COUGARS CONTINUE HOMESTAND AGAINST REDHAWKS: 
• The Washington State men's basketball team (1-0) looks to ride its momentum from its season opener second half as it takes on Seattle U (1-1) for the first time since 1990-91, Wednesday, Nov. 15 at 6 p.m. at Beasley Coliseum.
• The game will be televised on Pac-12 Washington, as Greg Heister (play-by-play) and Dan Dickau (analyst) will have the call.
• All season long, Cougar basketball can be heard on the Cougar IMG Sports Radio Network with the Voice of the Cougars, Matt Chazanow on the call. 
• Please see page one of today's notes for the list of affiliates. 
• Live stats are also available at www.wsucougars.com. 

ABOUT THE REDHAWKS: 
• Seattle U is a member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), located in Seattle, Wash.
• First-year head coach, Jim Hayford took over for Seattle U this season after six seasons at Eastern Washington.
• WSU faced Hayford's EWU teams twice (2011-12 and 2012-13), winning both the matchups.
• The Redhawks opened the season with a 62-46 loss at Saint Louis, and followed it up with a 121-70 win over Puget Sound, Nov. 12.

COUGARS VERSUS REDHAWKS; WAC:
• Wednesday marks the 15th all-time meeting between Washington State and Seattle U, and the first since Dec. 29, 1990.
• The series is tied at 7-7, but WSU has won the last two meetings. 
• The Cougars are 5-1 at home against the Redhawks, 1-2 in neutral-site games and 1-4 in away games. 
• Seattle U is joined in the WAC by CSU Bakersfield, Chicago State, Grand Canyon, Kansas City, New Mexico State, UT Rio Grande Valley and Utah Valley. 
• WSU has faced just two other current members of the WAC, CSU Bakersfield (3-0) and Utah Valley (2-0), for an overall record against current members of the WAC of 12-7.

COUGARS USE MASSIVE COMEBACK TO SAVE SEASON OPENER: 
• WSU erased a 22-point first-half deficit to defeat Texas Southern, 86-84, Nov. 12, in WSU's season opener at Beasley Coliseum.
• Junior Robert Franks scored a career-high 25 points, grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds and had his first career double-double. 
• Franks scored just 3 points in the first half and had 22 in the second before fouling out in the second half. 
• Franks also had a career-high 8 free throws made and attempted, shooting all 8 in the second half. 
• Sophomore Malachi Flynn finished with 19 points and a career-high 8 assists…13 of his points came in the second half and overtime.
• Redshirt freshman, Milan Acquaah, was the other Cougar in double figure scoring, finishing with 12 points in his Cougar debut…he added 4 assists. 
• Acquaah was one of five Cougars to make his debut, joined by fellow starter Arinze Chidom, Davante Cooper, Carter Skaggs and Kwinton Hinson.
• Skaggs finished with 9 points and 7 rebounds in 18 minutes of action, with all of his points coming in the second half and overtime. 
• Chidom added 8 points and 7 boards in 30 minutes of action.
• The Cougars shot just .190  (4-for-21) in the first half, then followed at .400 (8-for-20) in the second half and .600 (3-for-5) in overtime for .326 overall. 
• Franks, Viont'e Daniels (2-for-2) and Carter Skaggs (4-for-4) were all perfect from the free throw line as WSU shot .724 (21-for-29) as a team.
• The overtime game marked the first for WSU since Jan. 21, 2017, when WSU defeated Colorado in overtime at Beasley Coliseum…the Cougs are 6-2 under fourth-year head coach Ernie Kent in overtime games. 
• The Cougars improve to 95-22 all-time in season openers and 56-8 when opening the season at home.
• WSU has won every season opener when opening at Beasley Coliseum and its last 22 season home openers.
• WSU has won 27-consectuive Beasley Coliseum openers (not necessarily the first game of the season, but first game at Beasley of the season).
• WSU improved to 3-0 all-time against Texas Southern.

WSU DEFEATS SAINT MARTIN'S IN EXHIBITION ACTION:
• Robert Franks put up 32 points and grabbed 10 boards as Washington State overcame a 13-point first-half deficit, to defeat Saint Martin's, 85-74, Sunday, in exhibition action at Beasley Coliseum. 
• The Cougars' 13-point deficit came with 3:30 to go in the first, which they were able to cut to 3, 44-41, at halftime. 
• WSU took its first lead at the 16:42 mark, and later used a 13-0 run, to take a 63-50 lead with 9:25 to go in the game. 
• Franks had a balanced game, scoring 15 in the first half, 17 in the second half. 
• Redshirt freshman Milan Acquaah, making his first appearance in a Cougar uniform, added 21 points and 5 assists off the bench for Washington State. 
• He was 11-for-16 from the free throw line, while adding a game-high 4 steals. 
• Sophomore Jeff Pollard led the team in rebounding with 11 boards, chipping in 6 points, an assist and a steal as a starter. 
• Fellow starters Malachi Flynn, Viont'e Daniels and Kwinton Hinson, added 11, 6 and 5 points, respectively. 

WSU SIGNS ELLEBY DURING EARLY PERIOD: 
• Charles 'CJ' Elleby (6-6, 195, Forward, Seattle Wash./Cleveland High School) signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball at WSU beginning in the fall of 2018.
• As a junior at Cleveland HS in 2016-17, Elleby averaged 23.0 points, 13.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game en route to being named to the All-Metro League team for the third-straight season. 
• As a sophomore, Elleby averaged 16.0 points and 10.0 rebounds while helping lead Cleveland HS to the 3A state tournament. 
• Heading into his senior season, Elleby has scored a total of 1,055 career points. 

FLYNN AND FRANKS SPEND SUMMERS PLAYING BALL:
• Sophomore Malachi Flynn was chosen as one of 28 of the nation's top 19-and-unders and was invited to attend the 2017 USA Basketball Men's U19 World Cup Team training camp, June 18-25 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center at Colorado Springs, Colo. 
• Flynn did not qualify for the team, but spent several days training with team coaches, Kentucky head coach John Calipari, Colorado head coach Tad Boyle and Wake Forest head coach, Danny Manning. 
• Franks spent part of his summer in China as part of the USA Eagles' summer tour.
• Other former Cougars to compete in the China with the USA Eagles include Valentine Izundu (2015), Josh Hawkinson (2014) and DaVonté Lacy (2012).
ABOUT THE COUGARS: 
• With the graduation of four of its starters from 2016-17 and just three players who averaged 9 or more minutes a game returning, gelling is key for the 2017-18 Washington State men's basketball team. 
• One piece in place on fourth-year head coach Ernie Kent's squad is at point guard, where sophomore Malachi Flynn, the only returning starter, looks to expand upon where he left off as a freshman.
• Flynn was fourth on the team averaging 9.7 points, with a team second-best 2.9 assists per game last season, earning Pac-12 All-Freshman Honorable Mention. 
• Kent also expects break-through seasons from juniors Robert Franks and Viont'e Daniels, who averaged 16.4 minutes and 17.1 minutes per game last season, respectively, along with sophomore Jeff Pollard who averaged 8.5 minutes in 24 games.  
• Redshirt junior KJ Langston and senior walk-on Steven Shpreyregin also return for WSU.
• Fans will see three familiar faces, that didn't see any action on the court in 2016-17, but were a huge presence on the bench and in practice, in the Cougars' three redshirt freshmen, Milan Acquaah, Arinze Chidom and Jamar Ergas. 
• WSU's four scholarship newcomers come with a wealth of experience in graduate-transfer Drick Bernstine, and JC-transfers Davante Cooper, Kwinton Hinson and Carter Skaggs. 
• Bernstine will have one year of eligibility with the Cougars, Cooper and Hinson two apiece and Skaggs three.  
• Freshman walk-on TJ Mickelson also joins this year's squad.

KENT IN FOURTH YEAR: 
• 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 123 conference wins rank him 15th-best in Pac-12 history (including Pacific-8 and Pacific-10 Conferences). 
• His win, Feb. 18 against Arizona State moved him out of a tie for 15th with former UCLA coach Ben Howland.
• 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 tied 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 361 career wins, as he got his 350th win Nov. 19 against Montana at the Paradise Jam. 

NEW YEAR, NEW LOOK STAFF: 
• Fourth Year WSU head coach, Ernie Kent, has a new look to his coaching staff for the 2017-18 season.
• With the departure of veteran assistant coaches, Greg Graham and Silvey Dominguez, Kent added former WSU standout and veteran coach, Bennie Seltzer (WSU, 1990-93) and well-known high school coach, Ed Haskins...Haskins' late-brother, Aaron Haskins, played basketball for the Cougars from 1980-83.
• Seltzer most recently served as an assistant coach at Loyola out of Chicago, Ill....prior to that, he was director of player performance at Indiana, head coach at Samford and an assistant coach at Indiana, Marquette and Oklahoma, respectively.
• Haskins came to the Palouse from Seattle where he was the head coach at Garfield HS...he led the team to the 3A State Championship in 2015 and the 4A State Championship in 2014, while being named the Coach of the Year four times.
• Former WSU student-athlete and grad assistant, Junior Longrus, earned his master's degree, making room for another new member of the staff, recruiting coordinator, Elwyn McRoy.

NEXT UP:
• The Cougars conclude their three-game homestand as they host Idaho State, Saturday, Nov. 18 at 1:30 p.m. at Beasley Coliseum. 
• WSU then hits the road for the Wooden Legacy at Fullerton, Calif., Nov. 23-26.