The WSU men’s basketball team will need to settle in and find consistency if they are going to have success this season.

Head Coach Ernie Kent stressed those factors, among others at his weekly press conference yesterday.

The Cougars (3-3) are riding a two game winning streak following a trip to Anchorage, AK for the Great Alaska Shootout. The wins came after WSU opened the tournament with a 71-43 loss to UC Santa Barbara.

Kent stressed how redshirt senior Dexter Kernich-Drew and redshirt senior Jordan Railey need to be more consistent.

“There’s more expectations for them to be on their games,” Kent said. “Be more consistent because they’ve been here enough, they’ve been through the fires, they understand the competition, the arenas, all of that.”

Kent added that as the team finds its identity it will be easier for players to settle into roles, and to be more consistent.

Before the game against UCSB, redshirt sophomore guard Que Johnson, freshman guard Ny Redding and junior forward Aaron Cheatum were all late to a team meeting. All three players were subsequently suspended for the first half of the next game.

During that half where the players were suspended the Cougs shot nine percent from the field.

“Any time you walk into a preparation meeting and the first announcement that comes out of your mouth on a game day preparation meeting is three guys are not going to play the first half because of being late I think that’s going to knock you out of whack,” Kent said. “And it certainly knocked us out of whack.”

The Cougars increased their shot percent after their initial game against UCSB, shooting 47.1 percent against Rice and 50.9 percent against Missouri State.

The Cougars will return to Beasley Coliseum this week for two home games. First is a showdown against the rival Idaho Vandals (2-3) at 7 p.m. this Wednesday. Next is matchup this Saturday against UT San Antonio (2-3) at 12 p.m. WSU has only played one home again this season; an 80-68 win over Idaho State on Nov. 21, 2014.

“Coming back with a two game home stand is really good for us right now,” Kent said. “If we can now pay attention to detail and take care of things we need to take care of here we can get better because with each little victory becomes a big victory for you.”

Reporting by Chet Broberg