Seven months after he was hired as Washington State's new men's basketball coach, the Kyle Smith Era begins Thursday night with a home contest against Settle University at Beasley Coliseum.

Smith is the 19th head coach in WSU history and brings nine years of head coaching experience to the Palouse along with 18 years as an assistant coach.

The Cougars return five players from 2018-19 and add 12 newcomers. Headlining the returning players is all-freshman honoree CJ Elleby. Elleby, who flirted with the NBA Draft in May, was named Preseason All-Pac-12 as well as to the Julius Erving and Wooden Watch Lists.

Of the 12 newcomers, the Cougars have five transfers and seven true freshmen. Isaac Bonton and Jaylen Shead look to take over starting backcourt duties after transferring from Casper College and Texas State, respectively.

Three of the five returning players are starters. Senior Jeff Pollard and sophomore Aljaz Kunz return and are projected to be in the starting lineup for the Cougs. Pollard, the only player to have played the previous three seasons at WSU, enters his final year having averaged 4.8 ppg and 2.6 rpg.

The newcomers are led by Bonton (Casper College) and Shead (Texas State). Bonton earned NJCAA Second Team All-America honors as a sophomore after averaging 21.4 ppg and 5.6 apg. Shead led the Bobcats to 24 wins a season ago while averaging 7.9 ppg, 4.3 rpg, and 4.8 apg while leading the Sun Belt in assist/turnover ratio at 2.3.

Transfer Deion James will see substantial minutes in the post after being named the NJCAA Division II National Player of the Year and a first team NJCAA All-American as a sophomore at Pima JC. Freshmen Noah Williams, Volodymyr Markovetskyy, and DJ Rodman are expected to make an impact in their first seasons.

Williams, the son of WSU great Guy Williams, averaged 17.5 ppg, 8.4 rbg and 4.7 apg as a senior at O'Dea HS. Markovestskyy gives the Cougs a 7-1 center on the block who averaged 11.3 ppg, 8.3 rbg and 1.4 bpg in 24.3 minutes at the 2018 FIBA U18 European Championships. Rodman, the son of NBA great Dennis Rodman, averaged 24.2 ppg, 8.9 rbg and 1.2 apg as a senior at JSerra HS in California.

The Cougs face Seattle U. for the third straight season. SU took won last season's meeting between the two sides, 78-69, in Kent, Wash. In the recent series, the two sides have split the matchup with the Cougs winning the 2017 home contest, 75-59.

The Redhawks opened the 2019-20 season Tuesday night against Pacific Lutheran. They were picked third in the WC and are led by junior Terrell Brown and senior Myles Carter, both named preseason All-WAC performers.

The Cougars are 96-22 all-time in season openers and 57-8 when opening the season at home. WSU has won every season opener when opening at Beasley Coliseum and its last 23 season openers at home.

2019-2020 Non-Conference Schedule for WSU