WSU HEADS TO PAC-12 TOURNAMENT: Looking for its first tournament win since 2009, Washington State men's basketball (13-17, 6-12) heads to Las Vegas for the 2017 Pac-12 Men's Basketball Tournament, March 8-11, held at T-Mobile Arena.
• WSU enters the tournament as the No. 10 seed and will take on seventh-seeded Colorado (18-13, 8-10) for the second-straight year, Wednesday, March 8 at 6 p.m.
• If the Cougars win they will advance to the quarterfinals to take on second-seeded Arizona, Thursday, March 9 at 6 p.m.
• Wednesday's game will be televised on Pac-12 Network as Ted Robinson (play-by-play) and Bill Walton (analyst) have the call with Lewis Johnson on the sidelines. 
• Second-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. 

WSU IN THE CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT:
• Washington State is the No. 10 seed in the 2017 Pac-12 Tournament and will face No. 7 Colorado in the first round.
• The Cougars finished tied for ninth in the Pac-12 will a 6-12 league record, tying with Stanford...Stanford had the tiebreaker over WSU due to winning the only meeting between the two teams this season.
• Wednesday marks the second all-time and second-straight meeting between Washington State and Colorado in the conference tournament.
• Colorado made it three wins over WSU last season as it defeated the Cougars, 80-56, in the first round of the tournament, March 9, 2016 at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
• WSU has faced 10 of the 11 other Pac-12 teams in the tournament, the exception being Utah.
• The Cougars have not won a tournament game since the 2009 tournament when Tony Bennett's WSU squad defeated Ernie Kent's Oregon team.
• WSU was the No. 7 seed the last time it won a conference tournament game.
• WSU has never won a conference tournament game when seeded ninth or worse.
• The Cougars haven't won a tournament game since the Pac-12 was formed in 2011-12 and the tournament was moved to Las Vegas.
• Three of Washington State's last six tournament games were determined by 5 points or less, two of them by 2 points.
• If WSU were to win Wednesday, it would face second-seeded Arizona Thursday at 6 p.m.
• The Cougars have faced the Wildcats in the tournament once, 1989, where they fell 62-54.

COUGARS VERSUS BUFFALOES: 
• Amongst Pac-12 foes, WSU has the fewest meetings with Colorado, as Wednesday marks just the 14th all-time meeting between the two teams. 
• Colorado holds a 10-3 advantage in the series and won the three meetings last season.
• The two teams split the regular season series this year, each win coming at the team's respective home. 
    • WSU defeated Colorado, 91-89 in overtime, Jan. 21 at Pullman.
    • Colorado defeated WSU, 81-41, Feb. 12 at Boulder.
• Aside from the two conference matchups last season, Colorado and WSU also met in the Pac-12 Tournament. 
• The Cougars have defeated the Buffs just twice since Colorado joined the Pac-12 prior to the 2011-12 season, as CU leads 9-2 in league meetings between the two teams. 
• WSU's only other Pac-12 win over Colorado came March 7, 2015 by the score of 96-91 in overtime at Beasley Coliseum.
• At least one of the two meetings between Washington State and Colorado over the last four seasons has been decided in overtime.
• The series is tied at 1-1 in neutral site meetings...WSU defeated Colorado, 84-74, Dec. 19, 1969 at the New Mexico Invitational.

WSU AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS:
• If WSU wins Wednesday, it would play Arizona Thursday...Arizona is ranked seventh in this week's Associated Press Poll, marking WSU's seventh game against a  ranked opponent this season...Arizona andUCLA were ranked in both league meetings with WSU this year.
• The Cougars are 49-233 all-time against top-25 ranked foes, 0-6 this season, and have lost eight-straight games to ranked opponents. 
• WSU's last win against a ranked opponent came last season, Jan. 3, 2016 against then-No. 25 UCLA.
• Washington State lost both meetings against then-No. 5 (Feb. 16) and then No. 7 (Jan. 26) Arizona, to then-No. 11 UCLA (Feb. 1), then-No. 15 Oregon (Jan. 7) and then-No. 22 Creighton (Nov. 18) this season, and then-No. 23 and then-No. 18 Arizona (Feb. 3, 2016 and Jan. 16, 2016) last season. 
• The Cougars' last win over a top-10 team came Jan. 6, 2007 against No. 7 Arizona in overtime.
• WSU is a combined 0-54 against top-3 teams.
• The Cougars are 3-44 all-time against Wildcat teams ranked in the AP Top 25, with their last win over them being Feb. 1, 2007 as Arizona was ranked 20th.

SENIORS GO OUT IN STYLE:
• All four Cougar seniors (Charles Callison, Conor Clifford, Josh Hawkinson and Ike Iroegbu) scored in double figures on 'Senior Day' versus Washington, Sunday, Feb. 26.
• The seniors combined to score WSU's first 23 points, and all four scored before any other Cougar was able to log a point.
• WSU's late second-half 11-0 run was senior-powered, with free throws from Hawkinson, layups for Callison and Iroegbu, and a Hawkinson 3-pointer and layup.
• Clifford started the game a perfect 4-for-4 from the floor, and finished 6-for-9 with 12 points. 
• Iroegbu added 15 points (13 in the second half), Callison had 18, and Hawkinson led all scorers with 22 (18 in the second half).
• Callison also tied his career high in steals, with 5.
• All four of the Cougar seniors finished with double-digit career scoring averages against the Huskies.

HAWKINSON RE-WRITING RECORD BOOK:
•  Feb. 18, versus Arizona State, senior Josh Hawkinson tallied his 54th career double-double, passing Steve Puidokas (1974-77) for the school record.
• His 55 double doubles mark the highest active total across NCAA Division I.
• March 4 at UCLA, Hawkinson grabbed 14 boards to pass Puidokas for WSU's career rebounding record...Puidokas tallied 992 rebounds and Hawkinson now has 1,003.
• He became the 13th Pac-12 student-athlete to grab 1,000 rebounds in his career and currently ranks 12th in the Pac-12 record books.
• Of the Pac-12's top-25 career rebounders, Hawkinson is one of five student-athletes to have grabbed 942 or more rebounds since the turn of the century.
• With 583 career Pac-12 rebounds, Hawkinson  finished his career eighth in the Pac-12's top-10 for career rebounds in conference games.
• Now with 1,402 points, he became the 35th Cougar to score 1,000 career points, and currently ranks 12th on WSU's career scoring list and is just six points away from 11th place.
• He needs nine points to break into the top-10.
• He is also tied for seventh all-time for career blocks with 94.

IROEGBU PASSES 1,000 POINT MARK: 
• Senior Ike Iroegbu scored 12 points, Jan. 7 versus Oregon, and became the 36th Cougar to score 1,000 in his career. 
• Iroegbu joins his classmate, Josh Hawkinson, as the second Cougar to reach the milestone this season, as Hawkinson scored the 1,000th point of his career, Nov. 19 against Montana.
• Iroegbu and Hawkinson are the first Cougar teammates to reach the 1,000-point plateau in the same season since then-seniors Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver reached 1,000 points during the 2007-08 season. 
• Iroegbu broke into the top-20 on WSU's career scoring list, Feb. 18, versus Arizona State...his 17 points helped him pass Terry ball (1960-62), who now sits in 20th on the list...he is just 6 points away from 19th.
• He's also climbing up the assists list, having just passed Marty Giovacchini (1984-77) for eighth all-time with 372 career assists...9 away from Taylor Rochestie's (2007-09) seventh-place mark of 381.

IROEGBU IMPROVING IN PAC-12 PLAY: 
• Senior Ike Iroegbu has been a different player in the Cougars' most recent Pac-12 games.
• In his first six conference games, Iroegbu scored in double figures three times, averaging just 9.8 ppg (59 total points) on 20-of-45 shooting.
• In his last 11 Pac-12 games, Iroegbu has scored in double figures 11-of-12 times, averaging 15.4 ppg (185 total points) on 67-of-131 shooting (.475).
• Iroegbu has scored 20 or more points in four of those 12 games (22 points-Feb. 4 & Jan. 29, 20 points-Feb. 1 & Jan. 21).
• He has dished out 59 assists to just 28 turnovers in his last nine Pac-12 games (a 2.12 assist-to-turnover ratio and an average of 4.9 apg). 
• In his first six Pac-12 games, he had a 1.3 assist-to-turnover ratio, and average of 2.7 apg.

DANIELS THE DISTRIBUTOR:
• After notching a career-high four assists versus ASU, Feb. 18, sophomore Viont'e Daniels accomplished the feat again, at USC, March 1.
• Twelve of his 32 assists on the season have come over the last five games, including 10 in his last four outings.

LATE-GAME RUNS GO COUGARS' WAY:
•  In WSU's conference victories versus Arizona State and Washington, the Cougars used late-game scoring runs, to put the games away.
•  Against ASU, Feb. 18, WSU trailed 69-65 with 7:41 to play.
    •  The Cougars finished the final 7:41 on a 21-2 run, to secure the 86-71 win. 
•  Versus Washington, Sunday, WSU trailed 64-60 when senior Josh Hawkinson stepped to the free throw line with 5:18 remaining.
    •  The Cougars went on an 11-0 run over the next 3:26, and finished the final five-plus minutes outscoring the Huskies, 19-7.
•  WSU shot 62.1 and 64.3 percent from the field, respectively, in each of those second halves.
•  WSU outscored ASU 43-22 and UW 48-40 in the second half, after not leading at the break in either game.
•  The Cougars average 37.0 points in the second halves of all games this season, as opposed to 33.3 points in first halves.

COUGARS PICK UP PAC-12 HONORS:
• Washington State senior forward, Josh Hawkinson, was named All-Pac-12 Second Team, the conference announced March. 6. 
• The Second Team honors mark the first for Hawkinson who was named Honorable Mention each of the last two seasons.
• He's the first Cougar to be named to the Pac-12 Second Team since Brock Motum in 2013, and the first to be named second team or better since DaVonté Lacy was named to the first team in 2015.
• Freshman Malachi Flynn earned Pac-12 All-Freshman Honorable Mention, marking the first Cougar freshman to earn any conference all-freshman honors since DaVonté Lacy was also named Honorable Mention in 2012.

COMEBACK COUGS:
• Washington State eliminated a six-point halftime deficit (49-43), en route to its 86-71 win, Feb. 18 versus Arizona State. 
• It was the Cougars' fourth second-half comeback this season, and second time beating the Sun Devils after trailing at the break.
• In the game against ASU, the Cougars held the Sun Devils to just 22 points, a season-low for a WSU opponent this season.
• Prior to that game, ASU was averaging 41.1 points in the second half in Pac-12 games and had scored 40-plus points in the second half in 19 games this season.
• WSU's seven-point halftime deficit (40-33) at Washington, Jan. 1, 2017, was the largest overcome by the Cougars this season. 

SHARING THE WEALTH:
• The Cougars shot 59.3 percent  from the floor (season-best) Feb. 18 against Arizona State and dished out 28 assists. 
• The 28 assists were four-shy of the school-record 32 assists, and were the most since dishing out 28 assists, also against Arizona State, March 2, 1996.
• Freshman Malachi Flynn and  sophomore Viont'e Daniels each logged career highs in assists with 7 and 4 assists, respectively.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME:
• With the Feb. 18 win against Arizona State, the Cougars guaranteed  themselves a winning home record this season. 
• After the 79-71 win over rival Washington, Sunday, WSU completed the home portion of its schedule at 10-7.
• The finish marks the second above .500 home record for the Cougars under the direction of head coach Ernie Kent. 
• The Cougars were 8-6 at Beasley Coliseum during Kent's first season (2014-15). 
•  The 10 home wins are the most for WSU since owning an identical 10-7 home record in 2012-13...they also broke a streak of three-straight seasons with 8 home wins.
• Sunday's win versus UW also gave WSU four home conference wins for the second time in the past three seasons. 
• WSU won four home conference games just one time in the three years prior to Kent's arrival.

30-POINT SCORERS:
• Seniors Charles Callison and Josh Hawkinson each had their first 30-point scoring game this season.
• Callison scored 30 in WSU's win over Colorado, Jan. 21, then, two-games later, Hawkinson scored 31 in WSU's win at Arizona State, Jan. 29. 
• Callison became the first Cougar to score 30 points since DaVonté Lacy scored 31 against UTSA, Dec. 6 2014. 
• Callison and Hawkinson became the first Cougar duo to reach the 30-point plateau in the same season since Royce Woolridge scored 36  (Feb. 16) and Brock Motum scored 31 (March 9) in 2013. 
• Washington State is one of three Pac-12 schools to have at least two separate 30-point scorers in league play this season, being joined by UCLA (three) and Washington (two different players, although Markelle Fultz from Washington has scored 30-plus in three Pac-12 games)
• The Cougars also have four 25-point scorers this season and are one of three Pac-12 schools to have had four different players score 25 or more points in a game this season (Oregon and Stanford). 

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.
• Flynn had his best game in the seventh of his career, Nov. 30 against Utah Valley.
• He finished with a career-high 27 points on 11-for-14 shooting from the field.
• His 27 points are the sixth-most in a single game by a WSU freshman and his 11 field goals are a freshman single-game record.
• Flynn is joined in the top-eight for single-game freshman scoring by Isaac Fontaine, Klay Thompson, Steve Puidokas, Bennie Seltzer, Milo McIver, and Marcus Moore.
• Currently Flynn is eighth on WSU's freshman list for scoring average with 10.1 points per game, just over 2 points behind Klay Thompson (2009) in fourth.
• In WSU's freshman class records, he's also seventh for 3-point field goal percentage (.389), sixth for assists average (2.9), sixth in total assists (88), and fourth in total 3-pointers made with 58 (one away from DaVonté Lacy's 2012 third-place mark of 59).
• So far this season, Flynn has started every game for the Cougars.
• Since 1972-73, only two WSU true freshman started every game they played that season.
• Klay Thompson started all 33 of the Cougars' games in 2008-09, while Mark Hendrickson started all 27 games for WSU in 1992-93.

HOT CONFERENCE START:
• The Cougars got their first win in a conference opener since 2007-08 when they defeated the Huskies, 79-74, Jan. 1, 2017.
• The last time WSU had won a conference opener was the Pacific-10 opener at Washington, Jan. 5, 2008.
• With WSU's win over Oregon State, Jan. 4, 2017, it moved to 2-0, marking the first time it had started 2-0 in league play since that same season, 2007-08.
• The Cougars defeated USC at Los Angeles, Jan. 10, 2008 to move to 2-0 that year. 
• This year the Cougars matched their record in their first three Pac-12 games (2-1) in Ernie Kent's first year as head coach...WSU went on to start 3-1 in league play that year. 
• The Cougars have already surpassed their win total from 2015-16 (nine) and quadrupled their Pac-12 win total from a year ago (one).

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. 

TOP OF THE PAC:
• Five different Cougars rank in the top-15 in the Pac-12 in 11 different categories:
    • Josh Hawkinson (points per game, rebounds per game, field goal percentage, defensive rebounds per game, double-doubles, free throw percentage, minutes per game).
    • Conor Clifford (field goal percentage).
    • Malachi Flynn (3-point field goals made, minutes per game).
    • Ike Iroegbu (assists, assists average, assist/turnover ratio, minutes per game).
    • Charles Callison (steals) and 3-point field goal percentage).
• Hawkinson is also top-25 nationally in four different categories: double-doubles (18th), defensive rebounds per game (fourth), rebounds (20th), and rebounds per game (18th).

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 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 360 career wins, as he got his 350th win Nov. 19 against Montana at the Paradise Jam. 

JOSH HAWKINSON NAMED  KAREEM ABDUL-JABAR AWARD FINALIST:
• For the second-straight year, Josh Hawkinson has been named a finalist on the 20-member 2017 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award watch list.
• Feb. 3, it was announced that Hawkinson, made the mid-season list of 10 for the second-consecutive year.
• He was one of three Pac-12 student-athletes to be named to the list, and is one of two finalists, as he's joined by Thomas Welsh of UCLA.
• In March, five finalists will be presented to Abdul-Jabbar and the Hall of Fame's selection committee, and the award will be presented April 7, 2017 at ESPN's College Basketball Awards, presented by Wendy's.

HAWKINSON A CANDIDATE FOR THE SENIOR CLASS AWARD:
• Senior Josh Hawkinson has been named one of 30 men's basketball candidates for the Senior CLASS Award. 
• To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.
• In February, the 30 candidate class will be narrowed to 10 finalists, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot.

KENT NAMED TO NCAA COMMITTEE:
• WSU Head Coach Ernie Kent was chosen to serve on the newly created Division I Men's Basketball Competition Committee which will report directly to the Division I Men's Basketball Oversight Committee in an advisory role.
• One student-athlete, two current head coaches, four Division I staff members and three members of the public with significant men's basketball experience will form the committee. 
• The committee also will have regular communication with the NCAA Men's Basketball Rules Committee and will review student-athlete health and safety, sportsmanship and integrity, game operations and presentation, technology, and statistical trends. 
• The group will develop strategic principles in these areas, subject to the approval of the Men's Basketball Oversight Committee.
• This committee was announced Dec. 2, 2016. 
• The other coach on the committee joining Kent is Bob McKillop of Davidson College. 

WSU AT THE 2016 PARADISE JAM:
• Washington State finished sixth at the 2016 Paradise Jam, held Nov. 18-21 at the University of the Virgin Islands at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.
• WSU senior forward Josh Hawkinson has ties to the tournament 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.
• Hawkinson was named to the all-tournament team after averaging 18.0 points and 11.0 rebounds in WSU's three games.
• Against Montana, Hawkinson had a career-high 29 points, adding 14 rebounds including his 1,000th career point to become the 35th Cougar to do so. 

BIG GAMES IN PARADISE:
• Washington State's starting big men, 6-10 forward Josh Hawkinson and 7-0 center Conor Clifford, both seniors, each had a 29-point game at the Paradise Jam.
• Clifford had his career night against No. 22 Creighton, setting career highs for points (29), field goals made (12), minutes played (28) and free throws made (5).
• Hawkinson had his the next day against Montana, setting a career high for points with 29, while grabbing a season-high 14 rebounds.

KENT STARTS GAME ON IDAHO BENCH:
• Cougar Head Coach Ernie Kent began the Dec. 7 game sitting next to Idaho coach Don Verlin on the Idaho bench, all in the name of helping to find a cure for cancer.
• Kent bid on an auction item donated by Idaho and Verlin – and won – at the 15th annual Coaches vs. Cancer Gala in Spokane, Sept. 24. 
• The 'Coach for a Day' package that Kent won, includes the chance to sit on the Idaho bench for the start of a game this season, in which Kent chose the Dec. 7 game at Pullman.
• Kent made his way to the Idaho bench shortly before tip...after WSU's first possession after winning the tip, he made his way back to the Cougar bench where he remained the rest of the game. 
• Both Kent and Verlin lost their fathers to cancer, so the cause is a close one to the pair. 

COUGARS BOND IN ITALY:
• The Cougar men's basketball team spent 10 days in August touring Italy as part of its 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.