The WSU men’s basketball team (7-2) will host the Air Force Falcons (5-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Spokane Arena in the first of three home games for WSU played away from Pullman.

The Cougars will then host Portland State on Dec. 19 in Kennewick before the annual Cougar Hardwood Classic on Dec. 22 against Louisiana State in Seattle.

The Cougars are coming off a 76-64 victory against the Idaho Vandals on Wednesday. Sophomore guard Klay Thompson comes into the game leading the Cougars with 25.8 points per game, second in the country to Aubrey Coleman of Houston. Sophomore forward DeAngelo Casto leads the team in rebounds, averaging 7.1 boards per contest. Casto posted a double-double against the Vandals, scoring 13 points and adding 14 rebounds. Freshman guard Reggie Moore is the team leader in assists at 3.9 per contest.

WSU dropped its previous two games before the game against Idaho. The Cougars couldn’t handle the pressure defense of Kansas State and fell to the Wildcats 86-69 last Saturday. Prior to that, the Cougars let a lead slip away in the closing minutes against Gonzaga on Dec. 2 and fell 74-69.

The Falcons are coming off a 75-41 victory over Prairie View A&M. Forward Grant Parker led the way with 14 points and six rebounds in the win.

Parker, a 6-foot-7 senior, is the team leader in points (17.1) and rebounds (7.1) per game this season. The only other double-digit scorer for the Falcons is Evan Washington at 13.7 points per game. Washington is also the team’s leading assist man at 3.7 per contest.

Air Force has yet to finish a game within 10 points in every game this season. A loss to Missouri State last Saturday by a score of 58-48 and a 70-46 blowout loss on Nov. 21 to Northern Colorado are the only blemishes on the Falcons’ record so far.

The Cougars have one of the youngest teams in the country with 15 underclassmen and only one upperclassmen. Only Harvard with 14, and University of Central Florida and Toledo with 13 apiece, compare with WSU.

The lone senior for WSU, forward Nikola Koprivica, is fourth on the team in scoring at 6.4 points per game.

Thompson, Moore (13.2) and Casto are the only Cougars in double-figure scoring this season.

As a team, WSU is averaging 15 assists and 14 turnovers per game compared to 14.3 and 13.3 for the Falcons.

The Cougars also hold a slight edge in shooting percentage (.494 percent) over the Falcons (.463).

The .494 percentage for WSU is 22nd in the nation, while the 41.9 3-point shooting percentage is 18th nationally.