PULLMAN – Ten days ago, on a stage somewhere inside the Arena, David Riley took a minute to sing Ace Glass’ praises.

Washington State was a few minutes removed from ending a five-game losing streak, dispatching Eastern Washington with ease, and Glass hadn’t just done his part. In his first season of college basketball, he had endured a mini-slump and emerged on the right side of it, coming off the bench to score 14 points.

“I’ve said it all year,” Riley said. “The dude is the most impressive guy I’ve coached, as far as taking the challenge that I give him and achieving it.”

At the time, Glass was working through the spoils of his promising freshman campaign. After erupting for one 40-point game and several other 20-point outings, he was quickly ascending opponents’ scouting reports, and as a result, he slogged through a couple inefficient showings. Riley challenged him to push through it, to get creative, and to trust his development.

A few days later, in WSU’s home win over Mercer, Glass made his coach look even more wise with a 24-point game. Now, as the Cougars get set to hit the road again, Glass may need to take the next step in his freshman development.

In the team’s second and final year competing as members of the West Coast Conference, WSU opens conference play Sunday afternoon against Portland, set for 2 p.m. on ESPN+. It’s the second of two road games in three days for the Cougs, who will take on Seattle U in Climate Pledge Arena on Tuesday evening.

On Sunday afternoon, WSU (5-8) will be taking a Portland team off to a 7-6 start to the season. Under coach Shantay Legans, who Riley coached with at Eastern Washington for a number of years, the Pilots opened with three straight victories before things got a little uneven. They’ve taken down Cal State Fullerton, Kent State and Lewis & Clark College, but UP’s resume also includes a home setback to Northern Colorado and most recently, a road defeat to UC Santa Barbara.

Five players are averaging double figures in points for Portland, led by freshman guard Joel Foxwell, who is averaging 13 points per game on a blistering 44% shooting from beyond the arc. Forwards James O’Donnell and Cameron Williams are each averaging about 11 points and six rebounds, proving some stability around the basket for the Pilots.

But beyond that, the Cougars have their own issues to solve. The main one being turnovers, which plagued last year’s team in a massive way. WSU has begun to turn that around this winter, at least in spots. In the Cougars’ win over Mercer last week, they lost 13 turnovers, which followed a 15-turnover game against EWU. Maybe those numbers sound high, but there’s important context.

A season ago, the Cougs ranked among the nation’s worst in taking care of the ball, committing a turnover on almost a fifth of their offensive possessions. That played a major role in the group’s fall from grace as the season unfolded. So as much as Riley would like to bring down those numbers, 13 and 15 turnovers actually represent a step in the right direction for WSU.

The other trend the Cougars are working on is their assist s. Entering Sunday’s game, WSU ranks No. 307 nationwide in assists per game, handing out only 12.5 per contest. It’s flummoxed Riley, whose offense is all about motion and moving the ball, a strange development for a team that runs that kind of offense.

“That’s something we really emphasized after Maui,” Riley said. “Our assist numbers are still not where I want them to be. 12 assists isn’t good enough. We had (18) versus Eastern. And I do think that that scoring balance is something that’s a key to our team, the way we play. I loved last game. Ace and Emms (Emmanuel Ugbo) came off the bench. I think they had 30 something combined, maybe 40 something combined.

As they get set for this road trip, the Cougars are walking a fine line. After a 3-8 start to the season – the team’s worst through 11 games since the 1960s – they appear to be turning things around, at least as much as they can in the two games since. Playing a meaningful role has been Glass, who is coming along just fine, the way Riley sees it.

Can WSU turn that into a win on Sunday afternoon? We’ll have to see if there’s another stage for Riley to tell that story from.