Washington State University Athletics
Cougars Return to Pullman to Host Miners
December 11, 2015 | Men's Basketball
WSU RETURNS HOME TO HOST UTEP: Washington State University men's basketball (5-2) will return home for its final two home nonconference games of the season as it hosts UTEP (6-2), Sunday, Dec. 13 at 3 p.m. at Beasley Coliseum.
• Sunday's game will be televised on Pac-12 Networks as Guy Haberman (play-by-play) and Dan Dickau (color analyst) have the call.
• Matt Chazanow, in his first season with Cougar basketball, will have the call on the Washington State 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.
COUGARS VERSUS MINERS:
• Washington State and UTEP are meeting for the sixth time in the two schools' histories and the third-straight year.
• The Miners hold a 3-2 advantage in the series and have won the last three games, including the only meeting at Beasley Coliseum, Dec. 21, 2013.
• Last season WSU opened the season at UTEP and fell 65-52…the season prior the two teams met at Pullman with an almost identical result as UTEP won 64-51.
• Que Johnson has had success against the Miners, averaging 15.5 points per game and 7.5 rebounds per game in the last two meetings.
• Johnson scored a career high 21 points as a redshirt freshman in 2013-14 and had his only career double-double in 2014-15.
WSU AGAINST CONFERENCE USA:
• UTEP is the only Conference USA school on WSU's schedule this year, as the Cougars have faced just 5 of the 14 current members of the league.
• WSU is 6-6 all-time against current members of the league.
• The Cougars have played UTEP the most (five times), followed by two meetings with Rice, UAB and UTSA….WSU faced Southern Mississippi once.
WINNING EARLY:
• WSU's 5-2 start in its first seven games is its best start since going 6-1 in its first seven games in 2010-11.
• The Cougars went on to go 10-1 to start the season and finished nonconference action with a 10-2 record, as that was the last time WSU played in the Diamond Head Classic at Honolulu.
BLOCK PARTY:
• Through just seven games the Cougars have blocked 49 shots, averaging 7.0 blocks per game.
• Although just six games in, as of games on Dec. 10, WSU was third in the nation as a team, and led the Pac-12 in blocks per game.
• Heading up the block party is junior transfer Valentine Izundu who is averaging 3.43 blocks per game which is ranked sixth in the nation and second in the Pac-12.
• The school record for blocks average in a season is 3.0 set by James Donaldson in 1978...he had a school-record 82 blocks that season.
• To put that in perspective, if Izundu can continue to average 3.43 blocks per game and plays 31 games, he'd finish with 106 blocked shots, which is 24 more than the record.
• Izundu had a career-high 6 blocked shots in the Nov. 20 meeting with Idaho State...the school record for blocks in a game is 10, also set by Donaldson, Dec. 6, 1977.
LEADER OF THE PAC:
• Washington State leads the Pac-12 in two categories, blocked shots (7.0 bpg) and field goal percentage (204-for-411, .496).
• WSU is also in the top-five in seven other categories, including second in steals (8.0 spg), free throw percentage (.727) and turnover margin (+1.0).
• In the individual rankings, juniors Josh Hawkinson and Ike Iroegbu rank sixth and 17th, respectively, in scoring.
• Hawkinson is also fourth in rebounding, first in free throw percentage, 13th in steals, first for defensive rebounds and tied for 12th for blocked shots…he is also tied for third with 4 double-doubles this season.
• Iroegbu leads the league in 3-point percentage, is tied for fourth in free throw percentage, is 14th in assist/turnover ratio and is 15th for assists.
• Junior Charles Callison is 10th for steals per game and 11th for assists.
• Junior Valentine Izundu is second in the league for blocked shots…freshman Viont'e Daniels is sixth in the league and third amongst freshmen for 3-point field goal percentage.
ABOUT THE 2015-16 COUGARS:
• WSU head coach Ernie Kent is in his second season after leading the Cougars to their most Pac-12 wins since 2011-12 with a 7-11 league mark in 2014-15.
• The Cougars returned three starters in junior guard Ike Iroegbu, his classmate, forward, Josh Hawkinson and sophomore guard Ny Redding.
• WSU lost leading scorer DaVonté Lacy to graduation, but Hawkinson returns as the leading scorer and rebounder after averaging 14.7 points and 10.8 rebounds per game a year ago.
• Hawkinson made his mark on WSU history as he led the nation with 8.7 defensive rebounds per game and was fourth in the NCAA with 20 double-doubles.
• He broke WSU single season records for double-doubles as well as rebounds, marks that had stood for 48 and 51 years, respectively.
• Heading into the season he needed just 156 rebounds to break into WSU's career top-20 and is on pace to set a WSU career rebounding record held by Steve Puidokas (1974-77) with 992.
• Also returning for the Cougars are senior Brett Boese and redshirt junior Que Johnson.
• Boese had his best output of his career last season as a junior, averaging 4.3 points per game, while shooting .361 from beyond the 3-point arc.
• Johnson put up 6.1 points a game, while shooting the highest mark from the charity stripe with a .854 clip.
• Redshirt junior Valentine Izundu made his game debut for the Cougars this season after sitting out the 2014-15 season due to NCAA rules after transferring from Houston.
• Izundu averaged 2.0 points and 1.1 blocks in just 8.0 minutes per game at Houston as a freshman in 2012-13.
• Joining the Cougars are four junior college transfers and two true freshmen.
• Juniors Conor Clifford, Charles Callison and Renard Suggs and sophomore Derrien King make up the group of transfers.
• A 7-foot-center, Clifford was named the Southern California (SoCal) and Orange Empire Conference MVPs at Saddleback College last season.
• A 6-foot-point guard, Callison was named the Foothill Conference's MVP, as well as the 2014 Press-Enterprise Area College Men's Athlete of the Year following his sophomore Year at San Bernardino Valley College.
• A 6-2 guard, Suggs led Gillette College to JUCO Nationals last season, averaging 13.5 points per game.
• King, a 6-6 guard, averaged 11.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and shot .417 from the field at Santa Monica College last season.
• Guard Viont'e Daniels and forward Robert Franks make up the freshman class.
• The Washington 4A State Player of the Year, Daniels averaged 24.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists as a senior at Federal Way High School.
• Franks was named an Associated Press All-State honorable mention honoree at Vancouver's Evergreen High School last season.
ERNIE KENT ENTERS SECOND 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.
• 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.
• Kent's first season with the Cougars wasn't much different than his first with the Ducks, as he led Oregon to a 13-14 overall record and 8-10 league mark as Oregon finished sixth in the then-Pacific-10 Conference...he led WSU to a 13-18 overall record and 7-11 league mark.
VIONT'E DANIELS' BIG DEBUT:
• The new season brought seven new faces to the court for the Cougars, as all seven saw action in the season opener against Northern Arizona, Nov. 13.
• Although none of the newcomers started, freshman Viont'e Daniels played the second-most minutes on the team with 23 and tied the game high with 15 points.
• The 6-2 guard was a perfect 5-for-5 from 3-point range, becoming the first freshman to do so.
• A freshman was perfect from 3-point range when making 3 or more eight other times in WSU history, but none of those freshmen made more than 4 3-pointers.
• The last time a freshman was perfect from 3-point range when making 3 or more was Feb. 9, 2012 when DaVonté Lacy went 3-for-3 at Oregon State.
• He started against Idaho State, Nov. 20.
