COUGARS CONCLUDE HOME SEASON HOSTING CALIFORNIA FOR 'SENIOR DAY': Washington State University men's basketball (9-17, 1-13) looks to snap its 12-game losing streak as it hosts California (18-8, 8-5) for 'Senior Day', Sunday, Feb. 21 at 5:30 p.m. at Beasley Coliseum.
• Sunday's game will be televised on ESPNU as Roxy Bernstein (play-by-play) and Corey Williams (color analyst) have the call.
• First-year voice of the Cougars, Matt Chazanow 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.
THE SENIORS:
• The Cougars will honor five seniors prior to Sunday's game against California, including athletic training student, Elias Whitefoot, managers Adam Desai and Matt Sexton and four-year student-athletes Brett Boese and Junior Longrus.
• Brett Boese joined the team beginning with the 2012-13 season and has played 91 games with the Cougars.
• He's averaging 2.7 points and 0.9 rebounds per game in his four-year career.
• He will graduate in May with a degree in social sciences and plans to eventually run his own company, as his emphasis is entrepreneurship.
• Junior Longrus also joined the team beginning with the 2012-13 season and is on pace to play the third-most games in WSU history as he's played 120 games in his career.
• He is also ranked in the top-20 for career blocks.
• A two-time Pac-12 All-Academic selection, he has the GPA to pick up this third-straight honor, and represented the Pac-12 at the NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) fall conference in 2015.
• He will graduate in May with degrees in marketing and management operations.
COUGARS VERSUS GOLDEN BEARS:
• Sunday marks the 127th all-time meeting between Washington State and California, as Cal holds the 77-49 advantage in the all-time series.
• The two teams split the regular season series last year with each winning on the road, before California knocked WSU out of the Pac-12 Tournament with an 84-59 victory at Las Vegas in the first round of the tournament.
• WSU has lost five of the last six games to Cal, but is 2-2 in its last four home games against the Golden Bears.
• The Golden Bears lead 30-29 on the road against the Cougars, while the series is tied 29-29 at Pullman (Cal leads 1-0 in Spokane).
ON THIS DAY:
• The Cougars are 14-10 all-time in games played on Feb. 21.
• WSU has not played on Feb. 21 since the 2008-09 season.
• That day, the Cougars got just their second all-time victory at UCLA as they defeated the No. 15 Burins, 82-81.
VETERANS STEP UP:
• The Cougars have been led this season by captains, roommates and juniors, Josh Hawkinson and Ike Iroegbu.
• Hawkinson leads the team in scoring and rebounding with 15.5 and 11.0 boards a game, while Iroegbu has 13.8 ppg game and leads with 3.6 assists per game.
• Combined the forward and guard are shooting .522 (266-for-510) from the field and are accounting for 39 percent of the Cougars' points this season.
• Only five times this season has neither Iroegbu nor Hawkinson led WSU in scoring and only three times has neither led WSU in rebounding.
• Iroegbu is the only Cougar to start all 26 games this season.
CHANGING UP THE LINEUP:
• Through 25 games this season, WSU has used 12 different starting lineups.
• Nine different Cougars have gotten at least three starting nods this season, as junior Ike Iroegbu is the only Cougar to start all 26 games this season.
• Below is a look at the different starting lineups used this season:
Hawkinson, Clifford, Iroegbu, Callison, Johnson (6)
Hawkinson, Izundu, Iroegbu, Callison, Johnson (5)
Longrus, Hawkinson, Iroegbu, Callison, Johnson (3)
Longrus, Hawkinson, Iroegbu, Redding, Boese (3)
Longrus, Izundu, Iroegbu, Callison, Johnson (2)
Longrus, Hawkinson, Iroegbu, Redding, Johnson (1)
Longrus, Hawkinson, Iroegbu, Daniels, Callison (1)
Longrus, Hawkinson, Boese, Iroegbu, Callison (1)
Longrus, Clifford, Iroegbu, Callison, Johnson (1)
Hawkinson, Boese, Izundu, Iroegbu, Johnson (1)
Hawkinson, Izundu, Iroegbu, Redding, Johnson (1)
Longrus, Hawkinson, Iroegbu, Johnson, Boese (1)
BLOCK PARTY:
• Through 25 games the Cougars have blocked 121 shots, averaging 4.7 blocks per game.
• As of games on Feb. 18, WSU was 53rd in the nation as a team, and sixth in the Pac-12 in blocks per game.
• Heading up the block party is junior transfer Valentine Izundu who is averaging 2.3 blocks per game which was ranked 15th in the nation and third in the Pac-12 prior to Izundu's foot injury in which he missed eight games.
• 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 145 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.
• 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.
• Izundu's 2.3 blocks per game average currently ranks fourth all-time in WSU's single-season record books.
A WIN SUNDAY WOULD:
• Make WSU 10-17 this season.
• Make WSU 2-13 in Pac-12 play this season.
• Snap WSU's 12-game losing streak.
• Put head coach Ernie Kent two wins away from 350 career wins.
• Match WSU's win total from 2013-14 (10).
A LOSS SUNDAY WOULD:
• Make WSU 9-18 this season.
• Make WSU 1-14 in Pac-12 play this season.
• Give California a 78-49 advantage in the all-time series and extend its winning streak over the Cougars to 3 games.
• Extend WSU's losing streak to 13 games, its longest since a 14-game losing streak in 2002-03.
MR. DOUBLE-DOUBLE; MR. 20-20:
• Junior Josh Hawkinson leads the Pac-12 and is sixth in the nation with 18 double-doubles in just 24 games this season (he missed the Nov. 24 game with a groin injury and Feb. 6 with an ankle injury).
• In WSU's overtime game against Washington, Jan. 9, Hawkinson did something he had never done before, grabbed 20 rebounds.
• He added 21 points, marking his first 20-20 double-double.
• Hawkinson is one of 16 Division I student-athletes this season to grab 20 or more rebounds and score 20 or more points in a single game a total of 18 times (Rokus Gustys of Hofstra and Joel Bolomby of Weber State have each done it twice).
• He's the only Pac-12 student-athlete to accomplish the feat this season and the first since March 9, 2006 when California's Leon Powe had 22 points and 20 rebounds against USC.
• His 20 rebounds are a Pac-12 best since Mike Moser of Oregon had 20 rebounds, Feb. 27, 2014 against UCLA.
HAWKINSON NOT SLOWING DOWN:
• After a breakout season as a sophomore last year, forward Josh Hawkinson has not slowed down this season.
• With a 11.0 rebounds per game average, he's on pace to come just shy of his own single-season record set last year with 334 rebounds.
• In WSU's Jan. 9 game against Washington, Hawkinson moved into WSU's career record book for rebounds, and currently ranks 12th all-time with 643 career rebounds.
• He has 264 rebounds through 24 games this season, if he can keep 11.0 rpg average, he would finish the season with 319 rebounds and 710 career rebounds, which would put him at eighth in WSU's career record books for rebounds.
• If WSU plays 31 games this season and Hawkinson remains healthy to finish with 29 games this season (he missed the Nov. 24 game due to a groin injury and Feb. 6 due to an ankle injury) and he continues to average 15.5 points per game, he will end the season with 970 career points, just 30 points shy of 1,000.
• Hawkinson also has 18 double-doubles through 24 games this season…he's on pace to finish the season with 23 double-doubles, three more than his single-season record he set as a sophomore.
• It would also give him 43 career double-doubles which would be second-best in school history and 10 behind Steve Puidokas (1974-77) who holds the WSU record with 53.
MISSING PIECES:
• The Cougars have been without three key pieces for 13 games this season.
• Junior center Valentine Izundu missed eight of WSU's games with a foot injury, his first miss was Jan. 9 and he returned Feb. 6.
• Prior to his injury, Izundu ranked third in the Pac-12 and in the top 15 in the nation for blocks per game.
• WSU lost all eight of the games Izundu missed this season, all eight in Pac-12 play.
• WSU blocks two more shots per game with Izundu, at 5.3 per game, than without him, at 3.3 blocks per game.
• The Cougars obviously missed their shot blocker as WSU opponents averaged 85.4 points per game without Izundu in the lineup.
• In games with Izundu, WSU's opponents are averaging 72.6 points per game.
• In his return, Feb. 6 against Arizona State, Izundu tied his career highs with 10 points and 7 rebounds, and added 3 blocked shots.
• WSU has had to play two games without its leading rebounder and scorer, Josh Hawkinson, who missed the Nov. 24 game against Cal State L.A. and the Feb. 6 game against Arizona State.
• Although the Cougars defeated Cal State L.A., 74-57, their 74 points marked the fewest in a win this season for WSU.
• WSU's 55 points in its loss to Arizona State marked its third-fewest points scored in a game this season.
• Starting point guard, Charles Callison, missed the last three games for WSU due to a concussion, losses at Colorado, Feb. 11 and Utah, Feb. 14 and at home against Stanford, Feb. 18.
WINS VERSUS LOSSES:
• WSU's numbers look a lot different in games won compared to games lost.
• In WSU's nine wins, it's averaging 82.0 points per game, compared to 66.4 points in losses.
• WSU's opponents are averaging 67.1 points per game in Cougar wins, while they are at 81.5 points per game in Cougar losses.
• There's also a big discrepancy when it comes to individual production.
• Junior Josh Hawkinson leads the team in scoring in wins with 18.9 points per game...he's averaging just 13.8 ppg in losses, second-best on the team.
• Junior Ike Iroegbu is leading WSU in scoring in losses with 14.5 points per game, nearly four more points than his 12.4 ppg in WSU wins.
NEW STARS STEP UP:
• While junior Josh Hawkinson has played a pretty steady role of leading man this year, each game has brought a different best supporting performance by a Cougar.
• At home against Stanford, Feb. 28, redshirt junior, Que Johnson, had his third-straight double-figure scoring game with 14 points, adding 4 rebounds and 2 assists.
• Freshman Robert Franks made all 7 of his career-high 7 free throw attempts as he finished with 10 points in WSU loss at Utah, Feb. 14.
• Redshirt junior Que Johnson, senior Brett Boese and sophomore Ny Redding all had huge games in WSU's heartbreaking double-overtime loss at Colorado, Feb. 11.
• Johnson had a career-high 25 points, Boese was 3-for-4 from 3-point range with 13 points and Redding finished with a solid 7 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists...all three played season-high minutes.
• Hawkinson was sidelined in WSU's game against Arizona State, Feb. 6, forcing others to step up...in his first game back from injury, redshirt junior, Valentine Izundu stepped up to have the second-most points for the Cougars and lead them in rebounding, tying his career highs with 10 points and 7 rebounds...Izundu added 3 blocked shots.
• Hawkinson's 16th double-double was complemented by junior Ike Iroegbu's 20 points, marking his third 20-point performance in the last four games.
• For the third-straight game, Iroegbu, led WSU in scoring with 16 points, while he chipped in 4 rebounds and a steal in WSU's loss at UCLA, Jan. 30.
• Iroegbu established him as co-leading man as he had his second-straight 20-point game, finishing with 21 points in WSU's loss at USC, Jan. 28.
• Iroegbu put in another case to become co-leading man as he came just one point shy of his career high with 27 points in WSU's loss to Colorado, Jan. 23.
• Junior Que Johnson had his second-highest scoring output in a loss to Utah Jan. 21, as he put up 16 points.
• Against No. 18/16 Arizona, Jan. 16, junior Charles Callison stepped up with 12 points, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 blocked shot.
• In WSU's loss at Arizona State, it's first road Pac-12 game of the season, it was the youngsters that stepped up as Franks and sophomore Derrien King both had career highs with 11 points each...they both played career-high minutes as well.
• Iroegbu led WSU with a career-high 28 points as WSU fell to Washington in overtime, Jan. 9...his 28 points went well with Hawkinson's 20 points and 20 rebounds.
• In WSU's win over No. 25 UCLA, Jan. 3, a number of Cougars could be chosen as the best supporting player as juniors Johnson and Renard Suggs scored 14 points each (a career-high for Suggs), and classmates Charles Callison and Conor Clifford added 12 and 10 points, respectively...all complemented Hawkinson's 20 points.
• In the Pac-12 opener against USC, Jan. 1, Suggs had his most points and minutes since Dec. 13 as he scored 9 in 21 minutes, adding 3 assists and 4 rebounds.
• Iroegbu kept stride with Hawkinson in WSU's victory over New Mexico Dec. 25, notching a double-double of his own with 17 points and 11 assists.
• In the low-scoring affair against Northern Iowa, Dec. 23, sophomore Derrien King stepped up for the second time in four games, tying his career high with 10 points going 4-for-10 from the field.
• Iroegbu was the only other player than Hawkinson to reach double figures, tying the team high with 16 points while adding 5 rebounds and 3 assists as WSU fell to No. 3/2 Oklahoma, Dec. 22.
• In WSU's Dec. 18 game against Texas State, Iroegbu out-scored his pal by 1 point, finishing with 18 points...he added 6 rebounds and 4 assists while shooting 7-for-11 from the field.
• King had his breakout performance when he scored 9 points in 6 first-half minutes against UTEP, Dec. 13, going on to finish with 10 points.
• Callison was just 3 assists shy of a double-double when he had 7 assists and 10 points at Idaho on Dec. 10.
• Callison had put up 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting one game prior against Portland State, Dec. 6
• With Hawkinson struggling from the field against No. 13 Gonzaga to finish with just 4 points, junior veterans Johnson and Iroegbu put up 18 and 17 points, respectively on a combined 15-for-31 shooting (.483).
• Against Texas Southern, Nov. 28, Iroegbu went 7-for-9 from the field for 19 points, while senior Junior Longrus was a bucket shy of his first career double-double with a career-high 10 rebounds, 8 points, 3 assists and 3 blocked shots.
• With Hawkinson out with an injury, 7-foot-center, and redshirt junior, Clifford stepped up for 18 points on 7-for-9 shooting and 5 rebounds, to lead the Cougars in scoring against Cal State Los Angeles, Nov. 24.
• Izundu captured Cougar hearts when he blocked 6 shots against Idaho State, Nov. 20, combined with 10 points on a perfect 4-for-4 from the field while adding 7 boards...Iroegbu starred in that game as well with 21 points and 7 assists.
• It was freshman Viont'e Daniels' big night on opening day as he went 5-for-5 from 3-point range to finish with 15 points...he added 4 rebounds, 2 assist and 2 steals.
LEADER OF THE PAC:
• Washington State's Josh Hawkinson leads the conference in three different categories; rebounds per game, defensive rebounds per game and double-doubles.
• He is also tied for 10th in scoring, seventh in field goal percentage, sixth in free throw percentage and 11th in blocks per game.
• His classmate, Ike Iroegbu, is 10th in the league in 3-point field goal percentage...he's 12th in assists per game, 10th for free throw percentage, and 17th in scoring.
• Junior Charles Callison is tied for 11th in steals per game.
KENT IN YEAR TWO:
• 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 117 conference wins rank 17th best 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.
• WSU's 13 wins in his first season tie him for third-best in Washington State history for wins by a men's basketball coach in his first season…he's tied with Kelvin Sampson (1987-88) and Dick Bennett (2003-04), as both of those were also improvements from the previous season.
• Kent has 347 career wins, needing just three more for 350.
ASSISTS LEAD TO WINS:
• Washington State has notched at least 15 assists in nine games this season.
• The Cougars are 7-2 this season when dishing out 15 or more assists.
• The Cougars have been out-assisted 10 times this season, all 10 losses.
• Just four times this season has WSU had fewer than 10 assists in a game.
FIRST HALF TELLS THE STORY:
• The Cougars are 9-1 this season when leading at the half and 0-16 when trailing at the half (WSU's lone loss when leading at the half came Jan. 9 against Washington).
• Under second-year head coach Ernie Kent WSU is 18-4 when leading at the half and 2-30 when trailing at the half.
GET TO 80:
• Washington State has scored 80 or more points in seven games this season.
• The Cougars are 5-2 when scoring 80 or more points, including 1-1 when reaching the 90-point plateau.
• On the other side, WSU is 0-10 when its opponent scores 80 or more points.
• Under second-year head coach Ernie Kent, the Cougars are 14-2 when scoring at least 80 points in a game.
• The Cougars under Kent are 0-16 when scoring less than 60 points and 1-26 when scoring less than 70 points in two seasons.
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.
LAST OUTING:
• Junior Josh Hawkinson had his 18th double-double of the season and 38th of his career…he's just two double-doubles away from his own school record for single-season double-doubles.
• Hawkinson finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds.
• For the third-straight game, redshirt junior Que Johnson scored in double figures, finishing with 14 points…he's scored in double figures six of the last seven games.
• Junior Ike Iroegbu had 5 points and was held to single-figure scoring for the third-straight game…is the team's second-leading scorer on the season.
• Iroegbu tied his career high with 7 rebounds, while adding 4 of the team's 10 assists.
• Junior Conor Clifford added 9 points on 4-for-5 shooting from the field.
• All 12 Cougars that suited up played…junior Charles Callison didn't play for the third-straight game after suffering a concussion.