WSU LOOKS TO BOUNCE BACK AGAINST PORTLAND STATE: Washington State University men's basketball (4-1) will play its final game of its season-opening six-game homestand as it hosts Portland State (3-3), Sunday, Dec. 6 at Beasley Coliseum.
• Sunday's game will be televised on Pac-12 Networks as Greg Heister (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 VIKINGS:
• Sunday marks the eighth all-time meeting between Washington State and Portland State, as the Cougars hold a perfect 7-0 advantage in the series.
• The two teams last met Dec. 19, 2009 in a WSU 'home' game at Kennewick, Wash….the Cougars prevailed, 93-69.
• The first four games of the series were decided by 6 points or less, however the last three have been decided by an average of 21 points.
• No current Cougar has faced Portland State, while second-year head coach Ernie Kent holds a 6-2 record against the Vikings from his stints at Saint Mary's and Oregon.
WSU AGAINST THE BIG SKY:
• Portland State is the third school from the Big Sky conference that Washington State will face this season, as it will take on four teams from the league.
• WSU defeated Northern Arizona, 82-70, Nov. 13, defeated Idaho State, 85-67, Nov. 20 and will take on Idaho, Dec. 10.
• WSU is 277-157 all-time against current members of the Big Sky.
• The Cougars have faced the Vandals of Idaho the most, holding a 162-108 record against the border rival, while they haven't faced North Dakota or Northern Colorado.
WINNING EARLY:
• WSU's 4-1 start in its first five games is its best start since going 5-0 in 2010-11 before falling to then-No. 5 Kansas State.
• 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 five games the Cougars have blocked 36 shots, averaging 7.2 blocks per game.
• Although just five games in, as of Dec. 4, 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 3.8 blocks per game which is ranked third 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 3.8 blocks per game and plays 31 games, he'd finish with 117 blocked shots, which is 35 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 (7.2 bpg) and field goal percentage (145-for-300, .483).
• WSU is also in the top-five in eighth other categories, including second in turnover margin (+0.6) and steals (8.2 steals per game).
• In the individual rankings, juniors Josh Hawkinson and Ike Iroegbu rank 12th and 13th, respectively, in scoring.
• Hawkinson is also fifth in rebounding, second in free throw percentage, 14th in steals, 13th in blocked shots and first for defensive rebounds.
• Iroegbu leads the league in 3-point percentage , is third in free throw percentage, 15th in 3-pointers made, tied for 13th in assist/turnover ratio and 13th for assists.
• Senior Junior Longrus ranks fifth for steals and 14th for blocked shots.
• Junior Valentine Izundu is second in the league for blocked shots, while his classmate, Charles Callison is 15th for steals.
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:
• WSU fell to No. 13/12 Gonzaga, 69-60, Wednesday, Dec. 2 at Beasley Coliseum.
• Redshirt Junior Que Johnson led WSU with 18 points on his birthday…he was just 3 points shy of his career-high of 21 points done twice.
• Johnson's 18 points tie for the second most by a Cougar on his birthday…Aron Baynes had 23 points on his birthday during the 2007-08 season.
• Junior Ike Iroegbu scored in double figures for the fourth-straight game finishing with 17…he's now averaging 14.4 points per game.
• Junior Charles Callison scored in double figures for the first time with a career-high 10 points…he added 2 of WSU's 4 assists.
• Junior Josh Hawkinson was held to 6 points and 4 rebounds, but had a season-high 3 blocked shots.
• Junior Valentine Izundu had 4 blocked shots and now has 19 blocked shots on the season, good for 3.8 blocks an outing…he entered the game third in the nation in blocked shots per game.
• WSU had a season-high 14 steals.
