Washington State’s basketball program has recently added a new player from its biggest rival. Cougars secured a commitment from former Washington guard Nate Calmese, as reported by multiple sources. He had limited playing time during his season with the Huskies.
Standing 6-foot-2, Calmese initially played his freshman year at Lamar, where he averaged 17.6 points per game and shot 37% from three-point range, including 40% in Southland Conference games. He also recorded 1.2 steals per game and was efficient with a 55% shooting rate inside the arc.
After transferring to UW, Calmese’s playing time decreased significantly. Last season, he appeared in 16 games, averaging 4.1 points for the 17-15 Huskies, who defeated WSU in their regular-season finale in Pullman. Calmese did not play in that game and only saw 8 minutes in the earlier rivalry game in Seattle, where the Cougars won in overtime.
A native of the Phoenix area, Calmese had offers from Nevada, UC Santa Barbara, and Lamar before choosing the Cardinals. He entered the transfer portal after that season and eventually joined UW.
At WSU, Calmese is expected to compete for the starting point guard position, which became available with former guard Myles Rice’s transfer to Indiana. Parker Gerrits, one of the two Cougars from last season who remained with the team, will also likely vie for the role. Gerrits sat out last season as a redshirt freshman.
Calmese’s commitment adds to the eight new players WSU coach David Riley has brought in this offseason, including Icelandic guard Tomas Thrastaron, Eastern Washington transfers LeJuan Watts, Ethan Price, and Dane Erikstrup, Cal transfer ND Okafor, Quinnipiac transfer Rihard Vavers, and Lapwai (Idaho) High guard Kase Wynott, who switched from Utah State.
Riley is working to replace the 12 former Cougars who entered the transfer portal, including Rice (Indiana), wing Andrej Jakimovski (Colorado), centers Oscar Cluff (South Dakota State), Rueben Chinyelu (Florida), and walk-on AJ LaBeau (Cornell), as well as guards Jabe Mullins (Montana State), Dylan Darling (Idaho State), and Joseph Yesufu (West Virginia), and wing Kymany Houinsou (Loyola Chicago).
Currently, the remaining Cougars in the portal are forwards AJ Rohosy and Spencer Mahoney, the latter of whom has received offers from UCF and Cal. Senior wing Jaylen Wells is also in the portal but appears focused on the ongoing NBA draft process.
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