WATCH: Washington State's David Riley Reviews CBC Loss, End of Cougars Season

Feb 8, 2025; Pullman, Washington, USA; Washington State Cougars head coach David Riley looks on during a game against the Pepperdine Waves in the second half at Friel Court at Beasley Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-Imagn Images | James Snook-Imagn Images

Washington State head coach David Riley ended his first season as the Cougars head coach on Monday night with a loss in the College Basketball Crown tournament. WSU fell 85-82 to Georgetown in a contest where they led for roughly 75% of the game. However, a 37-point performance from Georgetown's Malik Mack pushed the Hoyas over the edge.

Despite the loss, Riley stated his pride in his team, who played without leading scorer Nate Calmese, as well as guards Isaiah Watts and Marcus Wilson. Riley met with the media following the loss to discuss how his team wrapped a 19-15 overall season.

Watch the full media availability below.

NOTES

- On getting to play in the College Basketball Crown: "Obviously, it's a hectic time for a coaching staff to be dealing with the portal and everything going on, but the joy that these guys bring every day, and and it was just a pleasure to coach them, and was just grateful to be able to push that on for for 22 more days."

- On inconsistent play throughout the season: "Basketball's a game of runs, but I feel like we were on the extreme end of that for a lot of this season. I think there's some weaknesses that stood out. We weren't a great rebounding team this year and that that hurt us down the stretch... It's not easy to go win one single game at the division one level, and so for us to go and and win 19 of them our first year, there's a lot to be proud of. At the same time, we have much higher expectations as a group, and as individuals...It's got to be something that all our guys understand the good and the bad from."

- On the impact of freshman players: "We talk a lot about how you only grow in tough times and I think our freshman, they got thrown in the fire. They had some tough times this year where they were playing big minutes at Iowa, in front of a packed house at Gonzaga, just really huge minutes for freshman to play and you kind of saw it tonight."

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