QUICK HITS • NATIONAL RANKINGS:     • Scoring: Robert Franks, 6th (26.8 ppg).     • A/TO Ratio: Ahmed Ali, 23rd (4.0); Viont'e Daniels, 55th (3.25).     • Defensive Rebounds: Robert Franks, 55th (6.50 drpg).     • Rebounding: Robert Franks, 71st (8.8 rpg).     • Assists: Viont'e Daniels, 63rd (5.2 apg); Ahmed Ali, 161st (4.0).     • Double-Doubles: Robert Franks, 64th (2).     • Fewest Fouls: Team, 2nd (74).     • Fewest Turnovers: Team, 10th (58).     • Assist/Turnover Ratio: Team, 9th (1.74).     • Assists: Team, 6th (20.2 apg). • APPROACHING RECORD BOOKS:     • With 873 points, Robert Franks needs 127 points to reach 1,000 career points.     • With 55 career blocks, Franks ranks tied for 19th in WSU's career record books...one more (56) will put him in a tie for 18th.      • With 114 3-pointers, Viont'e Daniels ranks 10th on WSU's career list and needs just five to move into a tie for 19th.

WSU LOOKS FOR FIRST ROAD WIN OF THE SEASON: The Washington State University men's basketball team (4-1) hits the road for the second time this season as it head to Las Cruces, N.M. to take on New Mexico State (5-1), Saturday, Dec. 1 at 6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT.
• The game will not be televised but is available on the WAC Digital Network at www.wacdigitalnetwork.com and can be streamed on various devices including Roku, Apple TV and Fire TV.
• 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 AGGIES: 
• Located in Las Cruces, N.M., New Mexico State is a member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). 
• The Aggies enter Saturday's game with a 5-1 overall record including a 3-1 home mark.
• NMSU's only loss of the season came at the hands of Saint Mary's by the score of 73-58, Nov. 14.
• The Aggies have wins over local rivals UTEP (home and away), New Mexico (on the road) and against Eastern New Mexico.
• Head coach Chris Jans is in his second season after taking NMSU to the NCAA Tournament in 2017-18, it's sixth NCAA Tournament appearance in seven years.
• AJ Harris, Terrell Brown and Ivan Aurrecoechea lead the balanced scoring attack averaging 13.0, 11.5 and 11.0 points per game, respectively.

COUGARS VERSUS AGGIES; WAC:
• Saturday marks the first all-time meeting between Washington State and New Mexico State, as well as WSU's second game this season against a member of the WAC.
• The Cougars fell at Seattle U, in Kent, Wash., 78-69, Nov. 14, without leading scorer Robert Franks. 
• New Mexico State is joined in the WAC by Cal Baptist, CSU Bakersfield, Chicago State, Grand Canyon, Kansas City, Seattle U, UT Rio Grande Valley and Utah Valley.
• WSU has faced just three current members of the WAC, CSU Bakersfield (3-0), Seattle U (8-8) and Utah Valley (2-0), for an overall record against current members of the WAC of 13-8.

NONCONFERENCE ROAD STRUGGLES:
• WSU is looking for its first nonconference road win since defeating Idaho, 76-66, 2013 at Moscow.
• The Cougars have lost seven-straight conconference games on the road.
• WSU's last nonconference road win outside a 10 mile radius of Pullman came by the score of 83-73 at Portland, Nov. 20.

ABOUT THE COUGARS: 
• WSU is 4-1 overall, 4-0 at home and 0-1 on the road after winning its season opener over Nicholls, 89-72, Nov. 11, falling at Seattle U, 78-69, Nov. 14, and defeating Cal Poly, 84-70 Nov. 19, Delaware State (80-52) Nov. 24 and CSUN, 103-94, Nov. 27. 
• Senior forward Robert Franks missed WSU's game at Seattle U after putting up 31 points against Nicholls in the opener. 
• Franks has reached the 20-point plateau in all four games he's played this season as he added 30 against Cal Poly, 24 against Delaware State and 22 against CSUN.
• Franks has also has two double-doubles and is adding 8.8 rebounds per game along with his Pac-12 leading 26.8 points per game, which ranks sixth nationally.
• Junior Isaiah Wade is averaging 13.0 points after putting up a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds at Seattle U in just his second game as a Cougar...he missed WSU's game s against Delaware State and CSUN. 
• Freshman CJ Elleby, junior Ahmed Ali and senior Viont'e Daniels are all also averaging double figures with 11.4, 11.0 and 10.0 points per game, respectively. 
• Elleby had his first career double-double Nov. 27 with career highs of 23 points and 11 rebounds and is averaging 7.8 rebounds on the season.
• Daniels and Ali are leading the team in assists, averaging 5.2 and 4.0, respectively, to rank third and ninth in the conference, respectively.
• Ali and Daniels are first and second, respectively, in the Pac-12 with 4.0 and 3.25 assist/turnover ratios...Ali is 23rd nationally, while Daniels is 55th. 
• This season WSU returned three starters, including three of its four top scorers from the 2017-18 squad, in Ernie Kent's fifth year at the helm.
• 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. 
• 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 873 career points, Robert Franks needs just 127 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 114 career 3-pointers which ranks 20th 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.
• See the bottom of this page for more records.

COUGARS SIGN THREE:
• Daron (Duh-ron) Henson, Ryan Murphy and Nigel John each signed an NLI to join WSU men's basketball next season. 
• Daron Henson (6-7, 210, Small Forward, Pasadena, Calif./Salt Lake CC) is in his first season with Salt Lake Community College after two seasons at Utah State...Henson redshirted his freshman season in 2016-17 before appearing in 33 games, including one start in 2017-18. 
• He averaged 4.3 points and 1.9 rebounds a game for the Aggies as a redshirt freshman. 
• Four games into the 2018-19 season, Henson is averaging 14.0 points while shooting .429 from the field and adding 6.3 rebounds per game. Henson will enter the WSU program as a redshirt junior.
• Ryan Murphy (6-2, 190, Guard, Calabasas, Calif./New Mexico Junior College) is in his first season at New Mexico Junior College where he's averaging 17.2 points per game in six games in the 2018-19 season. 
• Murphy transferred to NMJC from Charlotte where he redshirted as a freshman in 2016-17. He averaged 6.7 points per game in 19 games as a redshirt freshman in 2017-18 before an injury cut his season short at 19 games. 
• He shot .400 (32-for-80) from beyond the arc in 2017-18.
• Nigel John (6-9, 250, Center, Allen Texas/Lakeland Christian Academy) comes to WSU from Lakeland Christian Academy in Texas. 

COUGARS ROLL IN EXHIBITION GAME: 
• Eight of WSU's 13 players scored in double, including five newcomers, as Washington State defeated New Hope Christian, 138-63, Nov. 4 in exhibition action at Beasley Coliseum.
• Freshman Aljaž Kunc led the way in scoring with 24 points, while his classmate and WSU's only other freshman had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. 
• Kunc was 10-for-11 from the field, as WSU shot at a .691 (56-for-81) clip from the field as a team. 
• Junior college transfers, Jervae Robinson (16 points), Isaiah Wade (15) and Ahmed Ali (15) also reached double figure scoring in their Cougar uniform debuts. 
• The Cougars assisted on 35 of their 56 baskets and had 41 points on NHCC's 23 turnovers. 
• WSU had 12 dunks on the night...last season in regular season action it had 28 dunks in 31 games.  
• For more, please see the boxscore on page 25. 

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 Howard 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).

NEXT UP:
• The Cougars return to Pullman to host border-rival, Idaho, Wednesday, Dec. 5 at 6 p.m.