The 2019–20 Washington State Cougars men's basketball team represented

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...

during the

2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 5, 2019. The first tournament was the 2K Sports Classic and the season concluded prematurely on March 12, 2020. The 2020 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament was sch ...

. The team was led by first-year head coach Kyle Smith. The Cougars played their home games at the

Beasley Coliseum Beasley Coliseum is a general-purpose indoor arena in the northwest United States, located on the campus of Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. The home venue for both the Cougars men's and women's basketball teams of the Pac-12 C ...

Pullman, Washington Pullman () is the largest city in Whitman County, located in southeastern Washington within the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. The population was 29,799 at the 2010 census, and estimated to be 34,506 in 2019. Originally founded as Thr ...

as members in the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

. They finished the season 16–16, 6–12 in Pac-12 play to finish in 11th place. They defeated

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament and were set to face

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

in the quarterfinals before the remainder of the Pac-12 Tournament was cancelled amid the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. On March 12, all other conference tournaments and postseason tournaments were cancelled, making the Cougars win over Colorado on March 11 the final game to be completed in the 2019–20 basketball season.

Previous season

The

Cougars The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. I ...

finished the 2018–19 season 11–21, 4–14 in Pac-12 play to finish in 11th place. They lost in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament to the eventual tournament champion

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. At the conclusion of the season, head coach

Ernie Kent Ernest Kent (born January 22, 1955)GoDucks.com E ...

was fired. On March 27, 2019, the school hired former

San Francisco Dons The San Francisco Dons is the nickname of the athletic teams at the University of San Francisco (USF). The Dons compete in NCAA Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as members of the West Coast Conference (WCC), of w ...

head coach Kyle Smith as the new head coach.

Offseason

Departures

Incoming transfers

2019 recruiting class

Roster

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=9 style=, Non-conference regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, Pac-12 regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, Pac-12 Tournament

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2019-20 Washington State Cougars men's basketball team

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

Washington State Cougars men's basketball seasons