It’s time to throw out the record books because rivalry weekend has arrived, and the Cougars are looking for the season sweep against the Huskies.

WSU (11-14, 5-8 Pac-12) is set to defend their home floor against cross-state rival UW (14-11, 3-10 Pac-12) in a matchup that may not mean much to the Pac-12 standings, but certainly carries bragging rights. The Cougars won the previous meeting against the Huskies 80-77 when they traveled to Seattle in early January.

The Cougars are coming off a blowout loss to the No. 7 Arizona Wildcats – something Arizona has made a habit of against their opponents this season. The season has been up and down for WSU this year with plenty of highlights and disappointments along the way. However, the Cougars have found consistency at times this season, as Head Coach Ernie Kent points out. Kent said in his press conference that sophomore forward Josh Hawkinson has been the glue to the team’s success.

“People don’t quite realize the tough rebounds that he gets,” Kent said. “The tough baskets that he makes look so easy, he’s that guy when you think about night in, night out, he’s been the most consistent guy on our team and how he plays and what he does, so he’s that way in practice too, so to me it’s that guy that kind of brings it all together, kind of that missing ingredient that you need if you’re putting a stew together.”

Hawkinson is averaging a double-double per contest with 14.4 points per game and 10.5 rebounds. He has 15 double-doubles on the season, just shy from breaking the WSU record of 17 double-doubles in one season. Hawkinson said that he has embraced his role on this team and looks forward to becoming a more vocal leader when he is an upperclassman next season.

“I think right now I don’t fill as much as a vocal role on the team being a sophomore,” Hawkinson said. “I kind of leave it up to the older guys, DaVonté (Lacy), especially Junior (Longruss) those two guys do a really good job of that, so I think coming into the next years being a junior, senior, Coach wants me to step up more vocally as well. But right now I feel like kind of my role is showing what I can do and not as much being a vocal leader, but that is something I definitely need to work on in the years coming up.”

Meanwhile, the Huskies started the season off strong at 14-4 with a 3-3 record to begin Pac-12 play. However, Washington has been in a free fall ever since, losing its last seven games, all in conference play. Part of the issue has been the dismissal of former center Robert Upshaw for violating team rules early in the conference season.

Washington is led by sophomore point guard Nigel Williams-Goss, who has established himself as one of the premier guards in the conference. Williams-Goss leads the Huskies with 15.2 points per game and six assists per contest. Kent said a player of Williams-Goss’s caliber is someone that you can’t really scheme against.

“You don’t prepare for that guy, he’s too good,” Kent said. “There’s not a lot you can do, he is who he is, we just hope we can keep him in check and hopefully he doesn’t have another monster game like he had over there (in Seattle) because we had no answers for him whatsoever. He’s one of the better point guards in the country, if not, one of the top ones in our conference for sure.”

Senior guard/forward Dexter Kernich-Drew has been a bright spot for the Cougars in recent games, averaging 21.6 points per contest in his last three appearances, including a career-high 27 points against Arizona State. The timing is perfect for Kernich-Drew, as the Cougars need a consistent third scorer down the stretch and going into the Pac-12 Conference Tournament to aid Hawkinson and senior guard DaVonté Lacy. Kernich-Drew said not many games can match the intensity of a rivalry game.

“Obviously the intensity is a lot higher,” Kernich-Drew said. “Both teams are fired up and ready to go and it’s real fun like they bring their ‘A’ game, we bring our ‘A’ game, it’s a great atmosphere, just like it was down in Seattle, and hopefully we can have another thriller.”  

You can catch the Cougars shoot for the season sweep against the Huskies, Sunday at 5.30 p.m. The game will be shown on ESPNU.