WSU Cougars’ Kyle Smith named Pac-12 men’s basketball Coach of Year; Myles Rice is Freshman of Year
Greg WoodsMarch 12, 2024 at 1:30 pm
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The Spokesman-Review
PULLMAN — Kyle Smith can add a line to his résumé.
Washington State’s head man was named the Pac-12 men’s basketball Coach of the Year, the conference announced Tuesday, becoming the fourth WSU coach to do so — and the first in the Pac-12 era.
Redshirt freshman Myles Rice, named the Freshman of the Year, earned First Team All-Pac-12 honors, as did senior forward Isaac Jones. Junior wing Jaylen Wells was named to the honorable mention list. Rice also landed on the All-Freshman team.
“I think it was well deserved,” said Smith, whose team finished second in the Pac-12, taking the No. 2 seed into the conference tournament this week. “Obviously, coach of the year, but you have to have good players. And we have three all-league guys, it makes coaching a lot easier to have those guys.”
Rice, the first WSU player to earn Freshman of the Year honors, scored 15.3 points per game in the regular season, the team’s second-leading scorer. He earned seven Freshman of the Week honors, the most in program history and a tie for the most in the award’s history, which started in the 2019-20 season.
Rice also is the Cougars’ all-team freshman record-holder in single-season points (473), field goals attempted (385) and steals (48). Rice scored in double figures 24 times this season, including a 35-point outing at Stanford, a WSU freshman single-game record.
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Jones, a transfer from nearby Idaho, finished the regular season as the team’s leading scorer (15.4 ppg) and rebounder (7.6 rpg). A two-time Pac-12 Player of the Week a one-time ESPN National Player of the Week, Jones surpassed 1,000 career points in two seasons of Division-I ball, helping WSU secure key wins over Arizona (twice) and Washington (once).
Jones’ and Rice’s placement on the all-conference first team also marks the first time two Cougs landed on the first team since Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver were named to the 2007 All-Pac-10 First Team.
Wells, a transfer from Division-II Sonoma State in California, averaged 12.2 points per game, including 14.6 in conference play. He scored in double figures 21 times, including 14 straight through Pac-12 play. He also knocked down the game-winning four-point play in WSU’s upset over Arizona on the road last month, totaling a career-high 27 points in that win.
“It’s neat to see them rewarded. They deserve it,” Smith said. “Sounds about right. Two and a half players — honorable mention — for a second-place team. That’s about right if you’re contending for the league.”
The tip of the spear is Smith, who has guided Washington State to one of its best seasons of all-time, heading to the NCAA tournament for the program’s first time since 2008. The Cougs, who play the winner of California and Stanford Thursday night in Las Vegas, landed three players on the all-conference list for just the fourth time in school history.
Greg Woods Washington State beat writer for The Spokesman-Review
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