Cougars Host Gators at Kennewick Wednesday
COUGARS HOST SAN FRANCISCO STATE IN TRI-CITIES: The Washington State University men’s basketball team (5-4) will have a short turnaround as it heads to Kennewick, Wash., to host San Francisco State (4-2), Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 7 p.m. at the Toyota Center.
• Wednesday’s game can be seen on the Pac-12 Networks as Ernie Kent and Kevin Calabro have the call.
• Bud Nameck, in his 21st year with Cougar Basketball, will have the call on the Cougar IMG Radio Network...please see the list of affiliates on page 1 of today’s notes.
• Live updates can be found on Twitter by following @WSUMensHoops, the official Twitter account of Washington State men’s basketball.
• The game is the second of a WSU women’s-men’s basketball doubleheader...the women host UC Riverside at 4 p.m. at the Toyota Center.
COUGARS VS. GATORS:
• The Cougars and Gators have met twice in the two schools’ histories with WSU winning both games.
• The first all-time meeting occurred Dec. 10, 1975, as WSU defeated SFSU, 83-68.
• In the second meeting, Dec. 2, 1991, the Cougars defeated the Gators, 109-67.
COUGARS AGAINST THE CCAA:
• San Francisco State is a member of the Division II California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA), along with Cal State L.A., Cal State San Bernardino, Chico State, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State East Bay, Cal State Stanislaus, UC San Diego, Cal State Dominguez Hills, Humboldt State, Cal State Monterey Bay and Sonoma State.
• Other than two meetings with San Francisco State, the only CCAA school WSU has faced is Humboldt State.
• The two teams met Dec. 8, 1977, resulting in a 64-53 WSU win.
• WSU head coach Ken Bone coached at Cal State Stanislaus as an assistant coach from 1983-84 and as head coach in 1984-85.
ABOUT THE COUGARS:
• WSU is 5-4 on the season and 3-1 at home and 1-2 at neutral sites this season...the Cougars’ most recently defeated Pepperdine, 78-61, Dec. 15 at Beasley Coliseum.
• Junior DaVonté Lacy leads the team with 20.0 points per game.
• He ranks fifth in the Pac-12 and 36th in the nation in scoring with 20.0 points per game, leads the league and ranks ninth in the nation with 3.7 3-pointers made per game, is tied for third in the conference with 1.8 steals per game, and is 12th in the Pac-12 and 61st in the nation with a .418 3-point field goal percentage.
• Fellow-junior Royce Woolridge is contributing 11.1 points per game, as the only other Cougar scoring in double figures.
• Senior D.J. Shelton leads the team and ranks 15th in the Pac-12 and 198th in the nation with 7.0 rebounds per game.
COUGARS IN TRI-CITIES:
• This is the third game that fifth-year head coach Ken Bone will take his team to in Kennewick, Wash., as the Cougars have ‘hosted’ games at the Toyota Center in 2009-10 and 2012-13.
• In Bone’s first year, his WSU squad faced his former team, Portland State, Dec. 19 at Kennewick, as the Cougars won 93-69.
• Last season WSU defeated Idaho State, Dec. 29 at the Toyota Center, 74-39.
LAST OUTING:
• The Cougars put one of their most complete games together as they defeated Pepperdine, 78-61, Dec. 15 at Beasley Coliseum.
• Royce Woolridge led WSU with a season-high 20 points, going 7-for-10 from the field.
• He reached the 20-point plateau for the first time since March 9, 2013 against USC…it was his fourth time in his career scoring 20 or more points.
• Que Johnson had a career-high 14 points…his previous high was 11 points against Butler in Orlando, Fla., Nov. 28.
• He tied his career high with 2 3-pointers made, going 2-for-3 from beyond the 3-point arc.
• Junior DaVonté Lacy had his streak of 10-straight games with double-figure points and every game this season snapped, as he finished with 9 points.
• Lacy was 1-for-4 from 3-point, and moved into sole possession of 10th place on WSU’s all-time 3-point field goals made list, passing Terrence Lewis (1991-92) with 138 career 3-pointers made…Lacy is just two 3-pointers away from Jan-Michael Thomas (1999-2000) in ninth with 140.
• Lacy had a career-high 8 rebounds…he had 6 of his rebounds in the first half.
• Lacy tied his career-high with 4 steals…he’s had 4 steals two other times, most recently against CSU Bakersfield this season.
• His one 3-pointer made is a season low for 3-pointers made.
• Jordan Railey had a career-high 3 blocked shots…he had all 3 blocks in the first half.
• He scored in double figures for just the second time in his career, finished with 10 points and 5 rebounds.
• Freshman Josh Hawkinson played a season-high 13 minutes…his previous high was 9 minutes played.
• WSU shot .536 (30-for-56) from the field, their best shooting percentage this season.
• WSU shot a season first-half best, .545 (18-for-33) from the field.
• The Cougars had a season high for steals in any half with 8 steals in the first half…previous high was 6 in the first half against CSU Bakersfield, Nov. 8.
LACY ON PACE FOR RECORD BOOKS:
• Junior guard DaVonté Lacy is on pace to become the 34th Cougar to reach 1,000 career points, and could do it in his junior season.
• With 757 points, Lacy needs 243 more points to reach 1,000 in his career, meaning if he stays healthy and plays 32 games, he’ll need to average 13.5 ppg over the season.
• Right now Lacy is averaging 20.0 points per game…if he keeps up the average, he could accomplish the feat in WSU’s 22nd game this season.
• Lacy is also climbing up the record books for 3-pointers made, currently in sole possession of 10th with 138 career 3-pointers.
• He is on pace to finish in the top-6 by the end of his career at WSU, averaging 2.0 made 3-pointers a game over his career.
• If he continues his season pace of 3.7 3-pointers made per game, he will add at least 85 to his 138, which would put him in fifth place in the WSU record books by the end of the season.
• He is currently two away from Jan-Michael Thomas (1999-2000) in ninth place with 140.
• Lacy is ranked 15th in the WSU career record books with a .372 3-point field goal percentage.
LACY SPICES HIS GAME UP IN FLORIDA:
• Junior DaVonté Lacy proved his early start to the season wasn’t a fluke over Thanksgiving Weekend at the Old Spice Classic near Orlando, Fla.
• The 6-4 guard scored at least 25 points in 2 of the 3 games and averaged 22.3 points per game in the tournament.
• Lacy led the Cougars in scoring in all three games, putting up 26 points in their loss to Butler (Nov. 28), 16 in the win over Purdue (Nov. 29) and 25 in the loss to Saint Joseph’s (Dec. 1).
• He also led the Cougars in assists in two of those games, rebounding in one and steals in one, averaging 4.0 rpg, 3.0 apg and 1.0 spg.
NEW GUYS STEPPING UP:
• The Cougars have four newcomers on this season’s team; true freshmen Ike Iroegbu and Josh Hawkinson, redshirt freshman Que Johnson and redshirt junior and Iowa State-transfer, Jordan Railey.
• So far each of the newcomers has appeared in every game and the four have combined for 8 starts.
• The four newcomers are contributing a combined 20.1 points per game this season and have reached double figures seven times.
• Iroegbu is one of two Cougars not named DaVonté Lacy to lead the team in scoring this season when he had 20 points at nationally ranked Gonzaga, Nov. 21.
IROEGBU SCORES A FRESH 20:
• Ike Iroegbu scored 20 points at Gonzaga, Dec. 21.
• He became the first Cougar freshman to reach the 20-point plateau since Reggie Moore scored 24 points as a freshman, Jan. 23, 2010.
• Iroegbu is also the first freshman to reach 20 points in a nonconference game since Marcus Moore scored 25 against Montana, Dec. 12, 2000.
KEN BONE GETS 400TH CAREER WIN:
• With WSU’s win over Buffalo, Dec. 21, 2013, WSU head coach Ken Bone got his 400th career win as a head coach and now has 410 wins.
• He has 75 wins at WSU, had 77 in four years at Portland State, 253 victories in 12 seasons as head coach at Division II Seattle Pacific and 5 wins at Division III Cal State Stanislaus...he’s been a head coach for 21 seasons.
• Bone has 152 career wins in his ninth season as a Division I head coach.
COUGARS SIGN TWO:
• Head coach Ken Bone signed two student-athletes to NLIs during the early signing period, guard Tramaine Isabell and forward Jermaine Morgan.
• Tramaine Isabell (6-1, 170, G, Seattle, Wash./Garfield HS) spent his freshman through junior years at Lakeside High School and currently attends Garfield High School where he’ll play under head coach Ed Haskins.
• Jermaine Morgan (6-8, 215, F, Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young HS/ Moberly Area CC) currently attends Moberly Area Community College in Moberly, Mo., after transferring from Odessa College in Texas following his freshman year.