and transfer wing Rihards Vavers are also out for the season.

It didn’t seem to bother the Cougars. Guard Nate Calmese, who played at UW last year, led the way with 15.5 points per game. Four of his teammates also average double figures: winger LeJuan Watts at 13.0, defenseman Isaiah Watts at 12.8 and forwards Dane Erikstrup at 12.5 and Ethan Price at 10.5.

They were instrumental in the Cougs’ rise to No. 67 in the NET rankings based on multiple NCAA Tournament predictions from national publications. WSU converts 59.9% of its shots from inside the arc, ranking 12th nationally. With an effective field goal percentage of 56.7, the Cougars rank 36th nationally in this category.

The reason for this lies in Riley’s open attack, which relies less on set pieces and more on the players’ ability to read and react. The Cougars may have struggled with turnovers — their 14.7 per game ranks 327th nationally — but they’ve also managed it.

They score enough points to make up for it. Calmese has scored in double figures in five of his last six games, and Seattle native Isaiah Watts has done so in three straight games. Watts scored 20 points against Missouri State and shot 4 of 7 on 3-pointers, increasing his season 3-point percentage to 40.9%.

Riley pointed out that WSU ran more sets on offense last season under Kyle Smith-coached staff, which helped Watts understand when and where his shots would land. That’s not the case with Riley, who runs sets but also trusts his guys to make their own decisions.

“For him now, I want him to be a complete player,” Riley said. “I want him to put pressure on the rim early in the game and early in the possession. Of course, I always want him to get it done when he gets a little bit of spacing, but it’s just about finding the balance and understanding when to make those early transition threes, when to attack the paint, and that’s a Process.”

For his part, Sprinkle didn’t feel the same way about maintaining the rivalry game. In a press conference on Monday, the Washington native praised the WSU team but also indicated that the game wasn’t that important to him.

“It’s a rivalry. I didn’t care that much about staying on schedule,” Sprinkle said. “It’s important for a lot of other people. They were always good. It’s going to be a really tough game.”