The Kent Era Begins Friday Against Azusa Pacific

PULLMAN, Wash. – First-year Washington State University Men’s Basketball Coach Ernie Kent and the Cougars will make their public debut as they host Azusa Pacific in exhibition action, Friday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. at Beasley Coliseum’s Friel Court in their final push before the 2014-15 season officially begins.

Kent became the 18th men’s basketball head coach in WSU history, March 31 with 19 years of collegiate head coaching experience under his belt. Kent has 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.

“For me, personally, there’s a bit of a calm right now because I’ve been through this (the start of a season) before,” Kent said. There’s some anxiousness because you want to know how your team is going to respond. But also there’s a calming effect because, having done this for 30-plus years, you know what to expect, I know what I need to get out of the game and I know what I want to see. But, at the same time, I’m sure that as we get closer to a jump ball or walking into an arena, having not coached for four years and the fact that I enjoy coaching so much, it will be a special moment for me.”

Joining Kent are nine returning letterwinners from the 2013-14 squad, including three starters. Highlighting the returnees is senior guard DaVonté Lacy who led the team with 19.4 points per game a year ago. His scoring average would have been the second-best in Pac-12 play, but he missed eight of the team’s 31 games due to injury, resulting in him playing just 74.2 percent of the team’s games, rather than the 75 percent required to rank in the league.  Lacy became the 34th men’s basketball student-athlete to reach 1,000 career points and did it in the ninth-fewest games (85). He’s on pace to break into WSU’s top-10 for scoring and possibly the top five if he can keep pace with his scoring from his junior year. Lacy is also on pace to break Klay Thompson’s record for career 3-poiners made (242).

Lacy is joined by fellow seniors Dexter Kernich-Drew and Jordan Railey, who are the other two returning starters from last season. A guard, Kernich-Drew averaged just 6.3 points per game as a redshirt junior, but showed flashes of greatness, including a 24-point performance against Colorado, Jan. 8, in which he made a career-high 6 3-pointers. A center, Railey changed his uniform number from 20 to 4, and is looking to put a dent in WSU’s career blocks records. Currently with 30 blocks in just one season with the Cougars, Railey needs just 10 more blocked shots to enter the all-time top-10.

Redshirt sophomore Que Johnson is another Cougar that had big games last season, as he led Washington State in scoring in six of the eight games that Lacy missed in 2013-14, including two 21-point performances. Johnson was third on the team in scoring with 9.5 points per game. Junior forward Junior Longrus also returns for WSU after starting seven games as a sophomore, as do guards Dominic Ballard and Ike Iroegbu and forwards Brett Boese and Josh Hawkinson.

The Cougars will miss graduated senior D.J. Shelton on the boards, as he averaged a double-double in Pac-12 play with 11.2 points and 10.4 per game in league play. He averaged 10.1 points and 9.6 rebounds overall and had 13 of his 14 double-doubles as a senior.

WSU also loses Will DiIorio, who finished his eligibility at WSU and Royce Woolridge and James Hunter, who each graduated a year early and transferred to other schools to finish out their eligibility. But, WSU boasts six newcomers, the most since Tony Bennett brought in seven newcomers for the 2008-09 season. Among those newcomers are freshmen guards Jackie Davis, Trevor Dunbar and Ny Redding, and juniors Marcus Graham (guard), Aaron Cheatum (forward) and Valentine Izundu (center).  Izundu will redshirt due to NCAA rules after transferring from Houston.

For the first time since 2006-07, the Cougars will open the season outside of the state of Washington, as they head to Texas to take on UTEP at El Paso, Friday, Nov. 14. WSU will remain in Texas as it travels to Fort Worth to take on TCU, Monday, Nov. 17. The home opener for the Cougars will happen Nov. 21 as they host Idaho State at Beasley Coliseum. 

WSU played Azusa Pacific in regular season action, Dec. 18, 1992 at the Texaco Star Classic at San Diego, Calif., resulting in a 94-71 Washington State victory.  Azusa Pacific has one exhibition game under its belt this season, an 80-53 loss at Pauley Pavilion, Oct. 31.