SAN FRANCISCO – Washington State finished last season with a 12-19 record, but when a team took on the Cougars, it knew it was going to have to defend the 3-point line in order to give itself a good chance to win. Despite a tough season for head coach Ernie Kent’s group in 2017-18, Washington State can hang its hat on the fact that it set a Pac-12 record by making 11 3-pointers per game (its season total of 341 3-pointers is third all-time, trailing 2016-17 UCLA's 354 and 2006-07 Oregon's 350 -- another team that was coached by Kent).

The Cougs attempted a whopping 29.2 per contest, a huge number for a 40-minute game with a 30-second shot clock. The 905 total attempted 3-pointers were a major bump up from the 574 triples triggered by Wazzu the previous season and were the most shot by any Ernie Kent-coached team on the Palouse by nearly 280 attempts. The previous season high for made 3-pointers for the Cougs under Ernie Kent was 214.

Malachi Flynn, who led the team with 77 made 3-pointers in 2017-18, decided to transfer to San Diego State, but the Cougars do return three of their top four 3-point shooters from last season in Robert Franks, Viont’e Daniels and Carter Skaggs, so you can expect the Cougs be just as lethal from downtown in 2018-19.

Scratch that – Kent thinks they can be even more dangerous from beyond the arc this year.

“I even feel this year we have more 3-point shooters,” Kent said at 2018 Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Media Day. “We chart everything in practice…And right now, we’ve got seven guys that are shooting over 40 percent from the three. So not only do you have those three great shooters coming back, three of the best in the conference, but in addition to, there’s guys that can really shoot the ball. So yes, it will continue to be a part of the offense.”

The new downtown threats for the Cougars figure to be Ahmed Ali, Marvin Cannon, Jervae Robinson and Aljaž Kunc, according to Kent. Ali made a name for himself by once hitting 22 3-pointers and scoring 103 points in a Canadian high school game before becoming a JUCO All-American at Eastern Florida State.

In addition to the added 3-point threats, Kent thinks his team’s ability create off the dribble is improved this season, which will lead to even more downtown opportunities.

“With the speed of the game that we play at, the way we spread the floor it’s such a weapon for us,” Kent said. “The difference being with this group, we have an ability to break you down off the dribble that is going to create a lot of rotations for defenses that will therefore give you more great looks from the three.”

Franks says having that much freedom on the court offensively makes it a fun system to play in.

“Once he gives you that much freedom and you’re a shooter, your eyes light up,” Franks said. “It’s a great system we have, and we have great shooters as well … It’s definitely a fun offense just to know you can go play free.”