WSU picks up commitment from former UW guard Nate Calmese
PULLMAN – Washington State’s newest men’s basketball player comes from the program’s biggest rival.
The Cougars on Friday landed a commitment from former Washington guard Nate Calmese, according to multiple reports, picking up a former three-star prospect who played sparingly in one season with the Huskies.
The 6-foot-2 Calmese played his true freshman season at Lamar, where he averaged 17.6 points per game and shot 37% from beyond the arc, including 40% in Southland Conference play. He also grabbed 1.2 steals per game and shot an efficient 55% inside the arc.
He transferred to UW, where his playing time dried up. Last season, he appeared in 16 games, scoring 4.1 points for the 17-15 Huskies, who downed WSU in the teams’ regular-season finale in Pullman. Calmese did not play in that game, and he played just 8 minutes in the earlier rivalry clash in Seattle, where the Cougars won in an overtime thriller.
Calmese, a native of the Phoenix area, fielded offers from Nevada, UC Santa Barbara and Lamar out of high school, choosing the Cardinals. He entered the transfer portal soon after that season ended and wound up at UW.
At WSU, Calmese figures to compete for the starting point guard job, which is up for grabs in the wake of former guard Myles Rice’s departure for Indiana. One of the two Cougars from last season who stayed on the team, guard Parker Gerrits, will also likely be in the mix. Gerrits took a redshirt last season, his true freshman year.
Calmese’s commitment makes eight offseason additions for new WSU coach David Riley, who also secured a pledge on Tuesday from Iceland guard Tomas Thrastaron. The other six include Eastern Washington transfers LeJuan Watts, Ethan Price and Dane Erikstrup; Cal transfer ND Okafor; Quinnipiac transfer Rihard Vavers; and Lapwai (Idaho) High guard Kase Wynott, who flipped from Utah State.
Riley is using those additions to help fill the void left by the 12 former Cougs who have entered the portal, including Rice (Indiana); wing Andrej Jakimovski (Colorado); centers Oscar Cluff (South Dakota State), Rueben Chinyelu (Florida) and walk-on AJ LaBeau (Cornell); guards Jabe Mullins (Montana State), Dylan Darling (Idaho State) and Joseph Yesufu (West Virginia); and wing Kymany Houinsou (Loyola Chicago).
The only Cougars still in the portal include forwards AJ Rohosy and Spencer Mahoney, the latter of whom has announced he’s received offers from UCF and Cal. Senior wing Jaylen Wells is also in the portal, but with a spot at the ongoing NBA draft combine, he appears to be set on the draft process.