There’s a kiss-of-death word that third-year coach David Riley has used fairly often over the past 10 days about the play of his Washington State University men’s basketball team.

It is “stagnation.”

After the Cougars’ season-opening loss to Davidson on Monday, Riley flung the usage of the word in the direction of the offense and its lack of movement.

And after WSU’s road-debut showing Saturday - an 83-71 loss at reigning Big South Conference champion High Point University in North Carolina - the coach was dismayed by his team’s final 10-minute stretch of defense that enabled the Panthers to break open a tight game.

“We’re not going to win on the road against an NCAA Tournament team when you give up that many free throws and you let them shoot 68 percent from the field in the second half,” Riley told the Cougars Sports Network after the game. “Our defense just wasn’t good enough. And this is a team that can guard. It was frustrating to see us kind of give up that easy shot at the rim.”

After WSU held a 50-48 lead with 12:36 remaining, High Point, which won a game in the 2026 NCAA Tournament just seven months ago, scored on 11 consecutive trips up the floor during a decisive 21-10 run.

Point guard C.J. Brown was the catalyst, scoring 13 of his team-high 17 points in the second half.

The loss spoiled a career night by sophomore guard Lazerek Houston, who led all scorers with 31 points. Jaylen Harrell added 18, and R.J. Jones chipped in with 12 as the Cougars' guards tallied 64 of the team’s 71 points.

Here are three instant takeaways in WSU’s loss to High Point:

1. Lazerek Houston delivers the performance Washington State needed

With no Ronnie Harrison (ankle) for a second consecutive game, and coming off a sub-par debut with his new team, Houston wasted no time getting heated up for the Cougars in the road opener.

And it started on WSU’s second possession of the game when he charged hard down the right baseline at Brown, got up a nifty shot while being fouled and turned it into a three=point play just 77 seconds into the action.

Houston was magnificent - and efficient - throughout, making nine of 13 fields and drilling five 3-pointers as the team’s primary source of scoring for much of the game.

He had 18 points in the first half, including four 3-pointers in a see-saw game that saw 19 lead changes in the first 30 minutes.

“I thought we had stretches of playing the right away offensively where we moved the ball, and we didn’t over-penetrate on the first action … and we had some good things happen,” Riley said. 

2. RJ Jones' costly technical foul changes the momentum

As the fifth guard on this team, Jones gave the Cougars some good stretches, especially offensively with four 3-pointers.

And then there were two bad sequences - one to close out the first half and the other that changed the momentum of the game.

At the end of the first half, Jones fouled High Point star Cam’Ron Fletcher inside the free throw line, which led to a three-point play opportunity with 35.2 seconds remaining.

With WSU holding for a late shot, Jones turned the ball over, and the Panthers took a 32-31 lead into intermission.

The second-half lapse in judgment was a killer.

After sinking back-to-back 3-pointers from the same left corner to give WSU a 50-48 lead, Jones started interacting with fans near the sideline, yelling and using hand motions, making his way back up the court.

He was whistled for a technical foul (and it was reviewed as a flagrant foul when he inadvertently bumped a High Point player), and the Panthers shot two free throws and retained possession - eventually taking a 51-50 lead.

“We’ve got to learn how to handle success better,” Riley said. “We hit a couple of shots. We were flowing. And, all of a sudden, after that, (High Point) started hitting the rim at will.”

That was the sequence that triggered 11 consecutive scoring trips by the Panthers, led by Brown.

3. David Riley's new starting lineup shows promise - and concerns

Riley altered his starting lineup Saturday, inserting Harrell and Sebastian Akins in place of Casey Jones and Jamari Phillips, who surprisingly played just six minutes in the loss.

Much like Houston, Akins has the ability to attack the rim - but more with strength. His ball-handling and distribution also give Houston the ability to play off the ball.

And with Harrell’s ability to post other guards up and shoot the 3-pointer, those three gave the offense a little more variety in the beginning as the Cougars bolted to a quick 7-0 lead in the first 1:19 of the game.

The concerning aspect in the starting group was the play of 6-foot-10 forward Tyler Kropp, who did not score and had more turnovers (four) than rebounds (two) in his 18 minutes.

Kropp did not score in the season opener against Davidson on Monday.