Washington State University Athletics
Cougars Conclude Nonconference Home Action Friday
December 15, 2015 | Men's Basketball
COUGARS CONCLUDE NONCONFERENCE HOME ACTION AGAINST BOBCATS FRIDAY: Washington State University men's basketball (6-2) will play its final home nonconference game of the season as it hosts Texas State (4-2), Friday, Dec. 18 at 6 p.m. at Beasley Coliseum...Texas State has one more game, Wednesday, Dec. 16, prior to the two teams meeting.
• Friday's game will be televised on Pac-12 Networks as Guy Haberman (play-by-play) and Kevin O'Neill (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.
• Following Friday's game, the Cougars will head to Honolulu, Hawaii for the Diamond Head Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center.
COUGARS VERSUS BOBCATS; SUN BELT:
• Friday marks the first all-time meeting between Washington State and Texas State.
• Texas State is a member of the Sun Belt Conference, along with Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Little Rock, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama, Texas Arlington, Texas State and Troy.
• WSU is 5-3 all-time against current members of the Sun Belt, having played Appalachian State (0-1), Georgia Southern (1-0), Little Rock (1-0) and Louisiana-Lafayette (3-2).
• Friday also marks the first time WSU will face an opponent out of the Sun Belt since it took on Georgia Southern, Nov. 24, 2004, at Beasley Coliseum.
WINNING EARLY:
• WSU's 6-2 start in its first seven games is its best start since going 7-1 in its first eight 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 eight games the Cougars have blocked 58 shots, averaging 7.3 blocks per game.
• Although just eight games in, as of games on Dec. 14, WSU was second 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 3.38 blocks per game which is ranked sixth in the nation and second in the Pac-12.
• The school team record for blocked shots in a season is 155 set in 2007 (34 games)...right now the Cougars are on pace to finish with 226 blocked shots in a 31-game season.
• The individual 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 3.38 blocks per game and plays 31 games, he'd finish with 104 blocked shots, which is 22 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 three categories, blocked shots (7.3 bpg), field goal percentage (230-for-458, .502) and steals (8.1 spg).
• WSU is also in the top-five in seven other categories, including third in free throw percentage (.713) and assists (15.3 apg).
• In the individual rankings, juniors Josh Hawkinson and Ike Iroegbu rank fifth and 25th, respectively, in scoring.
• Hawkinson is also second in rebounding, tied for ninth in free throw percentage, tied for 15th in steals, first for defensive rebounds, seventh for field goal percentage and 11th for blocked shots…he is also tied for second with 5 double-doubles this season.
• Iroegbu leads the league in 3-point percentage, is third in free throw percentage, is tied for 10th for field goal percentage and is tied for 12th for assists.
• Junior Charles Callison is first for assist/turnover ratio, third for steals per game and eighth for assists.
• Junior Valentine Izundu is second in the league for blocked shots…senior Junior Longrus is 14th for blocked shots.
• Redshirt junior Conor Clifford is second in the league in field goal percentage and second for free throw percentage.
• Freshman Viont'e Daniels is ninth 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.
HAWKINSON NAMED TO KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR WATCH LIST:
• Junior Josh Hawkinson has been named to the 20-member 2016 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award watch list.
• Hawkinson is one of four Pac-12 student-athletes to be named to the list, as he's joined by Kaleb Tarczewski of Arizona, Josh Scott of Colorado and Jakob Poeltl of Utah.
• Named after Hall of Famer and three-time NCAA Champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the annual honor in its second year recognizes the top centers in men's college basketball.
• A national committee comprised of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates and by mid-February, the list will be narrowed down to just 10.
• In March, five finalists will be presented to Abdul-Jabbar and the Hall of Fame's selection committee and the winner of the 2016 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award will be presented at the ESPN College Basketball Awards presented by Wendy's from Club Nokia in Los Angeles, Calif., on Friday, April 8, 2016.
LAST OUTING:
• Junior Josh Hawkinson had his fifth double-double of the season and 25th of his career with 17 points and 14 rebounds.
• The double-double marked his third-straight as he added 2 blocked shots.
• Sophomore Derrien King had a career-high 10 points…he was 3-for-3 and had 9 of his points in just 6 minutes in the first half.
• King hadn't played since Nov. 28 against Texas Southern.
• Junior Conor Clifford finished with 15 points…he was perfect on the night, 5-for-5 from the field and 5-for-5 from the free throw line…he had no turnovers.
• Juniors Ike Iroegbu and Charles Callison had all 13 of WSU's 15 assists…Iroegbu had 6 and Callison had 7 for the second-straight game, tying his career high.
• Callison added a career-high 5 steals…as a team, WSU had 9 steals.
• Iroegbu was perfect shooting, 2-for-2 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free throw line.
• For the fourth time in 5 games, WSU had at least 8 blocked shots finishing with a season-high 9 blocks.
• Redshirt junior Valentine Izundu had 3 blocked shots, senior Junior Longrus had 3, Hawkinson had two and Iroegbu had 1.
• Redshirt junior Que Johnson returned to double-figure points with 11 points.
• WSU's .553 (25-for-47) field goal percentage is a season high, as is their .500 (8-for-16) from beyond the arc.
WSU CAREER WATCH
Josh Hawkinson
• Needs 85 more rebounds to get on WSU's career top-20 list (has 450, No. 20 has 535).
• Has 71 rebounds through 7 games this season, if he can keep 10.1 rpg average, would finish season with 313 rebounds and 692 career rebounds, which would put him at eighth in WSU's career record books for rebounds.
• Last season Hawkinson set the single-season rebounding record with 334 rebounds.
Ike Iroegbu
• Needs 38 assists to get on WSU's career top-20 list (has 179, No. 20 has 217).
• He's averaging 3.5 assists per game, if he can keep that up through 31 games, he'd finish with 108 assists, which would give him 287 career assists and put him at 10th all-time on WSU's career assists list following his junior year.
