QUICK HITS
• NATIONAL RANKINGS:
    • Scoring: Robert Franks, 18th (22.1).
    • Double-Doubles: Robert Franks, 86th (6); CJ Elleby 161st (4).
    • Rebounding: Robert Franks, 132nd (7.7 rpg); CJ Elleby, 241st (6.7 rpg).
    • Free Throw Pct: Marvin Cannon, 13th (.896); Robert Franks, 165th (.802).
    • Assist/TO Ratio: Ahmed Ali, 37th (2.63)
    • Assists: Team, 63rd (15.1 apg).
    • Scoring: Team, 64th (77.9 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 1,164 career points and ranks 22nd.
    • With 65 career blocks, Franks ranks 17th in WSU's career record books...nine more (74) will put him in a tie for 16th. 
    • With 134 3-pointers a piece, Viont'e Daniels and Robert Franks rank tied for 13th on WSU's career list and need one more to move into a tie for 12th.

COUGARS LOOK FOR FIRST ROAD SWEEP SINCE 2009: Washington State men's basketball (9-14, 2-8) looks for its first conference weekend sweep since 2009 as it heads from Tempe to Tucson to take on Arizona (14-9, 5-5), Saturday, Feb. 9 at 4:30 p.m. PT/5:30 p.m. MT, at the McKale Center. 
• That game will also be televised live on the Pac-12 Network as JB Long (play-by-play), Don MacLean (analyst) and Jill Savage (sideline reporter) 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 WILDCATS: 
• Washington State and Arizona are meeting for the 81st time, as the Wildcats hold a 64-16 advantage in the all-time series. 
• WSU has lost 13-straight to Arizona, its last win having come Feb. 6, 2010 at Pullman by the score of 78-60.
• That win came in the midst of a three-game Cougar winning streak which went from the second meeting in the 2008-09 season to the second meeting of the 2009-10 season. 
    • WSU was led by then-sophomore DeAngelo Casto with a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds.
    • His classmate, Klay Thompson, added 14 points and 4 assists, while then-freshman Reggie More had 12 points and 3 assists. 
    • Derrick Williams led Arizona with 16 points and 7 rebounds, while Kyle Fogg added 13 points.
• The Cougars are 8-31 at Arizona, with their last win in Tucson coming Jan. 8, 2010.
    • In that win, then-sophomore, DeAngelo Casto made a layup at the buzzer to lift WSU to a 78-76 victory at Tucson.
    • Then-sophomore, Klay Thompson led WSU with 20 points 
• Like this season, the two teams met just once last year, as Arizona won 100-72 at Pullman, Jan. 31, 2018...Arizona was ranked ninth in the country at the time.
• Fourth-year WSU head coach Ernie Kent is 9-23 all-time against the Wildcats, 0-6 with WSU and 9-18 as head coach at Oregon from 1998-2010.

WSU LOOKS TO END DESERT DROUGHT:
• Since the Arizona schools joined the conference and it became the Pac-10 in 1978-79, WSU has swept ASU and Arizona on the road just twice.
• The last time WSU got a sweep in the desert was in 2006-07...the other time came in 1981-82.
• The last time the Cougars swept the Arizona schools came in 2008-09 at Pullman.
• WSU's last weekend road sweep came Jan. 15 and 17, 2009 at Oregon State and Oregon and its last weekend sweep came Jan. 19 and 21 against Stanford and California at Pullman.

ABOUT THE COUGARS:
• WSU snapped its five-game losing streak with a win over Arizona State, Feb. 7 and is 9-14 overall and 2-8 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, 22.1 points, which ranks 18th 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.
• 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 6.7 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 13th, having dished out 7 or more assists in three of his last four 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 7.1 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 16 games and Robinson six.
• Ali had the game of his career, Feb. 2 against USC with career-highs 18 points and 7 assists...he ranks 15th in the Pac-12 with 3.1 assists per game.
• Ali leads the league with a 2.6 assist/turnover ratio which ranks 37th 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. 

SHORT HANDED:
• WSU has had one of its top contributors missing from the lineup in 12 of its 23 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 353 points which ranks fifth on WSU's freshman scoring list, 41 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 15.3 points per game average is on pace to finish second in the WSU freshman record books.
• Elleby's 154 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 all nine of its wins this season.
• 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 12 different starting lineups through 23 games this season.
• No Cougar has started all 23 games, nor has anyone started every game they've played in.
• Freshman CJ Elleby has been the most consistent starter with 21 starts, but did not start the last outing at Arizona State.
• Junior Jeff Pollard has the second-most starts with 18, while Robert Franks has started 17 of the 18 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 1,164 points and ranks 22nd in the WSU career record books.
• He's averaging 22.1 points per game...if he keeps up that average, he will finish with 1,317 points, ranking 15th 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 65 career blocked shots, ranking 17th in WSU's career record books.
• 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.

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.

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