MBK Preview: Cougs on the road at Arizona State, Arizona

The Washington State University men’s basketball team (9-6 overall, 1-2 in Pac-12) hits the road for its first conference road trip of the season as it heads to the Grand Canyon State to take on Arizona State Thursday at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe, Ariz. (5 p.m. PT/6 pm. MT) followed by a trip farther south to Tucson for a matchup with nationally ranked Arizona Saturday at 6:30 p.m. PT/7:30 p.m. MT.Both game will be televised on Pac-12 Networks. Matt Chazanow has the call on the Washington State IMG Radio Network.

COUGARS VERSUS SUN DEVILS: Thursday marks the 76th all-time meeting between Washington State and Arizona State, as the Sun Devils hold a 39-36 advantage in the series. Arizona State has won three of the last four meetings in the series and five straight in Tempe. WSU’s last road win against Arizona State came Jan. 29, 2009 when the Cougars upset the then-No. 14 Sun Devils as Klay Thompson set a WSU single-game freshman record with eight 3-pointers made.Led by first-year head coach Bobby Hurley, Arizona State (10-6 overall, 0-3 in Pac-12) is winless in Pac-12 play so far following losses to Arizona at home and road setbacks at USC and UCLA. The Sun Devils carry a three-game losing streak into Thursday night’s game, so they should be a desperate team.

“Every game we play (in the Pac-12), home or road, regardless of the scenario, is a tough situation,” Washington State coach Ernie Kent said. “They (ASU) play extremely hard and they are very well coached. They play smart. It’s going to be a very competitive basketball game. Hopefully, the environments in both of these next two games will force us to grow. We cannot play at a low level. We have to play at a high level. That’s a good thing because it forces you to come up and play at another level.”

Arizona State is led by Tra Holder, who is averaging 21.1 points in past seven games and recently became the first Sun Devil to score 20 points in four straight games since Jahii Carson accomplished the feat twice in his freshman season of 2012-13.

“When we faced them last year, we had the same scouting report,” Kent said. “(Holder) can go off on you and get big numbers. He is an excellent point guard. You have to pay attention to detail when you’re guarding him because he has the ability to take the game over.”

VETERANS STEP UP: The Cougars have been led this season by juniors Josh Hawkinson and Ike Iroegbu. Hawkinson leads WSU in scoring (17.2 points per game) and rebounding (11.4 boards a game). He is seeking his 11th straight double-double Thursday night. Iroegbu is averaging 14.0 points while distributing a team-high 4.2 assists per game.

“(Hawkinson) is a special player because he has a tremendous feel for the game and a great work ethic,” Kent said. “He has willed himself to be a much better player than anybody thought he would be. I’m real proud of him for doing that. He is a perfect fit for our style of coaching and our style of play. All those things together have allowed him to grow and prosper in this program.”

Hawkinson and Iroegbu shoot a combined 56.0 percent (163-for-291) from the field and account for 39 percent of the Cougar’s scoring this season. Only twice this season has neither Iroegbu nor Hawkinson led WSU in scoring, and just once neither of them led the Cougars in rebounding.

In WSU’s last game, a 99-95 overtime loss Saturday at home to rival Washington, Iroegbu led WSU with a career-high 28 points while Hawkinson scored 21 points and grabbed 20 rebounds, the first 20-20 of his career.

Hawkinson leads the Pac-12 in rebounds per game, defensive rebounds per game and double-doubles. He is also sixth in field goal percentage, seventh in free throw percentage and ninth in blocks per game. Meanwhile, Iroegbu tops the Pac-12 in 3-point field goal percentage and ranks eighth in assists per game and 11th in field goal percentage.

“Ike is a player growing up right in front of our eyes,” Kent said. “We can move him from the point guard to the off guard, where he becomes more of a runner and has to score in transition and make himself get down the floor and attack the basket. Ike has allowed us to be very flexible with him and he has been very flexible with us. He is a unique player because of his speed and his athleticism and the ability to play a multitude of positions.”

At the moment, the only other Washington State player averaging in double figures is Que Johnson (10.3 ppg).

NOTES

-- Kent expects junior shot blocking specialist Valentine Izundu, who ranks third in the Pac-12 in blocks per game, could be ready to return to action in another week or so, but he might be out longer. Izundu has swelling in his foot, Kent said.

-- The Cougars are 7-1 this season when dishing out 15 or more assists. WSU has dished out fewer assists than the opponent just three times this season – two losses against ranked teams (Gonzaga and Oklahoma) and Saturday to Washington. Just four times this season has WSU collected fewer than 10 assists in a single game.

-- So far this season, the identity of the winner in WSU’s 15 games has been known at halftime. The Cougars are 9-1 when leading at the half and 0-5 when trailing at the half (WSU’s lone loss when leading at the half came Jan. 9 against Washington). Under Kent, WSU is 18-4 when leading at the half and 2-19 when trailing at the half.

-- Through 15 games. the Cougars are shooting an impressive 49.2 percent (432-878) from the field. If the Cougars continue shooting at that clip, they would finish with their best single season field goal percentage mark since shooting a school record 51.7 percent (902-for-1742) in 1994-95. The Cougars currently rank 20th in the nation in field goal percentage and 43rd in 3-point field goal percentage (.381).

STATISTICAL LEADERS:

Total Points: Josh Hawkinson (241)

Points Per Game: Josh Hawkinson (17.2)

Total Rebounds: Josh Hawkinson (159)

Rebounds Per Game: Josh Hawkinson (11.4)

Offensive Rebounds: Josh Hawkinson (21)

Defensive Rebounds: Josh Hawkinson (138)

Total Field Goals: Josh Hawkinson (90)

Field Goals Attempted: Josh Hawkinson (155)

3-Pointers Made: Ike Iroegbu (21)

3-Pointers Attempted: Renard Suggs (50)

Free Throws Attempted: Josh Hawkinson (66)

Free Throws Made: Josh Hawkinson (53)

Assists: Ike Iroegbu (63)

Turnovers: Ike Iroegbu (42)

Blocks: Valentine Izundu (38)Steals: Charles Callison (21)

LAST FIVE RESULTS:

Dec. 23 vs. Northern Iowa (at Honolulu, HI), L 63-59

Dec. 25 vs. New Mexico (at Honolulu, HI), W 82-59

Jan. 1 vs. USC, L 90-77

Jan. 3 vs. UCLA, W 85-78

Jan. 9 vs. Washington, L 99-95 (OT)

NEXT FIVE GAMES:

Jan. 14 at Arizona State, 5 p.m.* (Pac-12 Network)

Jan. 16 at Arizona, 6:30 p.m.* (Pac-12 Network)

Jan. 21 vs. Utah, 8 p.m.* (Fox Sports 1)

Jan. 23 vs. Colorado, 6 p.m.* (Pac-12 Network)

Jan. 28 at USC, 7:30 p.m.* (Pac-12 Network)

(All Times Pacific)

* Pac-12 Game

PAC-12 SCORES/SCHEDULE (Jan. 13-14):

Colorado 71, Oregon State 54 (Wed. 1/13)

USC 89, UCLA 75 (Wed. 1/13)

Washington State at Arizona State, 5 p.m. (Pac-12 Network)

Washington at Arizona, 6 p.m.

Oregon at Utah, 7 p.m.

California at Stanford, 8 p.m.

(Washington State Athletics Communications contributed to this report)