College Basketball Pac-12 Men's Basketball 

Stephen Vilardo’s WSU Quarterfinal NIT Stat Preview

Washington State has averaged 45 rebounds per game in the first two games of the NIT
, 2 min read
WSU's Efe Abogidi throws down a dunk during an NIT second-round game against Southern Methodist on Sunday in Dallas. | WSU Athletics

Posted on March 22, 2022


  By Stephen Vilardo, SuperWest Sports

Washington State knocked off top seed SMU over the weekend to earn just their second all-time road win in the NIT.

The Cougars are now 2-5 all-time in road games in the tournament.

If they are to earn a trip to New York for the Final Four, they will need to improve that mark to 3-5 with a trip to Provo on the horizon Wednesday night.

The win over SMU marked the first time the Mustangs had dropped a game in Dallas this season, as they were 17-0 on the year at home.

SMU’s home win streak of 19 dated back to last season and was the third-longest in the nation.

The Cougars went 23-26 from the free throw line and outscored the Mustangs by eight points from the line in the 12-point win.

Efe Abogidi finished with 12 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks, it was his 19th consecutive game with at least one blocked shot.

He now has six blocks in two NIT games this season, tying him for third-most in Cougar history in the Tournament. All those ahead of him on that list played at least five Tournament games.

Washington State has averaged 45 rebounds per game in the first two games of the NIT. The Cougars are now 17th in the nation with an offensive rebound rate of 32.7 percent.

Washington State’s Michael Flowers | WSU Athletics

The meeting with BYU will be the 11th all-time between the two schools. The series is level at five games apiece, and each team has three wins in six games played in Provo.

BYU won by 19 over Northern Iowa in their second-round matchup. That win improved BYU to 13-2 in NIT games played at the Marriott Center.

All-time, the blue-and-white Cougars are 2-1 against Pac-12 opponents at home in the NIT with wins over Washington and Arizona State.

Over the past two games for BYU, Gideon George is averaging 21.5 points per game, shooting 66.7 percent from the field, 58.3 percent from 3-point range, and 66.7 percent from the free throw line.

He led the way over UNI with 27 points, the fourth-most ever by a Cougar (BYU version) in the NIT.

BYU is looking to score 90 or more points in three consecutive NIT games for the first time since 1966 when they won the championship over New York University.

The Provo Cougars have averaged 91.5 in their first two games in the NIT.

Over the last ten game, Michael Flowers has averaged 15.6 points and 4.2 assists while shooting 85.7 percent from the foul stripe for Washington State.

Flowers went for 22 while knocking down all seven tries from the foul line against SMU.

Washington State is looking to return to the NIT Final Four for the second time ever, and the first time since 2011, with a win on Wednesday.

Stat Comparison

BYUCategoryWSU
74.7✔Scoring Offense71.6
68.1Scoring Defense✔64.9
+6.6Scoring Margin✔+6.9
.458✔Field Goal %.406
.419Field Goal % Def✔.413
.358✔3PT Field Goal %.338
.305✔3PT FG % Def.314
8.13-Pointers/Game✔9.0
.721Free Throw %✔.752
39.3✔Rebounds37.0
+7.1✔Rebounding Margin+2.0
14.7✔Assists11.3
12.6Turnovers✔11.2
-1.7Turnover Margin✔+2.8
4.9Steals✔6.3
3.2Blocks✔4.6

Follow Stephen on Twitter @StephenVilardo and his organization @SERCenter.

Visit his website at sercstats.com.



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