Four corners: Washington State Cougars

Coming up: Thursday vs. Oregon, 8 p.m. (Pac-12 Wash.); Saturday vs. Oregon State, 6 p.m. (Pac-12 Wash.)

Outlook: With the students back from break, the Cougars (8-7, 2-1 Pac-12) return home for the first time in more than two weeks to try and turn a good conference start into a great one. DaVonte Lacy and Josh Hawkinson have continued to play well against Pac-12 teams, but it has been the emergence of Jordan Railey (8.7 Pac-12 ppg), Ike Iroegbu (10.0 Pac-12 ppg) and Que Johnson (7.7 Pac-12 ppg) that has made WSU a suddenly dangerous team. First the Cougars will face Ernie Kent’s former team, Oregon, which is off to a surprisingly good start (12-4, 2-1) despite having just seven scholarship players to start the season. Then WSU will face an Oregon State (11-4, 2-1) team that was quietly winning games under first-year coach Wayne Tinkle before it got everyone’s attention with last week’s upset of No. 7 Arizona.

WSU leaders

Points: DaVonte Lacy, 17.0

Rebounds: Josh Hawkinson, 11.0

Assists: Ny Redding, 4.1

@JacobThorpeSR