GAME NOTES: The Ernie Kent era at Washington State begins on Friday night, as the Cougars pay a visit to the Texas-El Paso Miners for a non-conference affair.

Ken Bone had his chance with the Cougars, but other than a 22-13 finish in 2011, never found much success in Pullman. Washington State finished just 10-21 overall and just a game ahead of last-place USC in the Pac-12 standings last season. Enter Kent, who coached at Oregon from 1997-2010, who will be attempting to get the Cougars back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since making back-to-back appearances under Tony Bennett in 2007 and 2008.

UTEP will be quite a challenge for Kent's first game, even if it doesn't compete in one of the so-called power conferences. The Miners are one of the top contenders for the Conference USA title this season, with a healthy amount of returning talent from last season's squad. Tim Floyd led that team to a 23-11 finish, marking the second 20-win campaign in Floyd's four seasons at the helm. Stumbles down the stretch hurt the team's chances at the postseason, with it going 3-4 in its final seven games.

These two teams met in Pullman last season and the Cougars pulled out a 64-51 victory. The win evened the brief series at 2-2.

If Kent wants to make a splash in his first season, he will need to improve what was one of the worst offensive teams in the country last season. The Cougars ranked last in the Pac-12 in scoring (62.4 ppg), field goal percentage (.400) and assists (10.5 apg). Making matters worse, they were also the league's worst rebounding team (32.8 rpg). Feeding the ball to DaVonte Lacy is a good way to start the offensive overhaul. Lacy averaged 19.4 points across 23 contests last season. He will need help, however, if the Cougars hope to improve their offensive fortunes. Que Johnson (9.5 ppg) could develop into a potent scoring option if he improves on his .393 shooting percentage. Jordan Railey (3 ppg, 2.5 rpg) not only needs to be more efficient offensively, he has to make up for the loss of D.J. Shelton, who very nearly averaged a double-double a season ago.

There is a lot to like about this UTEP squad. Of the team's 10 top scorers from last season, nine are back. The Miners were the best shooting team in Conference USA last season (.465), and they were also a devastating defensive squad, limiting foes to 63.3 ppg and 38.3 percent shooting. They ranked sixth in the country in the latter category. Julian Washburn is the top returning scorer, coming off a season in which he put up 13.1 ppg while playing more than 34 minutes on average each time out. Vince Hunter (12.3 ppg, 6.5 rpg) was named the conference's freshman of the year and C.J. Cooper (9.6 ppg) played more than 30 minutes per game in the backcourt. Hooper Vint (0.9 ppg) wasn't much of a scorer, but for what it's worth, he poured in 26 points in the Miners' 105-58 exhibition win over Southeastern Oklahoma last Sunday.

It was tough to beat UTEP at home last season, with the Miners winning 14 of their 20 games at the Don Haskins Center. Of course, it was also tough to beat them on the road (8-2), even if Washington State accomplished the feat. With the tables turned this time, expect the Miners to find a way to prevail.