QUICK HITS
• NATIONAL RANKINGS:
    • Scoring: Robert Franks, 10th (24.4 ppg).
    • A/TO Ratio: Viont'e Daniels, 19th (3.0).
    • Assists: Viont'e Daniels, 94th (4.8 apg).
    • Fewest Fouls: Team, 15th (130).
    • Fewest Turnovers: Team, 17th (93).
    • Turnovers Per Game: Team, 46th (11.6).
    • Assist/Turnover Ratio: Team, 17th (1.55).
    • Assists: Team, 19th (18.0 apg).
• APPROACHING RECORD BOOKS:
    • With 937 points, Robert Franks needs 63 points to reach 1,000 career points.
    • With 57 career blocks, Franks ranks 18th in WSU's career record books...seven more (62) will put him in a tie for 17th. 
    • With 118 3-pointers, Viont'e Daniels ranks 20th on WSU's career list and needs just one to move into a tie for 19th (119).

COUGARS RETURN HOME TO HOST RIDER IN LAS VEGAS CLASSIC: The Washington State University men's basketball team (5-3) returns to Pullman to host Rider (4-3), Monday, Dec. 17 at 7 p.m.  in its first of two games in the Las Vegas Classic that will be played at Pullman, before heading to Las Vegas for games Dec. 22 and 23. 
• The game will be televised on the Pac-12 Network as Guy Haberman (play-by-play) and Ben Braun (analyst) 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. 

COUGARS VS. BRONCS; THE MAAC:
• Monday marks the first all-time meeting between Washington State and Rider.
• Rider is a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and is joined by Canisius,  Fairfield, Iona, Manhattan, Marist, Monmouth, Niagara, Quinnipiac, Saint Peter's and Siena.
• The Cougars have played four of the current members of the MAAC (Canisius, Iona, Manhattan and Monmouth).
•WSU is 4-1 against Canisius, as the two last met in 2008-09, the Cougars' last meeting with a MAAC member...WSU is 0-1 against Iona, and 1-0 against both Manhattan and Monmouth.

ABOUT THE LAS VEGAS CLASSIC:
•The Cougars are competing in the 2018 Continental Tires Las Vegas Classic, which consists of two portions, one in Pullman and one in Las Vegas.
• WSU will host Rider (Dec. 17) and SIU Edwardsville (Dec. 19) in the Pullman before hading to Las Vegas, Nev., to play San Diego (Dec. 22) and either Drake or New Mexico State (Dec. 23).
• The Las Vegas portion will be played at Orleans Arena and will be televised on the Fox Sports family of networks. 
• The Cougars' game against San Diego will tip at 4:30 p.m. and the second game will be at either 4:30 or 7 p.m. and all will be televised on FS1. 

COUGARS VERSUS THE REST OF THE FIELD:
• Wednesday marks the first all-time meeting between Washington State and SIU Edwardsville. 
• The SIUE Cougars are a member of the Ohio Valley Conference, joined by Austin Peay, Belmont, Eastern Illinois, Jacksonville State, Morehead State, Murray State, Southeast Missouri State, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech and Tennessee-Martin.
• WSU is undefeated against current members of the OVC with a 1-0 record against Eastern Kentucky and 2-0 mark against Jacksonville State...the Cougars played JSU most recently, a win in 2012-13.
• At Las Vegas, WSU will first face San Diego, which it holds a 2-1 all-time record against. 
• The Cougars and Toreros last met in the Championship game of the Great Alaska Shootout, Nov. 28, 2009, a 96-56 Cougar victory.
• In the second game in Las Vegas, WSU will either face Drake or New Mexico State...WSU is 1-0 against Drake, having defeated Drake, 40-14, Dec. 8, 1932 and  0-1 against NMSU having fallen to the Aggies earlier this season, 69-63, Dec. 1 at Las Cruces, N.M.

ABOUT THE COUGARS: 
• WSU is 5-3 overall, 5-0 at home, 0-2 on the road and 0-1 in neutral sites 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, CSUN, 103-94, Nov. 27, a 69-63 loss at New Mexico State a 90-70 victory over Idaho, Dec. 5 and a 95-90 loss to Montana State at Kennewick, Wash. 
• 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 six of the seven games he's played this season as he added 30 against Cal Poly, 24 against Delaware State, 22 against CSUN, 22 against Idaho and 25 against Montana State.
• Franks has also has three double-doubles and is adding 8.0 rebounds (seventh-best in Pac-12) per game along with his Pac-12 leading 24.4 points per game, which ranks 10th nationally.
• Freshman CJ Elleby is the only other Cougar in double figures with 14.4 points (15th in Pac-12)...he's adding 7.9 (eighth in Pac-12) rebounds per game.
• Elleby had his first career double-double Nov. 27 with career highs of 23 points and 11 rebounds and added his second double-double in the next game, Dec. 1 with 18 points and 10 boards.
• Junior Isaiah Wade is averaging 9.8 points in five games 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 games against Delaware State, CSUN and New Mexico State. 
• Senior Viont'e Daniels leads the team and ranks sixth in the Pac-12 and 94th nationally with 4.8 assists per game. 
• Daniels leads the league and ranks 19th nationally with a 3.8 assist/turnover ratio…he has 38 assists and 10 turnovers. 
• 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 and junior Jeff Pollard 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 937 career points, Robert Franks needs just 63 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 118 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.

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. 

KENT IN 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.
• 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:
• WSU hosts SIU Edwardsville in the Las Vegas Classic, Dec. 19 at 7:30 p.m., before heading to Las Vegas to take on San Diego (Dec. 22) and either Drake or New Mexico State (Dec. 23) at Orleans Arena.