1987–88 Washington State Cougars men's basketball team

The 1987–88 Washington State Cougars men's basketball team represented Washington State University for the 1987–88 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Led by first-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.

1987–88 Washington State Cougars men's basketball
Conference	Pacific-10
Record	13–16 (7–11 Pac-10)
Head coach	Kelvin Sampson (1st season)
Assistant coaches	Dave Harshman Kim Motta
Home arena	Beasley Coliseum
Seasons ← 1986–87 1988–89 →

1987–88 Pacific-10 Conference
men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 2 Arizona †	17	–	1		.944			35	–	3		.921
Oregon State	12	–	6		.667			20	–	11		.645
UCLA	12	–	6		.667			16	–	14		.533
Stanford	11	–	7		.611			21	–	12		.636
Oregon	10	–	8		.556			16	–	14		.533
Washington State	7	–	11		.389			13	–	16		.448
Arizona State	6	–	12		.333			13	–	16		.448
USC	5	–	13		.278			7	–	21		.250
California	5	–	13		.278			9	–	20		.310
Washington	5	–	13		.278			10	–	19		.345
† Conference tournament winner As of April 15, 1988^[1] Rankings from AP Poll

The Cougars were 12–15 overall in the regular season and 7–11 in conference play, sixth in the standings.^[2][3]

At the conference tournament's last quarterfinal, WSU upset third seed UCLA by two points.^[4][5][6] In the semifinal, the Cougars took second-seeded Oregon State to double overtime, but lost by six points.^[7]

Sampson was promoted to head coach in April 1987,^[8][9] and led the program for seven seasons.

Roster

1987–88 Washington State Cougars men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown F LaVar Ball 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 265 lb (120 kg) Jr California	Head coach Kelvin Sampson Assistant coach(es) Dave Harshman Kim Motta Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on   Injured   Current redshirt

Postseason results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
Fri, Nov 27, 1987*		vs. Eastern Washington	W 68–46	1–0
Sat, Nov 28, 1987*		vs. Idaho	L 49–53	1–1
Thu, Dec 3, 1987*		BYU	L 54–60	1–2	Friel Court  Pullman, Washington
Sat, Dec 5, 1987*		Fresno State	W 61–60	2–2	Friel Court  Pullman, Washington
Fri, Dec 11, 1987*		vs. Indiana State	W 73–61	3–2
Sat, Dec 12, 1987*		at No. 6 Indiana Indiana Classic	L 56–63	3–3	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
Sun, Dec 20, 1987		Arizona State	L 65–66	3–4 (0–1)	Friel Court  Pullman, Washington
Tue, Dec 22, 1987		No. 1 Arizona	L 55–89	3–5 (0–2)	Friel Court  Pullman, Washington
Sun, Jan 3, 1988*		at Wisconsin	L 65–80	3–6	Wisconsin Field House (6,205) Madison, Wisconsin
Sat, Jan 9, 1988		at Washington	W 70–63	4–6 (1–2)	Hec Edmundson Pavilion  Seattle, Washington
Thu, Jan 14, 1988		at California	W 59–37	5–6 (2–2)	Harmon Gym  Berkeley, California
Sat, Jan 16, 1988		at Stanford	W 70–68	6–6 (3–2)	Maples Pavilion  Stanford, California
Thu, Jan 21, 1988		Oregon	L 46–67	6–7 (3–3)	Friel Court  Pullman, Washington
Sat, Jan 23, 1988		Oregon State	W 56–49	7–7 (4–3)	Friel Court  Pullman, Washington
Thu, Jan 28, 1988		at UCLA	L 63–88	7–8 (4–4)	Pauley Pavilion (6,583) Los Angeles, California
Sat, Jan 30, 1988		at USC	L 60–65	7–9 (4–5)	Los Angeles Sports Arena  Los Angeles, California
Tue, Feb 2, 1988*		Idaho	W 56–43	8–9	Friel Court  Pullman, Washington
Sat, Feb 6, 1988		Washington	W 61–52	9–9 (5–5)	Friel Court  Pullman, Washington
Mon, Feb 8, 1988*		Southwestern Louisiana	W 60–48	10–9	Friel Court  Pullman, Washington
Thu, Feb 11, 1988		Stanford	L 50–51	10–10 (5–6)	Friel Court  Pullman, Washington
Sat, Feb 13, 1988		California	L 76–82	10–11 (5–7)	Friel Court  Pullman, Washington
Thu, Feb 18, 1988		at Oregon State	L 48–62	10–12 (5–8)	Gill Coliseum  Corvallis, Oregon
Sun, Feb 21, 1988		at Oregon	L 66–73	10–13 (5–9)	McArthur Court  Eugene, Oregon
Thu, Feb 25, 1988		USC	W 67–57	11–13 (6–9)	Friel Court  Pullman, Washington
Sat, Feb 27, 1988		UCLA	L 55–62	11–14 (6–10)	Friel Court (5,475) Pullman, Washington
Thu, Mar 3, 1988		at No. 3 Arizona	L 41–79	11–15 (6–11)	McKale Center  Tucson, Arizona
Sun, Mar 6, 1988		at Arizona State	W 70–66	12–15 (7–11)	ASU Activity Center  Tempe, Arizona
Pacific-10 Tournament
Fri, March 11, 1988 9:00 pm, ESPN		vs. (3) UCLA Quarterfinal	W 73–71	13–15	McKale Center (13,061) Tucson, Arizona
Sat, March 12, 1988 3:00 pm		vs. (2) Oregon State Semifinal	L 68–74 ^2OT	13–16	McKale Center (13,549) Tucson, Arizona
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Pacific time.

References

1. "2017-18 Men's Basketball Media Guide". Pac-12 Conference. p. 72. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
2. "WSU gives Arizona St. short end". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). March 7, 1988. p. C1.
3. "WSU earns third shot at UCLA". Idahonian. (Moscow). March 7, 1988.
4. Bergum, Steve (March 12, 1988). "WSU upsets UCLA, meets Oregon State". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. B1.
5. "Cougs edge the Bruins at tourney". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). March 12, 1988. p. 5B.
6. "Cougars surprise UCLA". Idahonian. (Moscow). March 12, 1988. p. 1D.
7. Rosenburg, Kurt (March 13, 1988). "Beavers convinced win spells N-C-A-A". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1B.
8. "Sampson accepts Cougar challenge". Idahonian. (Moscow). April 10, 1987. p. 1.
9. Bergum, Steve (April 11, 1987). "Sampson christens a new era at WSU". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. B1.

External links

• Sports Reference – Washington State Cougars: 1987–88 basketball season