QUICK HITS
• NATIONAL RANKINGS:
    • Scoring: Robert Franks, 21st (22.1 ppg).
    • A/TO Ratio: Ahmed Ali, 74th (2.56).
    • Double-Doubles: Robert Franks, 30th (5).
    • Rebounding:  Robert Franks, 111th (7.9); 144th (7.5).
    • Free Throw Pct: Marvin Cannon, 30th (.892).
    • Assist/Turnover Ratio: Team, 66th (1.25).
    • Assists: Team, 44th (16.3 apg).
    • Scoring: Team, 31st (82.3 ppg).
    • Field Goal Pct: Team, 75th (.475).
    • 3-Ptrs Per Game: Team, 26th (9.9 3fgpg).
• APPROACHING RECORD BOOKS:
    • With 22 points against San Diego, Dec. 22, Robert Franks became the 37th Cougar to reach the 1,000-point plateau...he now has 1,009 career points.
    • With 58 career blocks, Franks ranks 18th in WSU's career record books...six 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 CLOSE OUT NONCONFERENCE PLAY: 
The Washington State University men's basketball team (7-5) looks to end nonconference play on a high note as it hosts Santa Clara (7-6) at Spokane Arena, Saturday, Dec. 29 at 11 a.m.
• The game will be televised on Pac-12 Network as Greg Heister (play-by-play) and Dan Dickau (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...Derek Deis will be filling in for Chazanow at Saturday's game. 
• Please see page one of today's notes for the list of affiliates. 
• Live stats are also available at www.wsucougars.com. 

COUGARS VS. BRONCOS; THE WCC:
• Washington State and Santa Clara have met six times in the two schools' histories, as WSU holds a 5-1 advantage in the all-time series.
• The Cougars hold a 3-0 mark at home, as the two teams last met Dec. 17, 2016, a WSU 69-68 win at Pullman. 
•WSU's lone loss in the series came Dec. 13, 2014 at Santa Clara. 
• Santa Clara is a member of the West Coast Conference, joined by BYU, Gonzaga, Loyola Marymount, Pacific, Pepperdine, Portland, Saint Mary's, San Diego, San Francisco and San Diego.
• WSU is 131-67 all-time against current members of the WCC, led by a 98-52 record against Gonzaga. 
• The only member of the WCC the Cougars have not faced is Pacific.
• This marks the second time in three games the Cougars will face a member of the WCC, as they fell to San Diego, 82-75, at the Las Vegas Classic, Dec. 22. 

ABOUT THE COUGARS: 
• WSU is 7-5 overall, 7-0 at home, 0-2 on the road and 0-3 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, a 95-90 loss to Montana State at Kennewick, Wash., a 94-80 win over Rider, Dec. 17 and an 89-73 defeat of SIUE Dec. 19...the Cougars were swept in the Las Vegas Classic, falling to San Diego, 82-75, Dec. 22 and New Mexico State, 75-72, Dec. 23.
• 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 eight of the 11 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 both Montana State and Rider, as well as 22 against San Diego.
• Franks has also has five double-doubles (third in Pac-12, 30th in nation) and is adding 7.9 rebounds (seventh-best in Pac-12) per game along with his Pac-12 leading 22.1 points per game, which ranks 21st nationally.
• Freshman CJ Elleby is the only other Cougar in double figures with 15.3 points (ninth in Pac-12)...he's adding 7.5 (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.
• Senior Viont'e Daniels leads the team and rankedfourth in the Pac-12 and 91st nationally with 4.8 assists per game (third in the Pac-12) prior to missing four games and therefore not having enough games played to be ranked. 
• Daniels led the league and ranked 11th nationally with a 3.8 assist/turnover ratio…he has 38 assists and 10 turnovers. 
• Daniels has missed WSU's last four games (Dec. 17, Dec. 19, Dec. 22 and Dec. 23) due to a concussion).
• 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.

SHORT HANDED:
• WSU has had one of its top contributors missing from the lineup in eight of its 12 games this season.
• Senior Robert Franks missed WSU's loss at Seattle U, Nov. 14, due to soreness in his foot.
• Junior Isaiah Wade missed three games, games against Delaware State (Nov. 24), CSUN (Nov. 27) and a loss at New Mexico State (Dec. 1).
• Senior Viont'e Daniels has missed WSU's last four games against Rider (Dec. 17), SIUE (Dec. 19), San Diego (Dec. 22) and New Mexico State (Dec. 23) due to a concussion.

COUGS SET FREE THROW RECORD:
• WSU set the school record for free throws made, going 39-for-51 from the free throw line, Dec. 17 against Rider.
• The previous record was 38 against Santa Clara, Dec. 28, 1973.
•The school record for free throw attempts is 55 against Oregon, Feb. 14, 1953.

FRANKS REACHES 1,000-POINT PLATEAU:
• Senior Robert Franks scored his 1,000th career point against San Diego, Dec. 22 at the Las Vegas Classic, becoming the 37th member of the WSU 1,000th-point club. 
• Franks currently has 1,009 points and ranks 36th in the WSU career record books.
• He's averaging 22.1 points per game...if he keeps up that average, he will finish with 1,451 points, ranking ninth in WSU's record books. 

FRANKS AND DANIELS EYE RECORD BOOKS:
• Senior Robert Franks is moving up the scoring record books, as well as the blocks list.
• Franks currently has 58 career blocked shots, rakning 18th in WSU's career record books.
• 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.

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.

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).