COUGARS VS. BLUEJAYS:
• The Washington State University men's basketball team (2-0) takes on No. 22/20 Creighton (2-0), Friday, Nov. 18 in the two teams' first game of the 2016 Paradise Jam played at the University of Virgin Island's Sports and Fitness Center at St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.
• The game marks just the third all-time meeting between the two schools as the series is tied at one win apiece. 
• The last time The Cougars and Bluejays met was Dec. 23, 1942, a Cougar loss at Omaha. 
• The second meeting was a WSU victory in the NCAA Tournament, March 21, 1941, at Kansas City, Mo.

COUGARS VS. RANKED FOES: 
• Creighton is the first ranked team that Washington State will face this season, currently ranked No. 22 in the Associated Press Poll.
• WSU is 49-227 all-time against teams ranked in the AP top 25 and 0-2 against the 22nd-ranked team in the country.
• The last time the Cougars faced the No. 22 team in the country was Nov. 14, 2011 against Gonzaga. 

AGAINST THE REST OF THE FIELD: 
• The Cougars will face either Montana or NC State in their second game of the tournament, depending on both games' outcomes. 
• If WSU wins, it will play the winner of Montana vs. NC State, Sunday, Nov. 20 at 5:30 p.m. PT/9:30 p.m. AT. 
• If the Cougars fall on Friday, they will play the loser of that game, Saturday, Nov. 19 at 3 p.m. PT/7 p.m. AT.
• The final games of the tournament take place Monday, Nov. 21. 
• The other side of the bracket includes Loyola, Ole Miss, Oral Roberts and Saint Joseph's.

WSU IN REGULAR SEASON TOURNAMENTS: 
• WSU has played in 65 regular season tournaments dating back to the 1954-55 season, holding an 83-83 all-time record in those tournaments. 
• This is the first tournament the Cougars will have played in the Virgin Islands.
• The Cougars have struggled as of late in regular season tournaments, having gone just 5-10 in their last five  tournaments, but went 2-1 two seasons ago at the Great Alaska Shootout (See page 4 of today's notes for more).
• Prior to that, WSU appeared in the championship game of its 2009 and 2010 tournaments, the Great Alaska Shootout and Diamond Head Classic.
• In 2009, then-sophomore Klay Thompson had a breakout performance as he led the Cougars to the championship at the Great Alaska Shootout. 
• The Ladera Ranch, Calif. native earned Most Outstanding Player honors averaging 29.7 points, five rebounds, 4.7 assists and two steals in wins against Alaska Anchorage, Nicholls State and San Diego. 
• His junior year,  Thompson led WSU to wins over Mississippi State and No. 15 Baylor in its first two games of the 2010 Diamond Head Classic, before falling to Butler in the championship game on Christmas Day.
• Butler went on to fall to UConn in the NCAA Title game that year.
• Thompson was named to the all-tournament team.
• WSU senior forward Josh Hawkinson has ties to the Paradise Jam as his father, Nels Hawkinson, started the tournament in 2000 after visiting the Virgin Islands on vacation. 
• The elder Hawkinson is the executive director of Basketball Travelers Inc., the company that puts on the Paradise Jam, as well as several other college and high school events, and foreign tours, including WSU's to Italy in 2016.

ABOUT THE COUGARS:
• Washington State returns seven letterwinners including three starters to the 2016-17 squad, led by two-time All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention, Josh Hawkinson.
• Fellow seniors, guards Ike Iroegbu and Charles Callison, return as 2015-16 starters, while classmate, center, Conor Clifford also returns after starting 14 games last season.
• Junior Derrien King and sophomores Viont'e Daniels and Robert Franks round out the returnees for the Cougars.
• Seven newcomers join the WSU men's basketball program, led by Washington's 2015-16 4A Player of the Year, freshman guard Malachi Flynn.
• Sophomore guard KJ Langston and freshman forward Jeff Pollard look to contribute this season, while three freshmen are projected to use their redshirt seasons.
• Freshmen guards Milan Acquaah and Jamar Ergas and forward Arinze Chidom all look to use their redshirts, while walk-on junior guard Steven Shpreyregin may see minutes. 

KENT IN YEAR THREE: 
• 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 349 career wins, needing just three more for 350. 

KING OF THE COURT:
• Junior Derrien King had a big game in WSU's season opener against Montana State, Nov. 11.
• The 6-6 guard put up a career high 22 points on 6-for-12 shooting and 3-for-6 from beyond the 3-point arc. 
• He added 5 rebounds in a career-high 31 minutes played.
• Hawkinson notched his 41st career double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds in the opener.

PASSING THE POINT:
• Freshman Malachi Flynn started at point guard for the Cougars in their season opener, Nov. 11, against Montana State.
• He became the first Cougar freshman to start a season opener since his teammate, senior Ike Iroegbu started his first game, Nov. 9, 2013, a victory over CSU Bakersfield, also at point guard. 
• Flynn came one rebound shy of a double-double with 10 points and 9 boards, adding 2 assists against the Bobcats.
• In his second career game, Flynn led the Cougars in scoring with 18 points against Central Washington.

COUGARS BOND IN ITALY:
• The Cougar men's basketball team spent 10 days in August touring Italy as part of it's once every four years, international tour. 
• WSU started in Rome and worked its way up to Lake Como with stops in Florence, Pisa, Venice and Vicenza, visiting numerous historical sites along the way.
• The Cougars played five games, going 3-2 in those games. 
•Josh Hawkinson led the team with 18.6 points and 9.0 rebounds, Ike Iroegbu added 16.0 points and 7.2 assists a game, while freshman Malachi Flynn started all five games and averaged 10.8 points and 6.2 assists per game. 

WSU to Play in 2016 Paradise Jam:
• Washington State is one of eight teams that will participate in the 2016 U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam, Nov. 18-21, 2016, at the University of the Virgin Islands at St. Thomas.
• Washington State will be joined in the field by Creighton, Loyola (Ill.), Ole Miss, Montana, North Carolina State, Oral Roberts and Saint Joseph's. 

JOSH HAWKINSON NAMED TO KAREEM ABDUL-JABAR WATCHLIST:
• For the second-straight year, Josh Hawkinson has been named to the 20-member 2017 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award watch list.
• Last season, as a junior, Hawkinson made the mid-season list of 10.
• He is one of three Pac-12 student-athletes to be named to the list, as he's joined by Chris Boucher of Oregon and Thomas Welsh of UCLA.
• By mid-February, the watch list of 20 players for the 2017 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award 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.

JOSH HAWKINSON EYEING RECORD BOOKS:
• Senior Josh Hawkinson has his eyes on several milestones and records at Washington State.
• With 725 rebounds, he is just 267 rebounds away from the WSU record set by Steve Puidokas from 1974-77, and just 275 away from becoming the 13th Pac-12 student-athlete to grab 1,000 rebounds in his career. 
• With 969 career points, he is just 31 points shy of becoming the 35th Cougar to score 1,000 career points. 
• Hawkinson is also just 11 double-doubles away from the school record, also held by Puidokas.

HAWKINSON MASTERS HIS CLASSES: 
• Senior Josh Hawkinson graduated with his business degree in the summer after just three years at WSU.
• He is currently working on his master's in business administration in WSU's one-year program. 

WSU DEFEATS CARROLL COLLEGE IN EXHIBITION ACTION: 
• Senior Josh Hawkinson had a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds, while his classmate, Ike Iroegbu added 14 points, as the Cougars defeated Carroll College, 78-70 in exhibition action, Sunday, Nov. 6 at Beasley Coliseum. 
• Freshman Malachi Flynn added 12 points, while junior Derrien King chipped in 11. 
• Senior Charles Callison led the team with 4 assists, adding 6 points. 
• The Cougars came back after trailing by 9, 35-26, at halftime, scoring 52 points in the second half.