Washington St. Cougars vs. Colorado Buffaloes Pick & Prediction JANUARY 27th 2024

Colorado got its first true road win of the season at Washington on Wednesday and will look for another on Saturday against Washington State in Pullman, Wash.

The Buffaloes (15-5, 6-3 Pac-12 Conference) were dominant in their win against the Huskies and want to build on that momentum versus a Cougars team with a few quality victories.

Washington State (14-6, 5-4) beat Arizona when it was ranked No. 8 and is coming off an impressive 79-57 home win over a depleted Utah team on Wednesday.

The Cougars will try to even the season series after losing 74-67 to Colorado in Boulder on Dec. 31.

Washington State has won five of its last seven since that loss, and coach Kyle Smith saw his team starting to put it together against Utah.

“We played with a purpose,” Smith said. “I think we have a little more confidence in how to win those games. It’s not that long ago we played Oregon State, and we didn’t know how to win yet, necessarily. Getting that one done was big for us. Just seem to be getting better and better, hopefully.”

Colorado dropped three straight road games after opening conference play 2-0 but has bounced back to win its last four.

In Wednesday’s 98-81 win, the Buffaloes got scoring throughout the lineup, led by J’Vonne Hadley with 24 points.

Coach Tad Boyle wants his team to stay focused and not settle for a split on this road trip.

“Now we have to try to build on it and we can’t be satisfied,” Boyle said. “I told the guys we have to stay hungry, have to stay humble. Washington State’s going to be a war because they’re a good team.”

To do that the Buffaloes will have to stop Isaac Jones, who leads the Cougars in scoring at 15.8 points a game. He had 17 in the win over the Utes and scored 16 in the loss in Boulder.

–Field Level Media