WSU vs. Idaho basketball: TV schedule and game thread

The Washington State Cougars travel eight miles across the border to take on the Idaho Vandals on Saturday night. The game is set to broadcast on SWX (Eastern WA/Northern ID) at 7 p.m. PT.

I'm not sure if the TV broadcast of the this game will be streamed, but you can catch the radio stream on TuneIn.

Idaho's basketball venue is named the Cowan Spectrum. But don't let that fool you: It's the Kibbie Dome with a giant curtain in the middle. Spectrum is an odd name for a basketball court. But it does open up for the opportunity to say a person "traversed the whole spectrum" if they take the ball coast-to-coast for a layup.

As for the actual basketball game, KenPom.com predicts No. 108 Washington State to defeat No. 201 Idaho, 72-71, so don't expect the Cougs to go into the Spectrum and smack around the hosting Vandals. The Spectrum does not yield that easily. It was home to the legendary 37-36 WSU win over Idaho back in 2004 that took a last-second Jeff Varem dunk for the Cougars to escape victorious.

That win started a 10-game winning streak for Washington State in the border rivalry with Idaho. This game might be Idaho's best shot since that meeting for a victory, and they don't even have Jeff Ledbetter!

If the Cougs are to win, they'll have to exploit an awful Idaho defense and slow down a not-awful Idaho offense. The Vandals don't force many turnovers, give up a lot of free throws and don't block many shots. It would serve WSU very well to ditch the 3-point barrage for one game and go inside.

Will they? It's hard to change from shooting almost as many 3s as 2s, but if the Cougs can find a way to take advantage of Idaho's weak interior D, they could win with ease. And that doesn't necessarily mean go to the bigs, it could be penetration from the guards.

So basically: DRIVE, LACY, DRIVE.