QUICK HITS
• NATIONAL RANKINGS:
    • Scoring: Robert Franks, 15th (22.6).
    • Double-Doubles: Robert Franks, 93rd (6); CJ Elleby 172nd (4).
    • Rebounding: Robert Franks, 129th (7.7 rpg); CJ Elleby, 225th (6.8 rpg).
    • Free Throw Pct: Marvin Cannon, 12th (.896); Robert Franks, 47th (.807).
    • Assist/TO Ratio: Ahmed Ali, 33rd (2.70).
    • Field Goal Pct: Robert Franks, 70th (.527); CJ Elleby, 172nd (.455)
    • Assists: Team, 63rd (15.3 apg).
    • Scoring: Team, 64th (77.5 ppg).
    • 3-Ptrs Per Game: Team, 37th (9.5 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 1,195 career points and ranks 21st
    • With 66 career blocks, Franks ranks 17th in WSU's career record books...nine more (74) will put him in a tie for 16th. 
    • With 141 and 134 3-pointers, respecively Robert Franks and  Viont'e Daniels rank 10th and 14th in WSU's career record books.

COUGARS HOST HUSKIES LOOKING FOR SEASON SPLIT: Fresh off its first weekend sweep in seven years, Washington State men's basketball (10-14, 3-8) returns home to host Washington (19-5, 10-1) for the second meeting of the season, Saturday, Feb. 16 at 5 p.m. at Beasley Coliseum. 
• That game will also be televised live on ESPNU as Eric Rothman (play-by-play), and Adrian Branch (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 VERSUS HUSKIES: 
• Saturday marks the 289th meeting between Washington and Washington State, as the Huskies hold a 184-104 advantage in the all-time series. 
• WSU trails the all-time series at home, 77-64, including a 1-0 WSU mark in Spokane.
• Washington won the first meeting, 85-67, Jan. 5 at Seattle in both teams' Pac-12 openers. 
• The Cougars are 2-3 in the last five meetings with the Huskies at home.
• UW won the last meeting at WSU last season, but the Cougars defeated the Huskies the previous meeting, Feb. 26, 2017, by a score of 79-71.
    • Freshman CJ Elleby had a career-high 26 points  on 8-for-13 shooting from the field. 
    • He added 10 rebounds for this third double-double of the season at the time.
    • Senior and Pac-12 leading scorer, Robert Franks, did not play due to a hip injury. 
• The Huskies swept the season series last year with  a 70-65 victory over the Cougars at Pullman, Jan. 6, followed by an 80-62 win at Seattle, Jan. 28.
• The Cougars swept the season series in 2017 with 79-74 and 79-71 wins at Seattle and Pullman, respectively. 
 • Just three of the last 154 games in the series have been decided by more than 8 points, as each of the last 15 meetings between the Cougars and Huskies have been decided by an average of 7.7 points. 
    • If the only three lopsided wins of that span (UW, 72-49, Feb. 28, 2014; UW, 80-62, Jan. 28, 2018 and UW, 85-67, Jan. 5, 2019) are thrown out, the average shrinks to  4.7 points; a two-possession difference.
• Ten of the last 15 meetings have been decided by five points or less.
• UW won seven of those 10 games decided by 5 points or less, claiming the latest five-point win, Jan. 6, 2018 (70-65).
• Third-year WSU head coach Ernie Kent is 13-23 all-time against UW as head coach at WSU and Oregon.

WSU ENDS DESERT/WEEKEND SWEEP DROUGHTS:
• With wins at Arizona State (91-70, Feb. 7) and Arizona (69-55, Feb. 9), WSU got just its third road sweep of the Arizona schools since the league became the Pac-12 in 1978-89. 
• It marked its first sweep at the desert since 2006-07 (also swept in 1981-82) and its first road sweep since 2008-09.
• The sweep was also the last WSU conference weekend sweep since 2011-12, which was at Pullman.

CONFERENCE WIN STREAKS:
• The Cougars are going for their third-straight Pac-12 win.
• The last time WSU won three-straight Pac-12 games was Ernie Kent's first season, 2014-15, when the Cougars defeated California on the road and Oregon at home, Jan. 4, 10 and 15, 2015.

ABOUT THE COUGARS:
• WSU is fresh off a road sweep of the Arizona schools and is 10-14 overall and 3-8 in Pac-12 play.
• WSU ended the nonconference season with a 7-6 record, including a perfect 7-0 at Pullman and 7-1 in home games (WSU played a home game at Spokane Arena against Santa Clara, Dec. 29), a 0-2 mark on the road and 0-3 in neutral-site games. 
• The Cougars have had some bad luck when it comes to health, as they've played 12 games without one of its major contributors (Robert Franks - five games missed, Viont'e Daniels - four games missed, Isaiah Wade - three games missed)...those games resulted in eight of WSU's 13 losses.
• The 2018 Pac-12 Most Improved Player of the Year, senior Robert Franks leads the Cougars this season with a team and Pac-12 best, 22.6 points, which ranks 15th in the country.
• Franks is adding a team-high 7.7 rebounds per game, which ranks sixth in the conference.
• He's missed five games this season due to injuries, WSU's loss at Seattle U, Nov. 14, WSU's loss to Santa Clara at Spokane, Dec. 29, WSU's loss at Washington, Jan. 5, the loss at Colorado, Jan. 10 and the loss at Utah, Jan. 12.
• Franks reached the 30-point plateau in each of the last two games, marking the second time this season he has scored 30-plus in two straight games he's played in (Nov. 11 and Nov. 19 - he missed WSU's Nov. 14 game). 
• Freshman CJ Elleby is the only other Cougar averaging double-figure points with 15.3 points per game, 11th-best in the Pac-12, and the second-most among Pac-12 freshmen.
• Elleby is adding 6.8 rebounds per game, ranking ninth in the league. 
• Elleby is averaging 3.7 assists per game in Pac-12 games only which ranks tied for 12th, having dished out 7 or more assists in three of his last five games. 
• Franks is one of five returnees for the Cougars as he's joined by seniors Viont'e Daniels and Davante Cooper and juniors Jeff Pollard and Carter Skaggs.
• Starters from the 2017-18 team, Skaggs and Daniels are averaging 6.5 and 6.7 points, respectively. 
• Daniels missed four games (Dec. 17, 19, 22 and 23) due to a concussion.
• Junior college transfers Ahmed Ali and Jervae Robinson have split the point guard duties with Ali having started 17 games and Robinson six.
• Ali had the game of his career, Feb. 2 against USC with career-highs 18 points and 7 assists along with 0 turnovers.
• Ali leads the league with a 2.67 assist/turnover ratio which ranks 33rd nationally.
• Sophomore junior college transfer, Marvin Cannon has progressed throughout the season, as he ranks second in the Pac-12 with a .896 (69-77) clip from the free throw line, 12th in the nation.
• Freshman Aljaž Kunc had a career-high 14 points against USC, Feb. 2, doubling his previous high of 7...he tied his career high of 4 rebounds. 

HUSKY CONNECTIONS:
•The Cougars have coaches and players connected to the Huskies and/or the Seattle area.
• WSU assistant coach, Bennie Seltzer played for WSU from 1990-93.
• In eight games against Washington from 1990-93, Seltzer averaged 10.2 points per game, as WSU went 3-5 in those games.    
• Second-year WSU assistant coach Ed Haskins came to Pullman from Seattle's Garfield HS where he coached Husky sophomore Jaylen Nowell throughout his career.
• WSU boasts three Washington-natives on this year's squad, all four from the West Side of the state.
• Viont'e Daniels (Federal Way), CJ Elleby (Seattle) and Robert Franks (Vancouver).

FRANKS PICKS UP WEEKLY HONORS: 
• Senior Robert Franks had a big weekend for the Cougars as they defeated Arizona State (Feb. 7) and Arizona (Feb. 9) in the desert.
• Franks averaged 32.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, 2.0 assists and 2.0 assists on the weekend, including tying career highs with 34 points, 13 rebounds and 4 blocked shots at Arizona State...he added a career-high 4 steals. 
• Franks was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week, the Citizen Naismith Player of the Week and the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week. 
• Franks was the first Cougar to earn Pac-12 Player of the Week since 2015 and just the second to pick up national honors since Faisal Aden was named the Oscar Robertson Player of the Week in 2012.  

ELLEBY FLIRTS WITH TRIPLE-DOUBLE: 
• Freshman CJ Elleby had 10 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists Feb. 7 at Arizona State, 1 assist shy of a triple-double.
• WSU has just one triple-double in its history, Kyle Weaver had 14 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists at Stanford, Jan. 13, 2007.
•Since 1985, only one Pac-10/12 freshman has recorded a triple-double as UCLA's Jelani McCoy had the only one in 1995.
• There have been 23 triple-doubles in the conference since 1985.

SHORT HANDED:
• WSU has had one of its top contributors missing from the lineup in 12 of its 24 games this season and nine of its 11 games away from Pullman.
• Senior Robert Franks missed WSU's loss at Seattle U, Nov. 14, due to soreness in his foot and its losses to Santa Clara in Spokane, Dec. 29, Washington in Seattle, Jan. 5, at Colorado, Jan. 10, due to a hip contusion and at Utah, Jan. 12.
• 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 missed four games against Rider (Dec. 17), SIUE (Dec. 19), San Diego (Dec. 22) and New Mexico State (Dec. 23) due to a concussion.

ELLEBY'S FRESH(MAN) START:
• Freshman CJ Elleby became just the second Cougar freshman in five years to start a season opener when he started against Nicholls State (Nov. 11).
• He has already scored 371 points which ranks fourth on WSU's freshman scoring list, 23 points behind Reggie  Moore (2010) in third.
• Elleby is on pace to score at least 474 points this season, which would break Steve Puidokas' freshman record of 454 points set in 1974…Klay Thompson is second on the list with 414 in 2009.
• His 15.5 points per game average is on pace to finish second in the WSU freshman record books.
• Elleby's 162 rebounds are the fourth most by a freshman.
• Elleby is on pace to finish with 207 rebounds which would rank third all-time in WSU's freshmen record books and would be the most by a freshman since Mark Hendrickson's 217 in 1993.

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.

GET TO 80:
• WSU has scored at least 80 points in nine of its 10 games this season...the game at Arizona Feb. 9 marked the first win with less than 80 points this season (69).
• WSU scored more than 80 points in just two loss, a 95-90 loss to Montana State, Dec. 9 and Feb. 2, a 93-84 loss to USC.
• The Cougars are 4-1 when reaching the 90-point plateau. 

MIXING UP THE LINEUP:
• WSU has used 13 different starting lineups through 24 games this season.
• No Cougar has started all 24 games, nor has anyone started every game they've played in.
• Freshman CJ Elleby has been the most consistent starter with 22 starts.
• Junior Jeff Pollard has the second-most starts with 19, while Robert Franks has started 18 of the 19 games he's played.

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 1,195 points and ranks 21st in the WSU career record books.
• He's averaging 22.6 points per game...if he keeps up that average, he will finish with 1,354 points, ranking 14th 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 66 career blocked shots, ranking 17th in WSU's career record books.
• Robert Franks has 141 career made 3-pointers and Viont'e Daniels has 134, ranking 10th and 13th, respectively.
Both Viont'e Daniels and Robert Franks have made 134 career 3-pointers each and are tied for 13th on WSU's career list...they are on pace to finish in the top-10.

COUGARS ADD MIDSEASON TRANSFER: 
• Chance Moore (6-7, 210, Guard/Forward, Louisville, Ky./Sunrise Christian Academy/Wichita State) signed a financial aid agreement and has joined the Washington State men's basketball team after transferring from Wichita State.
• Will redshirt the next two semesters due to NCAA transfer rules, before being eligible to play the spring semester of the 2019-20 season as a sophomore.
• Moore played four games for Wichita State as a freshman in the fall of 2018, averaging 5.0 minutes per game.

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. 

FRANKS NAMED TO JULIUS ERVING WATCH LIST:
• Senior Robert Franks was one of five Pac-12 student-athletes named to the 20-member 2019 Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Watch List.

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 130 conference wins rank him 15th-best in Pac-12 history (including Pacific-8 and Pacific-10 Conferences)....needing just two (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).