COUGARS HOST DEACONS IN LONE EXHIBITION GAME: The Washington State University men's basketball team hosts New Hope Christian College in exhibition action, Sunday, Nov. 4 at 2 p.m. at Beasley Coliseum. 
• The game will not be televised or web streamed, but live stats are available at www.wsucougars.com. 

ABOUT THE DEACONS: 
• New Hope Christian College is a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA), Division I. 
• The Deacons are a member of the West Region Division, joined by Bethesda University, Biola University, Ottawa University Arizona, University of Saint Katherine, West Coast Baptist College and Yellowstone Christian College. 

NEXT UP:
• Washington State opens the 2018-19 season hosting Nicholls State in the season opener, Sunday, Nov. 11 at 4 p.m. in the second game of a women's-men's doubleheader. 
• The Cougars and Colonels have met just once in the two schools' histories as WSU cam away with the 78-69 win, Nov. 27, 2009 at the Great Alaska Shootout. 
• The Cougars then head to Kent, Wash. to take on Seattle U at the ShoWare Center, followed by three-straight home games at Beasley Coliseum with Cal Poly (Nov. 19), Delaware State (Nov. 24) and Cal State Northridge (Nov. 27).

ABOUT THE COUGARS: 
• Washington State men's basketball returns three starters, including three of its four top scorers from the 2017-18 squad, as head coach Ernie Kent enters his fifth season at the helm for the 2018-19 basketball season.
• Seniors Robert Franks and Viont'e Daniels look to lead the team, which features seven newcomers after putting up their best seasons in 2018-19, averaging 17.4 and 9.0 points, respectively. 
• Franks' big season was capped by being named the Pac-12's Most Improved Player of the Year, which led to him to declare for the NBA Draft, only to withdraw his name prior to the deadline. 
• Daniels was second on the team with 71 made 3-pointers and he, along with Franks and fellow-starter Carter Skaggs, combined for 206 of the team's school-record 341 3-pointers in 2017-18. 
• Senior Davante Cooper, junior Jeff Pollard and redshirt sophomore Arinze Chidom also return for Washington State in 2018-19.
• The Cougars look to fill the void at point guard with two junior college transfers in juniors Ahmed Ali and Jervae Robinson. 
• Although small in stature, Ali joins WSU after putting up big numbers, most recently at Eastern Florida State College, where he averaged 16.9 points and 4.8 assists per game in two seasons, while shooting .426 (230-for-540) from 3-point range on route to earning NJCAA Division I All-America second team honors as a sophomore. 
• Robinson comes to the Palouse from Otero Junior College.
• With just six returnees for the Cougs, WSU is looking for immediate impacts from several newcomers, including Iowa Western CC-transfer, Isaiah Wade, who was an NJCAA All-America nominee as a sophomore after averaging 12.1 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. 
• Freshman and Washington-native, CJ Elleby also joins the Cougars after picking up all-State honors each of his final three years at Cleveland HS in Seattle. 
• Freshman Aljaž Kunc and junior college transfers, sophomore Marvin Cannon and walk-on junior James Streeter also join the 2018-19 squad.

FRANKS NAMED TO JULIUS ERVING WATCH LIST:
• Senior Robert Franks is one of five Pac-12 student-athletes named to the 20-member 2019 Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Watch List.
• The list will be cut down to 10 in February and the five finalists will be narrowed down in March, with the winner being announced April 12, 2019.

FRANKS AND DANIELS EYE RECORD BOOKS:
• With 766 career points, Robert Franks needs just 234 points to become the 37th WSU men's basketball student-athlete to score 1,000-career points.
• Franks scored 521 points by averaging 17.4 points per game as a junior...if he can continue at that pace, he will finish with 1,287 points which would put him 16th on WSU's all-time scoring list. 
• Viont'e Daniels has made 101 career 3-pointers which ranks 21st on WSU's career list...if he can repeat his 71 made 3-pointers from his junior campaign, Daniels would finish his Cougar career with 172 3s, ranking ninth all-time.

KENT ENTERS FIFTH 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 127 conference wins rank him 15th-best in Pac-12 history (including Pacific-8 and Pacific-10 Conferences)....needing just five (132) to catch Hward Dallmar of Stanford (1955-75) for 14th. 
• His win, Feb. 18, 2017, 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 378 career wins as a head coach.

MARRION PROMOTED TO ASSISTANT COACH: 
• Fifth-year head coach, Ernie Kent, elevated Tim Marrion from coordinator of operations to assistant coach for the 2018-19 season.
• Marrion is currently in his third full-time stint with the WSU men's basketball program, as he returned to his alma mater in September of 2016 to assume the role of coordinator of basketball operations. 
• He previously served on the WSU men's basketball staff as the team's director of player development under then-head coach Ken Bone, during the 2013-14 season. 
• Prior to that, he was the coordinator of operations for Cougar basketball from spring of 2009 until the summer of 2012.
• Kenny Tripp joined the staff as coordinator of operations after one year as an assistant coach for Division II Metropolitan State University of Denver in 2017-18. 
• Prior to his stint with the Roadrunners, Tripp served as a graduate assistant for the men's basketball program at Division II Regis University at Denver, Colo., for two years (2015-17).