COUGARS HOST SUN DEVILS IN LONE MEETING: Washington State University men’s basketball (10-13, 4-7) takes to the court on Friday the 13th as it hosts Arizona State (12-11, 4-6) at 8 p.m. at Beasley Coliseum.
• Friday’s game will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks as JB Long (play-by-play) and Lamar Hurd (color analyst) have the call.
• Sunday, WSU plays host to No. 7 Arizona (20-3, 8-2), and looks to avenge last year’s loss in the desert at 3:30 p.m.. at Beasley Coliseum.
• Sunday’s game will be televised on Fox Sports 1 as Aaron Goldsmith (play-by-play) and Casey Jacobsen (color analyst) have the call.
• Bud Nameck, in his 22nd year with Cougar Basketball, will have the call on the Cougar IMG Radio Network...please see the list of affiliates on page one of today’s notes.
• Live updates can be found on Twitter by following @WSUMensHoops, the official Twitter account of Washington State men’s basketball.
ERNIE KENT IN FIRST SEASON WITH THE COUGARS:
• Veteran head coach and former Fox Sports and Pac-12 Networks basketball analyst was named the 18th head coach in WSU men’s basketball history, March 31, 2014, replacing Ken Bone, who served as the Cougar head coach for five seasons.
• Kent came to Pullman with a 325-254 (.561) mark as a head coach, having spent six seasons at the helm for Saint Mary’s in Moraga, Calif., and 13 at Oregon.
• In his 13 years at Oregon, Kent compiled a 235-174 (.575) record and a 109-125 (.466) conference mark.
• His 109 conference wins rank 17th most in Pac-12 history (including Pacific-8 and Pacific-10 Conferences).
• While at Oregon, Kent led the Ducks to seven postseason appearances, including five NCAA Tournament Appearances (2000, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008) as well as a Pac-10 regular-season (2002) and two conference tournament (2003, 2007) titles.
COUGARS VERSUS SUN DEVILS:
• Friday marks the 75th all-time meeting between Arizona State and Washington State, with the Sun Devils holding a 39-35 advantage in the series.
• The game also marks the first meeting between the two schools in Pullman since Jan. 31, 2013...a 63-59 Sun Devil win.
• The Cougars have lost three-straight to the Sun Devils...WSU’s last win was Feb. 18, 2012, a 72-50 contest in Pullman...WSU has also lost seven of the last nine meetings with ASU.
• WSU is 8-2 in its last 10 home games against ASU.
• The three-game losing streak against ASU is the longest in the series since the Cougars dropped four-consecutive to the Sun Devils from Jan. 12, 2002 to Feb. 6, 2003.
• As head coach at Saint Mary’s and Oregon, Kent holds a 12-12 record against Arizona State.
• This meeting is the only meeting between WSU and ASU this season, as the two teams met just once last season as well, that matchup in Tempe.
• Last season the Cougars fell to the Sun Devils, 66-47, as DaVonté Lacy left in the first half with a rib injury that sidelined him for six games.
COUGARS VERSUS WILDCATS:
• Sunday marks the 75th all-time meeting between Arizona and Washington State, with the Wildcats holding a 58-16 advantage in the series.
• This matchup marks the only meeting between WSU and Arizona this season, as the two teams met just once last year as well, a 60-25 Wildcat win in Tucson.
• The last time Arizona visited Pullman was Feb. 2, 2013, resulting in a 79-65 Wildcat victory.
• WSU has lost the last seven meetings with Arizona, following a three-game WSU winning streak in the series, which tied its best, from Feb. 26, 2009 to Jan. 22, 2011.
• The Cougars last defeated Arizona Feb. 6, 2010, 78-60 at Beasley Coliseum.
• The Wildcats’ seven-game win streak vs. WSU is the second longest streak in the series...Arizona posted 38-consecutive victories from March 1, 1986 to Jan. 29, 2005, when the Cougars snapped the streak with a 70-63 win in the desert.
• Kent owns a 7-18 all-time record against Arizona as head coach at Saint Mary’s and Oregon.
WSU AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS:
• Arizona is ranked seventh in this week’s Associated Press Poll.
• WSU is 48-221 all-time against AP Top-25 teams and has lost its last five games against ranked opponents with its last win coming against No. 23 UCLA, 73-61, March 6, 2013.
• WSU is 7-124 all-time against the top-10, having lost its last 14 games against opponents ranked in the AP Top-10.
• The Cougars’ last win over a top-10 opponent came against No. 7 Arizona, Jan. 6, 2007 at Beasley Coliseum in overtime.
• The Cougars are 3-39 against ranked Arizona teams and 1-13 against the No. 7 team in the country.
• WSU’s only win over No. 7 was also it’s last win over a top-10 opponent (Jan. 6, 2007).
• WSU’s last win over a ranked Arizona team came the same season as the No. 18 Cougars defeated the No. 20 Wildcats, 72-66, Feb. 1, 2007.
• WSU has taken down ranked opponents 35 times at home (35-92).
ROAD WARRIORS:
• WSU opened up with a two-game road trip in the state of Texas, marking just the sixth time it has opened the season with a true road game outside the state of Washington and the first time since Nov. 19, 1999, an 80-55 loss at Nevada.
• Washington State was the only Pac-12 school to open the 2014-15 season on the road.
• In fact, in the first two weeks of the season (Friday, Nov. 14-Sun., Nov. 22), just five true road games were played by Pac-12 schools, two of those were WSU’s games.
• The five road games don’t include the seven neutral-site games.
• The Cougars had already played two road games before any other Pac-12 school had played on the road or at a neutral-site venue.
• Five of WSU’s first six games were away from Pullman, including three games at the Great Alaska Shootout, Nov. 27-29.
• WSU played seven games away from Pullman before it hosted its fourth home game of the season against San Jose State, Sunday, Dec. 21.
• The Cougars opened Pac-12 play with three-straight road games, including a second trip to the Bay Area to take on Stanford (Jan. 2) and California (Jan. 4), followed by a trip to Seattle to take on Washington (Jan. 10).
• WSU’s experience on the road paid off as it got the first Pac-12 conference road win this season and the only road win in the first 12 Pac-12 games.
• With its victory at Cal, Jan. 4, WSU won its first Pac-12 road game since the 2012-13 season, breaking a 15-game conference road losing streak.
• With the Jan. 10 win at Washington, the Cougars guaranteed their first two-win Pac-12 road season since 2011-12 and marked the first time they won back-to-back Pac-12 road games since 2008-09.
• The Cougars have not won three total conference road games since the 2010-11 season when it won three Pac-10 road contests.
WSU’S PAC-12 WINS:
• Earlier this season WSU won three-straight Pac-12 games with victories at Cal (Jan. 4) and Washington (Jan. 10) and at home against Oregon (Jan. 15).
• With the win Jan. 4, the Cougars won their first Pac-12 road game in 15 tries and first since the 2012-13 season.
• With its win Jan. 10 at Washington, WSU won two Pac-12 road games in a season for the first time since the 2011-12 season.
• The win Jan. 10 also gave WSU it’s first two-game conference winning streak since the 2011-12 season.
• WSU’s win against Oregon, Jan. 15, gave WSU its first 3-1 Pac-12 start since the 2007-08 season...it is also the first time since the 2008-09 season that WSU has won three-straight conference games.
• The Cougars’ 108 points in their overtime win over Oregon marked the most since scoring 114 against Grambling State, Dec. 29, 1998...it was the second-most in conference play, second to 111 points against Arizona in double overtime, March 2, 1995 and the first time WSU reached the 100-point plateau since scoring 104 in overtime against Gonzaga, Dec. 7, 2002.
• With its 89-88 win over Stanford, Jan. 31 at Pullman, WSU notched its fourth Pac-12 win, bettering last year’s conference win total by one and matching the Pac-12 wins total from 2012-13.
• With at least 10 games remaining, WSU has also already matched last year’s win total of 10 victories...the Cougars need just three more wins to match the win total from 2012--13 (13 wins).
ABOUT THE COUGARS:
• The Cougars are currently 10-13 overall and 4-7 in Pac-12 play...10th place in the Pac-12 Conference.
• WSU is 2-9 on the road, 2-1 at neutral sites and 6-3 at home...WSU’s game against Gonzaga counted as a road game, although played at Spokane Arena.
• Last season WSU finished 10-21 overall and 3-15 in Pac-12 play, finishing 11th.
• Senior DaVonté Lacy is the only Cougar to start all 23 games so far this season.
• Lacy leads the team and ranks fifth in the Pac-12 in scoring with 16.9 points per game, just over 2.0 points below his 19.4 ppg average last season.
• Lacy ranks tied for fifth in the league with 2.3 made 3-pointers per game.
• Lacy ranks 15th in the conference for free throw percentage with a .753 (113-for-150) clip...he has made the second-most free throws in the Pac-12 this season.
• Sophomore Josh Hawkinson is averaging a double-double per game as he leads the Pac-12 with 10.8 rebounds per game and ranks 10th in scoring with 15.1 points per game.
• He’s first in the league with 15 double-doubles and leads the league with 8.8 defensive rebounds per game.
• Hawkinson is seventh in the league with 1.3 blocked shots a game and ranks fourth in free throw percentage with an .843 (91-for-108) clip.
• Nationally, Hawkinson ranks in the top-10 in the following categories; he’s second the nation in defensive rebounds per game, fourth for double-doubles and 10th in total rebounds (as of games Feb. 10).
• Freshman point guard Ny Redding has been a surprise for the Cougars as he has started 17 games this season, although he didn’t start against Stanford (Jan. 31) or Oregon State (Feb.5)...Redding got the nod in the Cougars’ last game vs. Oregon.
• He leads the team and ranks seventh in the Pac-12 with 3.7 assists per game, ranking second-highest among all Pac-12 freshman for assists per game.
• Redding ranks eighth in the league with a 1.8 assist/turnover ratio...he’s second amongst all Pac-12 freshmen.
• Redding ranks sixth in the Pac-12 with a .821 (46-for-56) free throw clip.
• Senior Jordan Railey is tied for ninth in the league with 1.2 blocked shots per game and currently ranks 16th in WSU’s career blocks record book with 57 blocks in just one and a half seasons.
LACY MARKING UP RECORD BOOKS:
• Senior DaVonté Lacy is making his mark on the WSU record books.
• In the first round of the 2014 Pac-12 Tournament, Lacy became the 34th Cougar to reach 1,000 career points, ending the season in 32nd with 1,023 points.
• He is the ninth-fastest Cougar to reach the milestone as he accomplished the feat in 85 games.
• Lacy has since moved into ninth on the list with 1,412 points and is 11 points away from Bennie Seltzer (1990-93) in 8th with 1,423 points.
• If Lacy stays at 16.9 ppg, he would finish with 1,547 points, which would put him at fifth in WSU’s record books.
• Lacy is also climbing up the record books for career 3-pointers made and is on pace for the record, currently tied with Eddie Hill (1991-94) for second with 233 made 3’s.
• His next 3-pointer will place him alone in second place in the record books behind Klay Thompson (2009-11).
• Lacy is just nine 3-pointers away from tying Klay Thompson for the school record (242)...if he were to stay healthy during his senior season, Lacy would need to average just over onemade 3-pointer per game to reach the record...he’s averaging 2.3 right now.
HAWKINSON SOARING IN SECOND YEAR:
• Sophomore Josh Hawkinson is averaging 15.1 points, 10.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game in WSU’s 23 games this season...he’s playing 32.4 minutes per outing.
• Hawkinson had his first double-double of his career in WSU’s second game of the season at TCU and now has 15 double-doubles.
• Last season Hawkinson averaged just 1.2 points and 1.6 rebounds a game in 6.4 minutes an outing, while compiling just 4 blocks the entire season.
• He is scoring 13.9 more points and grabbing 9.2 more rebounds this year than last year and has already played 566 more minutes than he did all of last year, more than triple the 180 he played last year.
ALL ABOUT THAT BOESE:
• Junior Brett Boese (pronounced Base) has moved into a bigger role as well, his coming in his third season with the Cougars.
• In his first two seasons, Boese played a total of 194 minutes in 36 games for 5.4 minutes of action per game...this year he’s played just 23 games (all 23 of WSU’s games), a total of 429 minutes, for an average of 18.7 minutes per game.
• On top of that, Boese has already scored 73 more points this season than the last two combined (51 last two years) for an improvement of points per game of 4.1 from 1.4 his first two seasons to 5.4 this season.
• From beyond the 3-point arc, Boese has more than doubled his 3-pointers made from 14 his first two seasons to 33, over halfway through this season.
• His 3-point field goal percentage has also improved by four percent, going from .359 as a freshman and sophomore to .384 his junior season.
• Boese played 57% of the team’s games last season and 100% so far this season.
KLAY THOMPSON BECOMES SECOND COUGAR NAMED TO NBA ALL-STAR TEAM:
• Washington State men’s basketball standout and current Golden State Warrior, Klay Thompson (2009-11), was named a reserve for the 2015 NBA Western Conference All-Star Team.
• Thompson becomes just the second WSU men’s basketball player to make an NBA All-Star roster, joining James Donaldson (1976-79) who made the team in 1988 while with the Dallas Mavericks.
• As of the opening day of the 2014-15 NBA season, 62 Pac-12 student-athletes were on NBA rosters...three of them have been named NBA All-Stars, in all, 24 All-Stars were named.
• James Harden (Arizona State) and Russell Westbrook (UCLA) are the other two, both also Western Conference reserves.
• In his fourth season after being the 11th overall pick of the 2011 NBA Draft, Klay Thompson ranks eighth in the NBA in scoring with 23.0 points per game...he set an NBA record with 37 points in the third quarter of the Warriors’ game Jan. 23, finishing with 52 points.
