Pac-12 Basketball: Biggest question for each team entering 2020-21 season

Washington State – Can the Cougars improve their shooting?

Kyle Smith’s first season as head coach for Washington State was a successful one with the team showing a five-win over Ernie Kent’s last season in Pullman. This season he will have some holes to fill thanks to transfers, graduation, and the decision by sophomore guard CJ Elleby to turn pro. Seniors Tony Miller and Isaac Bonton are back to provide leadership and offensive punch as Bonton 15.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, and a team-high four assists per game.

Smith will have plenty of new faces to add to the roster as his recruiting class is six players strong and a redshirt freshman also will likely be ready to see the floor. Hopefully, these players can help the Cougars improve in a major area of weakness last season, their shooting.

Last season Washington State shot just 39.7% from the field, which was 335th worst in the country, and their perimeter shooting wasn’t much better (30.9%), ranking them 298th, both numbers were the worst in the conference by a good margin.

Those are the raw numbers for the Cougars, but the advanced stats don’t paint a picture that is any brighter, ranking 330th in effective field goal percentage which accounts for three-pointers having more weight than two-pointers and their true shooting percentage (which takes into account all shots including free throws in the same calculation) of 51.5% was 279th best.

If Smith hopes to continue the improvement at Washington State, the Cougars are going to have to get better at shooting the ball from all over the floor.