Cougars Host Beavers Wednesday at Beasley Coliseum
COUGARS RETURN HOME FOR THREE-STRAIGHT GAMES: After playing five of its first six Pac-12 games away from Pullman, Washington State University men’s basketball (8-10, 1-5) returns home to host three-straight games, beginning with Oregon State (10-7, 2-3), Wednesday, Jan. 22 at 7 p.m. at Beasley Coliseum.
• Wednesday’s game can be seen on Pac-12 Networks as Lamar Hurd and Rich Waltz 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 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.
• The Cougars will then host Oregon (13-4, 1-4), Sunday, Jan. 26 at 4 p.m. at Beasley Coliseum.
AGAINST THE BEAVERS:
• Wednesday marks the 289th all-time meeting between WSU and Oregon State, as the Beavers hold the 164-124 advantage in the series.
• OSU snapped WSU’s streak of three-straight home wins last season with a 67-66 victory, Feb. 13, but WSU has won six of the last eight meetings between the two teams.
• WSU leads 77-61 at home and 75-61 in home games played in Pullman.
• The Cougars have not lost back-to-back home games to the Beavers since falling Feb. 16, 1989 and Feb. 18, 1990, at Beasley Coliseum.
• Last season WSU and OSU split the season series with each team winning at home.
• In the first matchup, Jan. 26, 2013, the Cougars defeated the Beavers, 71-68, at Gill Coliseum.
• Mike Ladd led WSU with a career-high 23 points…he was 10-for-11 from the field including 1-for-1 from 3-point range and 2-for-2 from the free throw line.
• Ladd scored 17 of his 23 points in the first half.
• Ladd scored the first 11 points for WSU and 17 of its first 21.
• Brock Motum had his second double-double of the season and fifth of his career with 20 points and 10 rebounds…he has scored at least 13 points in all 20 games this season.
• D.J. Shelton also had 10 rebounds for the Cougs, two shy of his career high...it marked the third career time he’s recorded double-digit rebounds.
• Shelton led WSU with a career-high 6 assists…his previous high was 4.
• All 9 of Royce Woolridge’s points came in the second half.
• WSU outrebounded OSU, 39-27…11 of the boards came on the offensive end.
• The Cougars assisted on 15 of their 25 made field goals.
• In the second game, OSU took down WSU, 67-66, Feb. 13 at Beasley Coliseum.
• DaVonté Lacy led WSU with a career-high 27 points (his previous high was 22 points).
• Lacy was 7-for-9 from 3-point range marking a career high for 3-pointers made.
• Brock Motum finished with 16 points.
• Bryce Leavitt played a career high 25 minutes…he had career high assists (5), rebounds (3), blocks (1) and steals (tied with 1)…the walk-on had previously played 13 combined minutes in Pac-12 action.
• Washington State set a school conference game record with 14 (14-for-28) 3-pointers made…the previous high was 13 set against Stanford, Feb. 27, 1993.
• WSU’s 14 3-pointers were its most 3-pointers made since going 15-for-29 from beyond the arc against Sacramento State, Nov. 21, 2008.
• The Cougars were perfect from the free throw line (8-for-8).
• The team’s second-leading scorer, Mike Ladd, did not play due to a left knee injury.
• Head coach Ken Bone is 7-4 all-time against the Beavers and 7-3 as the head coach at Washington State...he lost to Oregon State once prior to becoming the coach at WSU.
OLD RIVALS:
• Washington State and Oregon State are meeting for the 105th-consecutive men’s basketball season.
• It is the eighth longest continuous rivalry nationally behind Columbia/Yale (114th season), Princeton/Yale (114th season), Pennsylvania/Princeton (113th season), Columbia/Pennsylvania (112th season) and Cornell/Pennsylvania (112th season).
• The Cougars also hold the sixth oldest continuous rivalry, as they faced Idaho for the 108th straight season, Dec. 7.
ABOUT THE COUGARS:
• WSU played its fifth of six Pac-12 games on the road as it fell at California, 76-55, Saturday, Jan. 18.
• The Cougars are 8-10 overall and 1-5 in the Pac-12 and are 0-4 in conference games on the road and 0-5 in conference games away form Pullman (vs. Colorado in Spokane, Jan. 8).
• WSU is 6-3 in home games this season, 1-0 in Pac-12 games at Beasley Coliseum, 1-2 in neutral-site games, 1-4 on the road, 5-2 in home games played at Beasley Coliseum and 1-1 in home games played at neutral venues (at Toyota Center in Kennewick, Wash., Dec. 18 and Spokane Arena in Spokane, Wash., Jan. 8).
• Junior DaVonté Lacy leads the team with 17.7 points per game.
• Lacy missed the Cougars’ games Dec. 28 against Mississippi Valley State and Jan. 2 at No. 1 Arizona with appendicitis, but returned for WSU’s game at Arizona State, Jan. 5, only to leave with a rib injury in the first half...he missed the team’s games against Colorado Jan. 8 , Utah Jan. 12, Stanford Jan. 15 and California Jan. 18 and will not play this weekend against Oregon State or Oregon.
• Redshirt freshman Que Johnson has moved into second amongst WSU’s leading scorers this season with 10.6 points per game, after tying his career high with 21 points at Stanford, Jan. 15.
• Johnson has picked up some of the scoring with at least 14 points in six of the last eight games...he had a career-high 21 points against UTEP, Dec. 21 as well as Jan. 15 against Stanford...he leads the team in scoring in Pac-12 play with 14.0 ppg game in league contests, tied for 17th in Pac-12-only games.
• Woolridge is third on the team with 9.2 points per game leads the team with 3.0 assists per game after having his first career double-double with 11 assists Jan. 8 against Colorado...he ranks 15th in the league with 3.1 assists per game.
• Woolridge is fourth in the league with 4.3 assists per game in conference play only.
• Senior D.J. Shelton leads the team and is fifth in the conference with 8.3 rebounds per game.
• He ranks sixth in Pac-12 only play with 8.5 rebounds per game in conference action.
• He ranks 81st in the country in rebounding and has grabbed 9 or more rebounds in seven of the last nine games...he has four double-doubles on the season and is 3 total points away from having seven double-doubles.
• After scoring a career-high 24 points against Colorado, Jan. 8, junior Dexter Kernich-Drew is second on the team in scoring in Pac-12 games with 10.0 ppg in 5 games (he missed WSU’s game at Arizona, Jan. 2 with a concussion).
• Kernich-Drew is averaging 7.4 points per game on the season.
LAST OUTING:
• Que Johnson had 18 points and led the Cougars in scoring for the sixth time this season and the third-straight game…he had 9 points in the first half.
• Johnson has scored at least 14 points in six of WSU’s last eight games.
• D.J. Shelton led WSU with 11 rebounds…he had 8 boards in the first half…he added 17 points, Pac-12 and season-highs.
• Shelton had his fourth double-double of the season and fifth of his career…he’s reached double figures in rebounding eight times this season.
• Shelton led the Cougars in rebounding for the 10th time this season.
• Jordan Railey made the first Pac-12 field goal of his career and finished with a personal-Pac-12-best 4 points…his 5 rebounds were also a Pac-12 high.
• WSU has not defeated Cal at Haas Pavilion since Feb. 8, 2008.
• WSU leading scorer Junior DaVonté Lacy did not play due to injury for the fourth-straight game.
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 789 points, Lacy needs 211 more points to reach 1,000 in his career, meaning if he plays at least 29 games, he’ll need to average 14.6 ppg over the season.
• Lacy is also climbing up the record books for 3-pointers made, currently in sole possession of ninth with 142 career 3-pointers.
• He is currently 10 away from Marcus Moore (2001-2004) in eighth place with 152.
• Lacy is ranked 16th in the WSU career record books with a .369 3-point field goal percentage.
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 24 starts.
• The four newcomers are contributing a combined 21.3 points per game this season and have reached double figures 12 times.
• Iroegbu and Johnson have led the Cougars in scoring seven times combined, Iroegbu once and Johnson six times.
• Johnson is the only Cougar aside from DaVonté Lacy to lead the team in scoring multiple times this season, having led the Cougars six times.
KEN BONE GETS 400TH CAREER WIN:
• With WSU’s win over Buffalo, Dec. 21, 2012, WSU head coach Ken Bone got his 400th career win as a head coach and now has 413 wins.
• He has 78 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 155 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.