Cougars Hosts Montana State in Season Opener
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FROM: WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY MEDIA INFORMATION SID: Rod Commons ASSISTANTS: Linda Chalich, Craig Lawson, Jason Krump, Jason Hickman, Ilsa Gramer (509) 335-COUG; FAX 509-335-0267 November 15, 2004 Men’s Basketball Contacts: Craig Lawson/Becca Faulds COUGARS HOSTS MONTANA STATE IN SEASON OPENER THIS WEEK: Friday, Nov.19 - WSU vs. Montana State-8 p.m. NEXT WEEK: Wednesday, Nov. 24 - WSU vs. Georgia Southern-7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 27 - WSU at Kansas State-10 a.m. (FSN Midwest) WSU COUGAR MEN WASHINGTON STATE (0-0, 0-0 Pac-10) Date Time/Score Opponent 11/19 8 p.m. MONTANA STATE WSU HEAD COACH DICK BENNETT: Washington State Head 11/24 7 p.m. GEORGIA SO. Coach Dick Bennett begins his second season on the 11/27 10 a.m. at Kansas State 11/30 7:05 p.m. at Idaho Palouse…Bennett finished in his first season at WSU with a 13-16 12/4 1 p.m. at Oklahoma State record…coached at Wisconsin-Stevens Point (1976-85), Wisconsin- 12/7 6 p.m. GONZAGA Green Bay (1985-95) and Wisconsin (1995-2000)…owns a .631 12/11 3 p.m. ^ at BYU career winning percentage (467-273)…career highlights include a 12/18 3 p.m. at Portland 1984 NAIA national runner-up finish at Wisconsin-Stevens Point 12/22 6 p.m. at Wyoming 12/31 5 p.m. *# STANFORD and a 2000 Final Four appearance at Wisconsin…with 70-58 win vs. 1/2 2 p.m. *# CALIFORNIA California, March 6, 2004, Bennett tied Bill E. Foster for 74th place 1/6 7:30 p.m. * at UCLA on the NCAA career wins list. 1/8 5 p.m. * at USC 1/13 7:30 p.m. * OREGON STATE BENNETT MAGIC: WSU won 13 games in 2003-04, a six-win 1/15 2 p.m. * OREGON 1/23 1 p.m. * at Washington improvement over the previous season, under first-year mentor Dick 1/27 6 p.m. * at Arizona State Bennett…only other time a Cougar head coach had a better 1/29 11 a.m. * at Arizona improvement during his inaugural season was John R. Bender in 2/3 7:30 p.m. * UCLA 1907-08…Bender’s squad finished 12-3 after Everett M. Sweeley’s 2/5 2 p.m. * USC 1906-07 team posted a 5-4 record…WSU tallied seven Pac-10 wins 2/10 5:30 p.m. * at Oregon State 2/12 3 p.m. * at Oregon after winning just seven of its last 50 conference games prior to 2/19 4 p.m. * WASHINGTON 2003-04. 2/24 5:30 p.m. * ARIZONA 2/26 2 p.m. * ARIZONA STATE MONTANA STATE PREVIEW: The Bobcats will open their 3/3 7 p.m. * at Stanford 3/5 1 p.m. * at California season in Pullman, Friday…last season, Montana State was 14-13 3/10-12 TBD Pac-10 Tournament overall and 6-8 in the Big Sky Conference…leading returning scorer ^ - Played at Delta Center is sophomore forward Nick Dissly (9.9 points per game) # - Played at Spokane Arena * - Pacific-10 Conference Game SERIES WITH THE BOBCATS: Washington State leads 20- All times are Pacific. 7…Cougars have won five straight and eight of the last nine meetings…last time the Bobcats won was 61-56 in Pullman was Dec. 20, 1972…last match up took place Dec. 21, 1982 with the Cougars beating the Bobcats 96-64 in Pullman PROTECTING THE HOUSE: The Cougars were 3-0 during their 2003-04 nonconference home schedule…WSU is 63-2 since 1990-91 in nonconference games played in Pullman…the mark includes a 5-0 record in Bohler Gym during the 1990-91 campaign…in addition to Montana State, the Cougars host Georgia Southern (Nov. 24) and Gonzaga (Dec. 7). HOME SUCCESS: Washington State has won its last 16 Pullman openers…last loss was 60-54 to BYU, Dec. 3, 1987. FROM: WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY MEDIA INFORMATION 2-2-2 November 15, 2004 Men’s Basketball Contacts: Craig Lawson, Becca Faulds WSU vs. THE BIG SKY: The Cougars are 165-48 all-time against current members of the Big Sky Conference…WSU has won eight of the last nine overall and 14 straight played in Pullman against the current members of the Big Sky. MIXING THE OLD WITH THE NEW: There are plenty of new faces in Pullman this season…six recruited freshmen, along with a pair of walk-ons, join six returning Cougars…among the returnees, five are seniors and one is a junior. COACHING CHANGES: Tony Bennett, son of Washington State head coach Dick Bennett, was promoted to associate head coach earlier this season…in addition, Ben Johnson joins the Cougar coaching staff as an assistant…Johnson replaces Mike Burns, who departed to take the head coaching job at Eastern Washington…both Johnson and Tony Bennett played for current Cougar Head Coach Dick Bennett at Wisconsin-Green Bay. INJURY UPDATE: Freshmen Chris Henry (Santa Ana, Calif.) and Derrick Low (Honolulu, Hawaii) are currently out with injuries…Henry suffered multiple ligament damage to his right ankle while Low has a fractured right foot…both are out indefinitely. NATIONAL RANKINGS: Last season, the Cougars finished ranked nationally in scoring defense (12th, 59.66 points per game), free throw percentage (13th, .749) and fewest turnovers (14th, 12.1). WSU ROAD SUCCESS: The Cougars won six road wins in a season (6-8) for the first time since 1995-96 (7- 7)…with the 57-51 win at Alaska Fairbanks, Nov. 22, WSU broke a 27-game road losing streak…previous win was 58-57 at Arizona State, Feb. 8, 2001…WSU was 6-65 in last 71 road games prior to this season dating back to January, 1998. STREAK BREAKERS: WSU snapped several losing streaks last season…here is a look at the streaks. GAME DATE SCORE ENDED @Alaska Fairbanks Nov. 22 57-51 27-game road losing streak @California Jan. 4 55-50 22-game Pac-10 road losing streak 8-game losing streak at California 6-game losing streak to California vs. USC (Spokane) Jan. 10 76-61 9-game losing streak to USC @UCLA Feb. 5 55-48 46-game losing streak at UCLA 38-game losing streak at Pauley Pavilion (first WSU win at UCLA) 22-game losing streak overall to UCLA @USC Feb. 7 60-51 7-game losing streak at USC ATTENDANCE NUMBERS UP: WSU averaged 4,540 fans at Friel Court in 2003-04, the most since 1998- 99 …the 8,176 vs. Stanford, March 4 was the largest crowd at Friel Court since 8,373 watched WSU- Washington, Jan. 18, 1997…WSU drew 14,139 for games against Stanford and California, March 4/6…largest weekend for WSU basketball since 18,674 came to see California and Stanford, Jan. 25/27, 1996…Cougars drew 18,262 over three games (Feb. 14-March 6), best since Feb. 22-March 8, 1997 (21,017)…the 6,409 attending the Washington game, Jan. 24 was the most for a non-ranked opponent since 8,373 attended Washington, Jan. 18, 1997. RADIO: All Washington State men’s basketball games will be broadcast over the Cougar Basketball Radio Network…Bud Nameck is in his 12th season calling all the action…games can be heard on KCLK 1430 AM (Clarkston), KCLX 1450 AM (Colfax), KCVL 1240 AM (Colville), KRKO 1380 AM (Everett), KBAM 1270 AM (Longview), KZFN 106.1 FM (Moscow, Idaho), KRPL 1400 AM (Moscow, Idaho), KBSN 1470 AM (Moses Lake), KZXR 1310 AM (Prosser), KYCW 1090 AM (Seattle), KXLY 920 AM (Spokane), KHHO 850 AM (Tacoma), KALE 960 AM (Tri-Cities), KGDC 1320 AM (Walla Walla) and KUSA 980 AM (Yakima). FROM: WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY MEDIA INFORMATION 3-3-3 November 15, 2004 Men’s Basketball Contacts: Craig Lawson, Becca Faulds COUGAR RETURNING PLAYER NOTES #5 Chris Schlatter (Lafayette, Calif.) - 2003-04 notes…started 21 games…tied season-high with 11 points at USC…tied his career-high with seven rebounds four times …scored nine points at No. 15 Gonzaga and added six boards…tallied eight points at No. 5 Stanford, Jan. 2…played career-high 39 minutes against USC, Jan. 10. #11 Thomas Kelati (Walla Walla) - 2003-04 notes…scored in double figures 16 times…tallied career-high 27 points on the strength of 11-for-13 shooting at No. 17 Arizona, Feb. 28…registered 24 points at Washington, Feb. 19…did not start for only third time in last 48 games at Oregon, Jan. 17…other two non-starts were senior days in 2002 and 2003…had worst shooting game of his career with 0-for-9 effort at Oregon State, Jan. 15…scored 18 points vs. IPFW, Dec. 1…tallied team-high 15 points at No. 15 Gonzaga, Dec. 28…has 151 career treys and ranks sixth on WSU’s all-time list…led Pac-10 with .456 three-point shooting in 2002-03 #12 Randy Green (Renton) - 2003-04 notes…made five starts…scored 12 points off the bench in 67-62 overtime loss to Oregon, Feb. 14…averaged 16.7 points per game during three-game stretch Dec. 6- 20….played career-high 39 minutes against Montana, Dec. 13…tied career-high with four steals against Washington, Feb. 19. #22 Shami Gill (Mission, British Columbia) - 2003-04 notes…started 28 games…led WSU with 5.3 rebounds per game and ranked 16th in the Pac-10…matched his career-high with 13 rebounds, including seven offensive, at Oregon, Jan.