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WSU basketball team opens season with new faces, extra motivation

Washington State's Josh Hawkinson, the Pac-12’s most improved player last season, will help the Cougars open the season on Friday with a slew of new faces. (Associated Press / Associated Press)
Washington State's Josh Hawkinson, the Pac-12’s most improved player last season, will help the Cougars open the season on Friday with a slew of new faces. (Associated Press / Associated Press)

PULLMAN – The Washington State men’s basketball team will debut six of its seven new faces on Friday night in an exhibition game against Lewis-Clark State, its first action of the 2015-16 season.

Junior college transfer Connor Clifford, perhaps the most highly anticipated newcomer, will be held out while he recovers from a knee injury, according to coach Ernie Kent.

Kent hopes to build on his inaugural WSU season, in which the Cougars finished with a Pac-12 record of 7-11, the best conference mark since 2012, and an overall record of 13-18.

While the Cougars return three starters, including the Pac-12 most improved player from last season, Josh Hawkinson, Kent’s team will have a very different look this year, thanks to the addition of four junior college transfers.

Two true freshmen, Renard Suggs and 4A Washington player of the year Viont’e Daniels, are also expected to contribute immediately.

“The new group has the capacity to learn things really quickly,” Kent said. “I’m really impressed with how quickly they’ve picked up our offense, picked up things so we can change even more and now we’re kind of in a fine-tuning stage.”

With so many players whose abilities are currently unknown to all but their coaches and teammates, the Cougars are an enigma until they take the court. The Pac-12 media placed the Cougars in last place by a wide margin during the conference’s preseason poll, expecting WSU’s newcomers to struggle in a conference where even the best teams will be heavily reliant on first-year players.

WSU’s veterans say that their new teammates are already able to compete at a higher level than many expect.

“(The low ranking) puts a chip on our shoulder,” said senior forward Junior Longrus. “We’ve already got guys who come in with that chip no matter what, so for us to have that extra fuel when we’re on the weight room, or (running up) the hill, or on the court, it’s definitely something that fuels our practices and something that makes us excited to go out there and prove them wrong.”

There is no charge for admission to Friday’s game, which tips off at 8 p.m.