COUGARS TAKE ON FIRST RANKED OPPONENT OF SEASON: Washington State University men's basketball (4-0) will continue its season-opening homestand as it hosts No. 13/12 Gonzaga (4-1), Wednesday, Dec. 2 at Beasley Coliseum.
• Wednesday's game will be televised on Fox Sports 1 as Aaron Goldsmith (play-by-play) and Steve Lavin (color analyst) have the call.
• Matt Chazanow, in his first season with Cougar basketball, will have the call on the Washington State IMG Radio Network...please see the list of affiliates on page one of today's notes.
• Live updates can be found on Twitter by following @WSUMensHoops, the official Twitter account of Washington State men's basketball.
COUGARS VERSUS BULLDOGS:
• Wednesday is the 150th all-time meeting between Washington State and Gonzaga with the Cougars holding a 98-51 advantage.
• Gonzaga has won 13 of the last 16 meetings, WSU has won two of the last four meetings at home.
• At home WSU leads the series 49-20, with the first of those meetings coming Jan. 15, 1916, nearly eight years after the first all-time meeting between the two schools.
• The last two meetings were home games for Gonzaga, the first at Gonzaga and last season at Spokane Arena…only two student-athletes on the WSU roster have played against Gonzaga at home, seniors Brett Boese and Junior Longrus.
• In the third game of his WSU career, then-freshman Ike Iroegbu scored 20 points at No. 13 Gonzaga as he was 6-for-11 from the field and 6-for-6 from the free throw line, Nov. 21, 2013…the Cougars fell, 90-74.
• Second-year Cougar head coach Ernie Kent is 5-11 all-time against Gonzaga as head coach at Saint Mary's, Oregon and WSU.
COUGARS AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS:
• Gonzaga enters Wednesday's game ranked 13th in the Associated Press Poll.
• WSU is 48-223 all-time against teams ranked in the AP Top-25, and has lost the last seven meetings against ranked foes.
• The Cougars' last win over a ranked opponent came March 6, 2013 against No. 23 UCLA at Beasley Coliseum…WSU has won just one of its last 15 games against ranked foes.
• WSU's last win over a top-15 opponent came against No. 15 Baylor, Dec. 23, 2010 in the Diamond Head Classic at Honolulu, Hawaii.
• WSU is 0-7 all-time against the No. 13 team in the country, as its last game against a ranked opponent was against No. 13 Utah, March 5, 2015.
• Two years ago the Cougars traveled to Spokane to take on No. 13 Gonzaga, falling 90-74, Nov. 21, 2013.
• WSU's last win over a ranked Gonzaga team came Dec. 5, 2006 when Gonzaga was ranked 18th in the AP Poll.
HAWKINSON PICKS UP WHERE HE LEFT OFF:
• Junior Josh Hawkinson picked up right where he left off at the end of the 2014-15 season, notching his 21st career double-double in the season opener, followed by his 22nd double-double in the second game of the season.
• Hawkinson finished with 15 points, tying the game high, and a game-high 11 rebounds in the opener.
• In WSU's game against Idaho State, Nov. 20, Hawkinson had 19 points and 14 rebounds, his most rebounds since also grabbing 14 at UCLA, March 1, 2014.
• Hawkinson did not play against Cal State Los Angeles, Nov. 24, due to a groin injury, but he led WSU with 20 points off the bench against Texas Southern, Nov. 28.
WINNING EARLY:
• WSU's 4-0 start is its best since starting 5-0 during the 2010-11 season…WSU fell to then-No. 5 Kansas State in that game.
• When WSU faced Gonzaga last season on Dec. 10 it also had four wins, however the four wins came with four losses as well.
BLOCK PARTY:
• Through just four games the Cougars have blocked 28 shots, averaging 7.0 blocks per game.
• Although just four games in, as of Nov. 29, WSU was second in the nation as a team, and led the Pac-12 in blocks per game.
• Heading up the block party is junior transfer Valentine Izundu who is averaging 3.8 blocks per game which is ranked third in the nation.
• The school record for blocks average in a season is 3.0 set by James Donaldson in 1978...he had a school-record 82 blocks that season.
• To put that in perspective, if Izundu can continue to average 3.8 blocks per game and plays 31 games, he'd finish with 117 blocked shots, which is 35 more than the record.
• Izundu had 4 blocks in the first game of the season against NAU and 6 in the Nov. 20 meeting with Idaho State...the school record for blocks in a game is 10, also set by Donaldson, Dec. 6, 1977.
LEADER OF THE PAC:
• Washington State not only leads the Pac-12 standings (tied with Oregon as the only two undefeated teams), but it also is ranked first in three categories and is in the top-four in nine other categories.
• WSU leads the league in blocked shots, assists and field goal percentage, is second in scoring margin, rebounding defense and offensive rebounding percentage, is third in steals and turnover margin (tied), and is fourth in scoring defense, 3-point field goal percentage, rebounding margin, and 3-point field goals made.
• Junior Ike Iroegbu leads the league in 3-point field goal percentage (7-for-12, .583), while Josh Hawkinson leads the league with 8.7 defensive rebounds per game.
• Hawkinson is fifth in scoring, fourth in rebounding and tied for second in free throw percentage, while Iroegbu is seventh in assists and tied for fourth in free throw percentage.
• Junior Valentine Izundu is second in blocked shots per game, while senior Junior Longrus is 11th for blocked shots and 11th for steals per game.
ABOUT THE 2015-16 COUGARS:
• WSU head coach Ernie Kent is in his second season after leading the Cougars to their most Pac-12 wins since 2011-12 with a 7-11 league mark in 2014-15.
• The Cougars returned three starters in junior guard Ike Iroegbu, his classmate, forward, Josh Hawkinson and sophomore guard Ny Redding.
• WSU lost leading scorer DaVonté Lacy to graduation, but Hawkinson returns as the leading scorer and rebounder after averaging 14.7 points and 10.8 rebounds per game a year ago.
• Hawkinson made his mark on WSU history as he led the nation with 8.7 defensive rebounds per game and was fourth in the NCAA with 20 double-doubles.
• He broke WSU single season records for double-doubles as well as rebounds, marks that had stood for 48 and 51 years, respectively.
• Heading into the season he needed just 156 rebounds to break into WSU's career top-20 and is on pace to set a WSU career rebounding record held by Steve Puidokas (1974-77) with 992.
• Also returning for the Cougars are senior Brett Boese and redshirt junior Que Johnson.
• Boese had his best output of his career last season as a junior, averaging 4.3 points per game, while shooting .361 from beyond the 3-point arc.
• Johnson put up 6.1 points a game, while shooting the highest mark from the charity stripe with a .854 clip.
• Redshirt junior Valentine Izundu made his game debut for the Cougars this season after sitting out the 2014-15 season due to NCAA rules after transferring from Houston.
• Izundu averaged 2.0 points and 1.1 blocks in just 8.0 minutes per game at Houston as a freshman in 2012-13.
• Joining the Cougars are four junior college transfers and two true freshmen.
• Juniors Conor Clifford, Charles Callison and Renard Suggs and sophomore Derrien King make up the group of transfers.
• A 7-foot-center, Clifford was named the Southern California (SoCal) and Orange Empire Conference MVPs at Saddleback College last season.
• A 6-foot-point guard, Callison was named the Foothill Conference's MVP, as well as the 2014 Press-Enterprise Area College Men's Athlete of the Year following his sophomore Year at San Bernardino Valley College.
• A 6-2 guard, Suggs led Gillette College to JUCO Nationals last season, averaging 13.5 points per game.
• King, a 6-6 guard, averaged 11.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and shot .417 from the field at Santa Monica College last season.
• Guard Viont'e Daniels and forward Robert Franks make up the freshman class.
• The Washington 4A State Player of the Year, Daniels averaged 24.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists as a senior at Federal Way High School.
• Franks was named an Associated Press All-State honorable mention honoree at Vancouver's Evergreen High School last season.
ERNIE KENT ENTERS SECOND SEASON WITH THE COUGARS:
• 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 109 conference wins rank 17th most in Pac-12 history (including Pacific-8 and Pacific-10 Conferences).
• 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.
• Kent's first season with the Cougars wasn't much different than his first with the Ducks, as he led Oregon to a 13-14 overall record and 8-10 league mark as Oregon finished sixth in the then-Pacific-10 Conference...he led WSU to a 13-18 overall record and 7-11 league mark.
VIONT'E DANIELS' BIG DEBUT:
• The new season brought seven new faces to the court for the Cougars, as all seven saw action in the season opener against Northern Arizona, Nov. 13.
• Although none of the newcomers started, freshman Viont'e Daniels played the second-most minutes on the team with 23 and tied the game high with 15 points.
• The 6-2 guard was a perfect 5-for-5 from 3-point range, becoming the first freshman to do so.
• A freshman was perfect from 3-point range when making 3 or more eight other times in WSU history, but none of those freshmen made more than 4 3-pointers.
• The last time a freshman was perfect from 3-point range when making 3 or more was Feb. 9, 2012 when DaVonté Lacy went 3-for-3 at Oregon State.
• Through four games, Daniels is fifth on the team with 6.3 points per game while shooting .500 (9-for-18) from the field and .538 (7-for-13) from 3-point range.
• He started against Idaho State, Nov. 20.
SUGGS MAKING A DIFFERENT TOO:
• Junior college transfer, junior Renard Suggs, has had an immediate impact for the Cougars too as he was the only WSU player to score in double-figures in the first three games.
• Suggs ranks fourth on the team with 9.8 points per game, after scoring 11 in the season opener and 10 against Idaho State, Nov. 20 and Cal State LA., Nov. 24 and 8 against Texas Southern, Nov. 28.
• On top of that, the 6-2 guard is fourth on the team with 4.3 rebounds an outing while shooting .455 (15-for-33) from the field.
LAST OUTING:
• Junior Josh Hawkinson led WSU with 20 points…he had just 4 rebounds, snapping his streak of four-straight games with a double-double.
• It marked the first 20-point performance for Hawkinson this season.
• Hawkinson didn't start when playing for the first time in 31 games…he missed the Cougars' last game (Nov. 24) due to a groin injury.
• Junior Ike Iroegbu scored in double figures for the third-straight game, finishing with 19 points…he was 7-for-9 from the field including 3-for-3 from 3-point range.
• His 3 3-pointers made are just one shy of his career high.
• Senior Junior Longrus had a career-high 10 rebounds…he added 8 points, one shy of his career high, while tying his career high with 3 blocked shots.
• His 3 assists mark a season high and are one shy of his career high…he was the only starter to not commit a turnover.
• For the first time in his young WSU career, junior Renard Suggs did not reach double figure scoring, he was just 2 points shy with 8 points.
• For the first time since the 2013-14 season, WSU went two games without Josh Hawkinson as the leading rebounder…also marked the first time Hawkinson played in a game and didn't lead the team in rebounding since Nov. 29, 2014 against Missouri State (was 25-straight games).
• WSU's 21-point halftime lead (47-26) marked its largest halftime lead of the season.
