1988–89 Washington State Cougars men's basketball team

The 1988–89 Washington State Cougars men's basketball team represented Washington State University for the 1988–89 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Led by second-year head coach Kelvin Sampson, the Cougars were members of the Pacific-10 Conference and played their home games on campus at Beasley Coliseum in Pullman, Washington.

1988–89 Washington State Cougars men's basketball
Conference	Pacific-10
Record	10–19 (4–14 Pac-10)
Head coach	Kelvin Sampson (2nd season)
Assistant coaches	Dave Harshman Kim Motta [1]
Home arena	Beasley Coliseum
Seasons ← 1987–88 1989–90 →

1988–89 Pacific-10 Conference
men's basketball standings

	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 1 Arizona †	17	–	1		.944			29	–	4		.879
No. 13 Stanford	15	–	3		.833			26	–	7		.788
UCLA	13	–	5		.722			21	–	10		.677
Oregon State	13	–	5		.722			22	–	8		.733
California	10	–	8		.556			20	–	13		.606
Washington	8	–	10		.444			12	–	16		.429
Arizona State	5	–	13		.278			12	–	16		.429
Washington State	4	–	14		.222			10	–	19		.345
Oregon	3	–	15		.167			8	–	21		.276
USC	2	–	16		.111			10	–	22		.313
† Conference tournament winner As of April 15, 1989[2] Rankings from AP poll

The Cougars were 9–18 overall in the regular season and 4–14 in conference play, eighth in the standings.^[1][3][4]

At the conference tournament, the Cougars defeated ninth seed Oregon by 22 points in the first round.^[5][6][7] In the quarterfinal against top-ranked Arizona, the Cougars fell by eight points.^[8][9][10]

Postseason results

Date time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Pacific-10 Tournament
Thu, March 9 7:00 pm	vs. (9) Oregon First round	W 78–56	10–18	Great Western Forum (4,830) Inglewood, California
Fri, March 10 3:00 pm	vs. No. 1 (1) Arizona Quarterfinal	L 54–62	10–19	Great Western Forum (7,195) Inglewood, California
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Pacific time.

References

1. Bergum, Steve (March 9, 1989). "Cougars believe they have a chance". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. D2.
2. "2017-18 Men's Basketball Media Guide". Pac-12 Conference. p. 72. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
3. Meehan, Jim (March 8, 1989). "WSU looks to drown Ducks". Idahonian. (Moscow). p. 7A.
4. Clark, Bob (March 9, 1989). "Ducks open with Cougs in tourney". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1D.
5. "Duck soup: Cougars feast". Idahonian. (Moscow). March 10, 1989. p. 1B.
6. Bergum, Steve (March 10, 1989). "Cougs down Ducks in Pac-10 opener". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. C1.
7. Clark, Bob (March 10, 1989). "WSU makes it final for Ducks". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1C.
8. Bergum, Steve (March 11, 1989). "Cougars give Arizona a scare". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. B1.
9. "Cougars nearly topple 'Cats". Idahonian. (Moscow). March 11, 1989. p. 1D.
10. Clark, Bob (March 11, 1989). "'Cats survive a scare from WSU". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 4C.

External links

• Sports Reference – Washington State Cougars: 1988–89 basketball season