Washington State releases men’s basketball schedule

The 2012-13 Washington State men’s basketball schedule released on Thursday lacks many powerhouse teams and marquee matchups, though it does list at least one of each.

Highlighted by a trip to Kansas City to face defending national runner-up Kansas, plus a Dec. 5 home game against rival Gonzaga, the Cougars’ slate features 13 nonconference games – eight in Pullman, two in Kansas City, one in Malibu, Calif., to face Pepperdine, a game against Buffalo at KeyArena in Seattle, and a game against Idaho State in Kennewick.

WSU begins the season by hosting Eastern Washington on Nov. 10 in the first game of the CBE Classic. The Cougars travel to Kansas City on Nov. 19 for the semifinals of that tournament, facing Kansas, then either St. Louis or Texas A&M the next day. (EWU will play three games in Santa Clara, Calif., as part of the tournament: Nov. 20 vs. Utah Valley, Nov. 21 vs. South Carolina-Upstate and Nov. 23 vs. Santa Clara.)

Home games against Utah Valley, Arkansas Pine-Bluff, Idaho, Portland, Fresno State and Jackson State round out the Cougars’ nonconference schedule.

The Cougars host Washington on Jan. 5 in their Pac-12 opener. They miss Colorado and Utah on the road and won’t play Stanford or California at home.

All Pac-12 games are tentatively scheduled, since the launch of the Pac-12 Networks could affect game dates and times.

• Here’s something to be thankful for: Gonzaga opens the 2012 Old Spice Classic against Clemson on Thanksgiving night at 6 p.m. on ESPN2.

All 12 games of the tournament will be played at the HP Field House at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., near Orlando.

The game marks the second time the two men’s basketball programs have met. The Bulldogs upset the fifth-ranked Tigers 84-71 back in 1997 in the championship game of the Top of the World Classic in Fairbanks, Alaska. 

The Bulldogs are in the same bracket as Oklahoma and UTEP.

Golf

Chris Williams of Moscow, Idaho, has taken over this week’s No. 1 world ranking for amateur golfers. Williams, who plays for the University of Washington, has won the Washington State Amateur Championship this summer, and placed second in the Sahalee Players Championship.

• Trevor Fedele of Post Falls is tied for seventh at 150, eight strokes back of the leader in the boys 16-17 division, after two rounds of the Washington Junior Golf Association state championship being played on three courses in Kent and Renton. The tournament, which includes four boys and four girls age divisions, concludes today.

The top score for an area girl is Sierra Kersten of Spokane at 160, good for second place four strokes back of the leader in the 14-15 division.