Washington State Information

[SoonerTraveler]

Ernie Kent, Head Coach
http://www.coacherniekent.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Kent

Washington State (7-2) Top Scorers
PPG .... Player

16.5 ... Josh Hawkinson (F, 6-10, 232, JR) .. Shoreline, Washington
13.3 ... Ike Iroegbu (G, 6-2, 195, JR) .. Sacramento, California
11.2 ... Que Johnson (G, 6-5, 208, RS-JR) .. Pontiac, Michigan
_8.7 ... Conor Clifford (C, 7-0, 283, RS-JR) .. Hunting Beach, California **
_7.8 ... Renard Suggs (G, 6-2, 188, JR) .. St. Paul, Minnesota **
_7.3 ... Charles Callison (G, 6-0, 183, JR) .. Moreno Valley, California **
_4.8 ... Valentine Izundu (C, 6-10, 235, RS-JR) .. Houston, Texas

** Three JUCO Transfers playing first season at Washington State.
JUNIORS – The top 7 scorers are all Juniors.
BIG – Three of top 7 scorers are 6-10 or taller.
10 – Ten players average more than 10 minutes per game.


Washington State Game Notes (pdf file)
http://www.wsucougars.com/pdf9/4276731.pdf

 

[Larry72]

They are big and a lot of players contribute

 

[thebigabd]

Ernie Kent is a good coach.

 

[JBaker]

They have played exactly ONE game away from home this year. It was at Idaho, and they lost. They are not good. Much worse than Creighton.

 

[pnkranger]

Agreed. Their stats look okay, but they are fool's gold. One of the worst scheduled in the nation (Ken Pom rates their SOS as 347/351 teams). northern Iowa and New Mexico are a different story.

 

[stormspencer]

Agreed. Their stats look okay, but they are fool's gold. One of the worst scheduled in the nation (Ken Pom rates their SOS as 347/351 teams). northern Iowa and New Mexico are a different story.

Regarding Washington State:

They are #118 in adjusted offensive efficiency....which is OK, but they are a dreadful in defensive efficiency (#215).

For their size, I expected their rebounding % numbers to better, but they are pedestrian to below average (#140 in offensive % and #203 in defensive%).

They are top 10 in blocked shots and not getting their own shots blocked. And they play just a notch faster than ORU....for comparisons sake.

Like you mentioned, they have scheduled poorly with mostly home games and their stats/record are inflated. Unless we play really poorly, we should handle them easily.

 

[IndySooner]

Agreed. Their stats look okay, but they are fool's gold. One of the worst scheduled in the nation (Ken Pom rates their SOS as 347/351 teams). northern Iowa and New Mexico are a different story.

I don't know much about New Mexico, but I know Northern Iowa lives and dies by the three. Our perimeter defense will be tested.

 

[SoonerTraveler]

More from SoonerSports.com ...

http://www.soonersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31000&ATCLID=210594090

SCOUTING THE 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. 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.

• The Cougars returned three starters in junior guard Ike Iroegbu, junior 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.

• WSU is 11-7 all-time in games that take place in the state of Hawaii. The Cougars were last in Hawaii for the Diamond Head Classic during the 2010-11 season.

• WSU’s 7-2 start in its first nine games is its best start since going 8-1 in its fi rst nine games in 2010-11.

• Washington State leads the Pac-12 in two categories: blocked shots (7.0 bpg) and field goal percentage (.506).

• The Cougars have lost their last eight games against ranked opponents with their last win coming against No. 23, UCLA, March 6, 2013. WSU defeated a ranked team the last time it competed in the Diamond Head Classic, knocking off then-No. 15 Baylor in the semifinals of the tournament.

• OU is the second ranked opponent of the season for WSU after falling to then-No. 13 Gonzaga, 69-60, at home on Dec. 2.

• Oklahoma leads the all-time series between the two schools, 1-0. The teams previously met on Nov. 24, 2011 in the opening round of the 76 Classic (Anaheim, Calif.), with OU coming away with a 74-59 victory. OU went on to beat Santa Clara in the second round before dropping its final contest vs. Saint Louis.

 

[stormspencer]

I don't know much about New Mexico, but I know Northern Iowa lives and dies by the three. Our perimeter defense will be tested.

New Mexico lost a bizarre game to Rice on Saturday night after blowing a 16 point lead with 7 minutes left. In a tie game, one of UNM's players called a timeout with less than a second left....the only problem was that they were out of time outs. So Rice hit a FT on the ensuing technical and won the game.

I don't know if I've seen anything like that since Chris Webber's famous timeout call against UNC in the Championship game which sealed their defeat.