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 January 18, 2005 Men’s Basketball Contacts: Craig Lawson/Becca Faulds COUGARS HEAD TO SEATTLE FOR BATTLE WITH HUSKIES THIS WEEK: Sunday, Jan. 23 - WSU at Washington - 1 p.m. (FSN Regional) NEXT WEEK: Thursday, Jan. 27 - WSU at Arizona State - 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 29 - WSU at Arizona - 11 a.m. (FSN Northwest/Arizona) WSU COUGAR MEN WASHINGTON STATE (8-7, 3-3 Pac-10) Date Time/Score Opponent 11/19 W 59-42 MONTANA STATE WSU HEAD COACH DICK BENNETT: Washington State Head 11/24 W 61-42 GEORGIA SO. 11/27 L 53-62 at Kansas State Coach Dick Bennett is currently in his second season on the 11/30 W 37-36 at Idaho Palouse…he is 8-7 this season and 21-23 in his WSU 12/4 L 29-81 at No. 6 OK State 12/7 L 52-54 No. 25 GONZAGA career…coached at Wisconsin-Stevens Point (1976-85), Wisconsin- 12/11 W 49-46 ^ at BYU Green Bay (1985-95) and Wisconsin (1995-2000)…owns a .629 12/18 W 55-54 at Portland career winning percentage (475-280)…career highlights include a 12/22 L 47-49 at Wyoming 12/31 W 60-51 *# STANFORD 1984 NAIA national runner-up finish at Wisconsin-Stevens Point 1/2 L 47-59 *# CALIFORNIA and a 2000 Final Four appearance at Wisconsin…with 49-46 win 1/6 L 77-80/2ot * at UCLA over BYU, Dec. 11, Bennett moved into 73rd place on the NCAA 1/8 W 69-52 * at USC 1/13 W 63-45 * OREGON STATE career wins list among coaches with at least 10 years experience at 1/15 L 52-55 * OREGON the Division I level. 1/23 1 p.m. * at Washington 1/27 6 p.m. * at Arizona State 1/29 11 a.m. * at Arizona TEAMS DO NOT EXCEED FIFTY-FIVE: Dick Bennett has 2/3 7:30 p.m. * UCLA been the Washington State men’s basketball coach for 44 games…in 2/5 2 p.m. * USC 2/10 5:30 p.m. * at Oregon State 24 of those, the Cougar opponent has scored 55 points or less…from 2/12 3 p.m. * at Oregon 1994-95 through 2002-03, WSU held a total of 20 opponents to 55 2/19 4 p.m. * WASHINGTON points or less. 2/24 5:30 p.m. * ARIZONA 2/26 2 p.m. * ARIZONA STATE 3/3 7 p.m. * at Stanford WASHINGTON PREVIEW: The Huskies are 15-2, 5-1 in the 3/5 1 p.m. * at California Pacific-10...ranked 10th in both the Associated Press and 3/10-12 TBD Pac-10 Tournament ESPN/USA Today polls…Huskies lost 95-86 to UCLA, Jan. 8, ^ - Played at Delta Center marking their only conference loss…Washington is coming off a # - Played at Spokane Arena sweep of the Oregon schools…Huskies are led by senior Tre * - Pacific-10 Conference Game Simmons who tallied 15 points against Oregon before matching his All times are Pacific. career-high with 26 points in a 108-68 win over Oregon State last week…Simmons is ranked fourth in the Pac-10 at 17.4 points per game…junior Nate Robinson is ranked fifth in the Pac-10 averaging 16.9 points per game…senior Will Conroy leads the Pac-10 in assists (109) averaging 6.81 per game followed by Robinson’s 5.35 per outing. SERIES WITH THE HUSKIES: Washington leads 165-91…the 256 meetings are second most against an opponent (Oregon State-269) in WSU history…last Cougars victory in the Emerald City was 67-46, Jan. 29, 1994 in Kelvin Sampson’s last season as WSU mentor…Washington State is 32-94 all-time at Washington…first meeting in the series was in Pullman, Feb. 16, 1910…Huskies snapped Cougars’ eight-game winning streak with a 13-9 victory in J. Fred Bohler’s second season at WSU. FROM: WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY MEDIA INFORMATION 2-2-2 January 18, 2005 Men’s Basketball Contacts: Craig Lawson, Becca Faulds OFFENSE VERSUS DEFENSE: Sunday’s game at Washington will pit the No. 2 scoring offense (Washington-89.4 points per game) against the No. 2 scoring defense (Washington State-53.9 points per game)…Washington is 13th nationally in field goal shooting at 50.6 percent while WSU holds opponents to 38.7 percent from the floor to rank 18th in the country. COUGARS AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS: Washington State is 31-186 all-time against ranked opponents…of the 31 wins, 14 have come in the month of January…Cougars have lost 47 straight (last win 89- 87 vs. No. 25 California, Feb. 22, 1997)…WSU is 5-104 all-time against top 10 teams…has lost 31 straight (last win 82-68 vs. No. 8 USC, March 8, 1992)…two of WSU’s five wins against top 10 teams have come against the Huskies…only time WSU faced No. 10 Washington was March 6, 1976…Cougars defeated the Huskies 61-59 in Pullman…Cougars are 4-99 against ranked opponents on the road…have lost 25 straight (last win 68-58 at No. 24 Stanford, Feb. 22, 1996)…WSU is 5-12 all-time against a ranked Washington team, including 0-7 on the road…first time since 1984 and only the fourth time since 1953 Cougars have played a Huskies’ team that is ranked…first time this season Cougars have faced a Pac-10 team that is ranked…last time WSU was this deep into conference play without playing a ranked opponent was 1988-89 when the Cougars played No. 18 Stanford in the ninth Pac-10 game. WSU PLAYING CLOSE GAMES: The Cougars have played seven games this season decided by three points or less...WSU is 3-4 in those games…Cougars defeated Idaho 37-36, BYU 49-46 and Portland 55- 54…lost at home to Gonzaga (54-52) and Oregon (55-52) and road games against Wyoming (49-47) and UCLA (80-77/2 OT). COUGARS START FRESHMEN: Prior to this season, Washington State had never started three true freshmen in a game…Cougars have done it five times this season…Robbie Cowgill (Austin, Texas), Derrick Low (Honolulu) and Chris Henry (Santa Ana, Calif.) started in WSU’s 49-46 win over BYU, Dec. 11…Cowgill, Low and Kyle Weaver (Beloit, Wis.) started in the Cougars’ 49-47 loss at Wyoming, Dec. 22 and in each of the last three games…first time since 1982-83 season that four WSU true freshmen have made at least one start in a season. FRESHMEN CONTRIBUTION: Washington State’s roster features eight freshmen, including a pair of walk-ons…combined, Cougar freshmen account for 40.2 percent of WSU’s scoring this season…Robbie Cowgill (Austin, Texas) leads in points with 84 while Kyle Weaver’s (Beloit, Wis.) 6.0 points per game is tops among the freshmen…Cowgill leads WSU with 15 blocks, tied for fourth most all-time by a Cougar freshman in a season. WSU ROAD SUCCESS: The Cougars are 9-12 on the road over the last two seasons…in addition, WSU has notched a pair of victories at neutral sites and two more at the Spokane Arena…from 1997-98 through 2002-03, WSU was 13-78 away from Friel Court…with 57-51 win at Alaska Fairbanks, Nov. 22, 2003, WSU broke a 27- game road losing streak…previous win was 58-57 at Arizona State, Feb. 8, 2001. WASHINGTON STATE DEFENSE: Washington State held Montana State to 42 points in the season opener, the fewest given up by the Cougars in an opener since a 66-34 win over Whitworth in 1948-49…WSU followed up by yielding just 42 points in its next game against Georgia Southern…the 84 points over a two- game span were the least given up by the Cougars since Dec. 27/29, 1972...WSU yielded 140 points (Nov. 24- 30), its best three-game span since Dec. 12-17, 1981…the 182 points the Cougars gave up in their first four games this season mark their best four-game stretch since Dec. 11-15, 1951…WSU leads the Pacific-10 and ranks second nationally, thru games of Jan. 17, giving up 53.9 points per game…WSU is 18th nationally in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to 38.7 percent. FROM: WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY MEDIA INFORMATION 3-3-3 January 18, 2005 Men’s Basketball Contact: Craig Lawson STATISTICAL TRENDS: Washington State is 14-1 under Dick Bennett when holding the opponent to under 40 percent shooting from the field, including 7-1 this season…exception is California’s 59-47 win at the Spokane Arena, Jan. 2 when the Golden Bears shot 37.5 percent…Bennett’s Cougars are 15-0, including 6-0 this season, when outrebounding their opponent…Cougars have won all four games this season when scoring 60-69 points. WSU EXTENDS 3-POINT STREAK: The Cougars knocked down 12 treys last weekend (five vs. Oregon State and seven vs. Oregon) and have made at least one 3-pointer in 268 straight games…last time Cougars did not make a 3-pointer was Feb. 18, 1995 at Oregon…since 3-point line was adopted in 1986-87, WSU has failed to make a 3-pointer three times…other two occasions were Jan.