Men's Basketball To Play At Washington State On Saturday

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PULLMAN, Wash. – The University of New Orleans men's basketball team will look to extend its winning streak to three and pick up its first road win of the young 2016-17 campaign when the Privateers take on Washington State at 5 p.m. (CST) in Beasley Coliseum. The game will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Networks.

UNO heads to the Pacific Northwest 3-3 on the year and with a head of steam after using a strong second half to defeat Florida College 90-63 on Nov. 25 and posting a coast-to-coast, 74-59 win over Tulane on Nov. 29. The team, however, is 0-3 on the road to date and realizes the opportunity the upcoming game against the Cougars presents.

"It's a big one," Privateers head coach Mark Slessinger said. "Any time you go against a Power 5 school in a great facility like this, it's a big opportunity for us to take another step forward in building our program and getting another quality win.

"They're very good. Ernie Kent is one of the winningest coaches in Pac 12 history and does an incredible job. He's got a world-class staff with him – guys I've known forever who are really, really good. Our guys are excited. They're not too happy with the cold weather, but we have a chance to string together three in a row. That's hard to do with the schedule that we've been playing. It will be a great challenge for us to come in and play well."

As a team, New Orleans heads to Pullman averaging 76.8 points, 37.8 rebounds, 16.8 assists, 9.2 steals and 3.5 blocks per game. Senior forward Erik Thomas leads the Privateers offensively with 21.7 points per game, followed by senior guards Christavious Gill with an average of 13.8 and Tevin Broyles with a mark of 8.5. Thomas also paces the team with 7.0 rebounds a night with Gill leading the way with 4.0 assists and 1.8 steals per outing. Junior forward Makur Puou headlines the defense with 1.8 blocked shots per contest.

New Orleans is connecting at a .455 clip from the field, hitting 162-of-356 shots from the floor and 31-of-92 tries from beyond the 3-point arc (.337), while allowing opponents to shoot .449 overall (170-of-379) and .346 from 3-point land (46-of-133). Privateer foes are averaging 78.5 points, 36.2 rebounds, 14.2 assists, 9.7 steals and 4.0 blocks so far in 2016-17.

"They're playing very unselfishly," Slessinger said of his team. "They're playing really well. It's been fun to coach them. We've been playing with great energy, and we were dynamic vocally the other night, which had a lot to do with the way things worked out. If we talk well, communicate, share the ball and rebound at a high rate, we'll be a hard out."

Washington State, meanwhile, enters the ballgame 4-3 on the season and looking build on the momentum of an 83-76 win over Utah Valley on Wednesday night in Beasley Coliseum. The Cougars have been especially sharp at home, going 3-1 to date with their only loss being an 88-76 defeat at the hands of San Jose State on Nov. 27.

As a team, Wazzu is averaging 78.9 points, 38.9 rebounds, 13.4 assists, 3.1 steals and 4.1 blocks per game. Josh Hawkinson leads a balanced Washington State offense with 17.0 points per game while Malachi Flynn, Conor Clifford and Ike Iroegbu follow with respective scoring averages of 13.4, 11.0 and 10.9. Hawkinson also paces the team with 12.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game, and shares team-high steal honors with Charles Callison at 0.7 thefts per outing apiece. Iroegbu leads the Cougars in assists with 3.1 dimes per outing.

Washington State is hitting 47.3 percent of its shots from the field, connecting on 185-of-391 field goal attempts, including a 38-of-109 showing from beyond the 3-point line (.349). The Cougar defense has allowed opponents to post a 41.4 shooting percentage (202-of-488) and a 33.7 clip from 3-point land (67-of-199) and their foes are averaging 79.9 points, 38.0 rebounds, 14.7 assists, 5.0 steals and 1.7 blocks per game.

"They've got a really dynamic forward in Hawkinson, who is a first-team All-Pac 12 player," Slessinger added. "He's a guy that can score a bunch of ways. He's a guy we'll see playing on TV and he's really, really special. They're a team that is very dangerous. Pullman, Wash., is no easy place to get to nor is it an easy place to win."

Saturday's game between New Orleans and Washington State marks the first-ever meeting between the two teams on the hardwood. The Cougars are the second Pac 12 program the Privateers face this season and UNO will be looking for its first win against the league in 2016-17 after dropping an 88-54 decision at Southern Cal on Nov. 22.

The Privateers are now 4-11 against team's currently in the Pac-12 Conference, including a 2-8 mark when playing that league's opponents on their own court. In addition to a now 1-1 showing against USC, UNO is 1-1 vs Colorado, 1-2 vs Arizona State, 1-4 vs Oregon State and 0-3 vs Arizona.

The showdown with the Cougars is the first of a two-game road swing as UNO will play at Northwestern on Sunday, Dec. 11, before returning home to play host to Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday, Dec. 17. For tickets to that game, and future Privateer Athletics events, contact the UNO Athletics Ticket Office over the phone at (504) 280-GAME (4263) or via the Internet by clicking HERE.