Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

WSU basketball coach Ernie Kent predicts improved play

PULLMAN – Washington State men’s basketball coach Ernie Kent said his team showed plenty of room for improvement in last week’s 82-70 season opening win over Northern Arizona.

And he loves that.

“I still feel we have a few more players in our program that are not on their games yet. They’re thinking. They’re robotic,” Kent said. “I think the beauty of all that is we can play better, a lot better, and I think we will do that as time goes on.”

The Cougars will have their chance to take another step forward at 8 p.m. Friday against Idaho State. ISU is 2-0, with wins over Great Falls and Dickinson State, but the Bengals won just seven games last year.

This game is part of the soft schedule Kent arranged that keeps the Cougars in the Palouse until Dec. 22.

ISU and WSU have played seven times, with the Bengals’ lone win coming on Dec. 17, 1983. The Cougars’ average margin of victory in those contests is 19 points.

The Pullman-based nonconference slate, highlighted by games against Gonzaga and UTEP, is in stark contrast to last year’s schedule, when Kent’s first WSU team had to play five of its first seven games away from Pullman.

Guards Ali Faruq-Bey and Ethan Telfair, who each average 18.5 points per game, lead the Bengals.