Upcoming Games (times Pacific)

Coverage

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Taking care of business at home – like it did last week in resounding fashion -- is the task at hand this week for the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team.
 
The re-fueled Eagles continue a three-game homestand by playing two more Big Sky Conference foes at Reese Court, starting Thursday when the Eagles host Southern Utah on Thursday (Jan. 14) at 6:05 p.m. Pacific time in a game televised regionally by SWX. The following Saturday (Jan. 16), Eastern hosts Northern Arizona in a game that begins at 12:05 p.m.
 
The first 1,000 Eagle fans attending Thursday's game will be given a commemorative Austin McBroom schedule poster (third of a three-poster collector series). Eastern faculty/staff are also offered admission to the game for $5.for lower level baseline and upper level seating.
 
On Saturday, a "Family 4 Pack" is featured at the concession stands for $20, which is good for four hot dogs and four boxes of popcorn. After the game, EWU players will be available for autographs.
 
Besides Thursday's broadcast on SWX, fans can also listen to all EWU games on 700-AM ESPN and via the web at www.700espn.com. All EWU home games and conference road games are broadcast on www.watchbigky.com.
 
Eastern is coming off a 74-60 romp over Idaho on Jan. 9 in just the fourth home game of the season for the Eagles and first in more than a month. Eastern had its best three-point shooting night of the season (52 percent, 15-of-29) and its best defensive field goal percentage (31 percent, 20-of-64) in leading wire-to-wire -- by 16 at halftime and as many as 24 in the second half.
 
Senior graduate transfer Austin McBroom fueled the win with 26 points and seven assists, accounting for 45 of EWU's 74 points – including 31 of 46 in the first half when EWU built a 16-point lead at intermission. Transfer Julian Harrell missed EWU's first 13 games with a broken hand, but had 14 points in his starting debut for EWU.
 
"The Idaho win puts a little fuel in the tank – we were running on fumes being on the road so long," said Eastern head coach Jim Hayford, whose team played 11 of its first 14 games on the road. "This fills the tank up and gives our guys the juice to defend the home court this week."
 
 That was Eastern's first victory in three tries in the Big Sky, and this week the Eagles will play a pair of teams which also enter the week 1-2. The good news for the Eagles is that SUU is just 1-6 on the road and 3-10 overall this year, while NAU is 1-7 on opponent home courts and is 3-11 on the season heading into its game at Idaho on Thursday.
 
Southern Utah picked up a season-opening 93-82 home win over Montana State, but has lost its last two. In their last outing, the Thunderbirds lost at home 73-63 to the Lumberjacks, who had dropped their first two league games at home to the Montana schools – 90-84 to Montana in double overtime and 74-72 to Montana State in overtime.
 
In the win over Southern Utah, NAU closed the game on a 16-5 run for the 73-63 victory. The victory snapped an eight-game losing streak and earned the Lumberjacks their first win over a Division I opponent.
 
In Big Sky Conference preseason polls, Southern Utah was picked to finish fifth by the coaches and ninth by the media, with NAU selected to finish fourth in both polls right behind No. 3 Eastern. A year ago, SUU finished 7-11 in the league and 10-19 overall, and the Lumberjacks were 13-5 in the Big Sky and finished the year 23-15 and as the runner-up in the CollegeInsider Tournament (CIT).
 
Even better than the home games for EWU is the extended gym time at home for practicing.
 
"This really gives us three weeks to concentrate on ourselves, get better and coach our guys up," added Hayford. "Hopefully we can defend our home court against two good teams. We are trying to catch up for lost time in the development of this team. This team is going to be a really good team in March, so I was pleased with the performance against Idaho."
 
 
 
Link to Fact Book
The complete version of the 2015-16 EWU men's basketball fact book may be found at: http://goeags.com/sports/2016/1/7/MBB_Other%20Links-Archive.aspx
 
 
 
More Eagle Basketball Links
Eastern Basketball -- http://goeags.com/index.aspx?path=mbball
Link to Ticket Information -- http://goeags.com/sports/2015/12/19/genticketinfo.aspx
Spokesman-Review EWU Basketball Page -- http://www.spokesman.com/ewuhoops
Story on Eagle Head Coach Jim Hayford -- http://www.inlander.com/spokane/the-man-in-the-red-blazer/Content?oid=2603878
Big Sky Conference Basketball -- http://www.bigskyconf.com/index.aspx?tab=basketball&path=mbball
NCAA Basketball -- http://www.ncaa.com/sports/m-baskbl/ncaa-m-baskbl-body.html
ESPN College Scoreboard -- http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/scoreboard
Tyler Harvey NBA D-League Page -- http://dleague.nba.com/player/tyler-harvey/
Rodney Stuckey NBA Page -- http://www.nba.com/playerfile/rodney_stuckey/index.html
More Information and Links are Available at: HTTP://WWW.GOEAGS.COM


 
 
 

Opponent/Series Notes 

 
* The Eagles are 5-4 all-time against Southern Utah (3-1 in Cheney, 2-3 in Cedar City). Last season, Eastern played the Thunderbirds just once, winning in Cedar City Utah by a 78-75 score for EWU's fourth-straight win over SUU. Southern Utah would go on to finish 7-11 in the Big Sky and 10-19 overall. When Eastern lost 69-55 at Southern Utah on Jan. 26, 2013 – the last Eagle setback in the series -- it marked the first Big Sky Conference meeting between the two schools. It was also the first meeting overall since Jan. 10, 1994, when Eastern won at home, 69-65. The Eagles lost the previous three meetings against the Thunderbirds -- Eastern lost in Cedar City 87-67 on Feb. 17, 1993, 70-68 in Cheney on Dec. 21, 1993 and 71-50 in Cedar City on Dec. 28, 1993.
 
* Since Eastern became a member of NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season, the Eagles are 27-35 versus Northern Arizona, including an 8-22 record in Flagstaff, Ariz., 18-12 in Cheney and 1-1 on neutral courts. A year ago, Eastern lost 73-59 in Flagstaff in the lone meeting between to two schools. Eastern has, however, won the last four meetings in Cheney dating back to a 73-69 loss on Jan. 15, 2010. Eastern trails in the all-time series 27-36 (8-22 in Flagstaff, 18-12 in Cheney, 1-2 neutral). The only meeting before Eastern became a member of NCAA Division I was an 84-80 NAU victory on Dec. 20, 1969, in Fresno, Calif.
 
* This year's Big Sky Conference Tournament will include all 12 teams at a neutral site, the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada. The first round takes place on March 8 (seeds #5-12), followed by quarterfinals (March 10), semifinals (March 11) and the championship game (March 12).
 
* Of EWU's first 14 games of the season, just three have come at home – Nov. 15, Nov. 17 and Dec. 6. A Dec. 17 game against Morehead State would have been one of only two home games for the Eagles in a 12-game stretch from Nov. 23 to Jan. 2, but it was canceled because of weather-related travel difficulties for the Kentucky-based team. Thus, by the time the Eagles played Idaho, they had not played at home in more than a month and played 10 of 11 on the road (including its last six). Thus far, EWU is 4-0 at home and 3-8 on the road.
 
* The Eagles had a 6-6 record in non-conference play, with three of those losses coming to upper echelon squads in NCAA Division I (Mississippi State, Davidson and Pittsburgh). With two of EWU's wins against lower-division teams, that gave Eastern seven opponents – mid-majors if you will –to prepare for the rigors of league play. The Eagles finished those seven games with a 4-3 record, including road wins at San Francisco and Denver. Fresh off its best season in the school's NCAA Division I history, Eastern played teams from nine different conferences in the 2015-16 non-conference portion of EWU's season.
 
 
 
 
 

Game Notes 

 
* Coaches Shows featuring head coach Jim Hayford and host Larry Weir will continue on Tuesday (Jan. 12) at 6 p.m. Pacific time at the Swinging Doors Restaurant in North Spokane (W. 1018 Francis). Fans may attend the one-hour shows live, or listen on 700-AM ESPN and via the web at www.700espn.com. After this week's Tuesday date, shows will be on Mondays from Jan. 18 through at least Feb. 29. The show on March 7 depends on team travel arrangements for the Big Sky Conference Tournament in Reno, Nevada. Shows on March 14 and March 21 are also possible and will be determined by EWU's postseason fate and availability of Hayford.
 
* The Eagles are 6-1 when they've held opponents to 71 points or less and 4-1 when holding opponents to less than 45 percent from the field. Twice EWU has held opponents to a season-low 58 points, including a 58-52 loss at Seattle and a 74-58 road win at Denver. Eastern is 5-0 when it has a better field goal percentage, including a dominating 53 percent to 31 percent advantage in a 74-60 win over Idaho on Jan. 9. The Eagles had entered that game ranked 344th out of 351 NCAA Division I teams in field goal percentage defense (51.0 percent).
 
* Eastern has now led at halftime in 11 of 15 games this season, and has a 7-4 record in those 11 games. Until a 96-86 loss to Davidson on Dec. 9 and an 84-51 setback to Pitt two days later, EWU had led at halftime in its first eight games of the year. The Eagles trailed by eight and 19 points, respectively in those two games. Eastern has out-scored opponents 578-502 in the first half (average score of 38-33) and has been outscored 647-616 in the second half (43-41).
 
* Eastern's scoring average for the season is at 79.6 points to rank 59th in NCAA Division I and second in the Big Sky Conference through games of Jan. 10. Eastern had scored 290 points in its first three games for an average of 96.7 points per game to rank fifth nationally. Last year's team set a school record with 2,820 points scored and averaged 80.6 per game to rank third in NCAA Division I.
 
* Eastern's average of 10.8 3-pointers per game is fifth in NCAA Division I (previously fourth after eight games) and leads the Big Sky, and the team's percentage is 29th at 39.0 percent (previously 175th/33.9 percent after six games). Felix Von Hofe (3.86 per game) and Austin McBroom (3.64 per game) and are ranked 1-2 in the Big Sky, and are third and seventh, respectively, in the nation – the only teammates to rank in the top 15. Von Hofe, who is 22nd nationally in 3-point accuracy (46.2 percent), is fourth in the nation when combining the per game and percentage rankings (3+22=25). A year ago, Eastern was fifth with an average of 9.8 made treys per game, and its 40.0 percent accuracy was eighth-best in the nation.
 
* Through games of Jan. 9, the Eagles are one of only four teams in NCAA Division I to have three players average at least 15.0 points per game -- Arkansas, Hampton and St. Bonaventure are the other three. Austin McBroom (19.0 per game), Felix Von Hofe (17.1) and Venky Jois (15.4) have a collective average of 51.5 to rank only behind St. Bonaventure (52.1) and ahead of Arkansas (50.4) and Hampton (48.8).
 
* Because of his team's involvement with the C.H.A.M.P.S (College Headed and Making Progress) program at Whitman Elementary School in Spokane, senior Venky Jois is one of 154 nominees nationally for the NABC/Allstate Good Works Team. The 10-player squad will be announced in February, and the distinguished award shines a spotlight on a select group of student-athletes who have shown dedication to community service and altruism in their communities. Eastern student-athletes spend part of their time at Whitman with the entire student body, but a majority of their time is spent one-on-one with a fifth-grade student. The unique program follows each Whitman student for eight years through middle school and high school. Once a EWU student-athlete graduates, an incoming player will begin mentoring their student. Jois, an Academic All-America candidate with a 3.51 grade point average as a pre-med student at EWU, has also been a part of several other team community projects. Those include Salvation Army backpacks and school supplies distribution; Salvation Army Christmas Eve meal for the homeless; participation in AAU Youth Basketball Day; food drive for the West Plains Food Bank; and campus move-in days. He's a three-time member of the Big Sky Conference All-Academic Team, and three times has been honored on All-Big Sky Conference teams (2012-13 Freshman of the Year and all-league honorable mention; 2013-14 all-league honorable mention; 2014-15 all-league first team for a squad that won Big Sky regular season and tournament titles to advance to the NCAA Tournament). Last season he selected to the Big Sky Conference All-Tournament team and is the preseason choice for 2015-16 MVP honors in the league.
 
* Entering the 2015-16 season, head coach Jim Hayford was selected by College Sports Madness as its preseason Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year. Additionally, Sam Vecenie of CBS Sports rated him as one of the top 21 offensive coaches in all of NCAA Division I.
 
* Head coach Jim Hayford – the 2014-15 Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year -- took over an Eastern team four years ago that had been to the Big Sky Conference Tournament just once in five seasons, but in the 2014-15 season he took the Eagles to new heights. The Eagles entered the 2015-16 season with 66 victories overall, 39 league wins and four Big Sky Tournament game triumphs under Hayford, and the 26 victories last season are the fourth-most in the more than 50-year history of the league. In fact, a local newspaper dubbed Hayford the "Wizard in Cheney" in a feature article in November 2015. On July 8, 2015, Hayford signed a new five-year agreement which extends his contract at EWU through the 2019-20 season. The new five-year agreement replaced the contract he signed a year prior.
 
* For the second year in a row, EWU was honored with the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Team Academic Excellence Award. Eastern's 3.27 team grade point average was the best in the Big Sky Conference in the 2014-15 season, and .20 better than the team's 3.07 average of a year ago.
 
* Active within the last year in the pro ranks are 14 former Eagles, including Tyler Harvey and Drew Brandon from last year's Eagle team. Harvey is now with the Erie Bay Hawks of the NBA's Developmental League after getting drafted in the second round (51st overall) by the Orlando Magic in the 2015 NBA Draft. Harvey averaged 10.6 points, 2.0 assists and 1.4 rebounds for the Magic's "Blue" summer squad. Brandon is in his first year with the Bayer Giants in the Germany ProA League. Eastern's professional players are headlined by NBA veteran Rodney Stuckey, who is in his second season with Indiana after seven seasons with the Detroit Pistons. In 2014-15 – his eighth season as a pro and first with the Indiana Pacers – Stuckey averaged 12.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 0.8 steals per game in 71 games (36 starts). He made a career-best 39.0 percent of his 3-point attempts, sinking 55-of-141. Stuckey signed a new 3-year, $21 million contract with the Pacers on July 21, 2015.
 
 
 
 
 

Player Notes 

 
* Senior Venky Jois, who has moved into second on the Big Sky Conference career leaders list for blocked shots, is just seven points from becoming the fourth player in school history to hit the 1,500-point mark in his Eagle career. His school-record total of 212 blocked shots is tied with Daren Engellant from Montana (1989-92) and is 35 from the league record of 247 (Brian Qvale, Montana, 2008-11). Jois has 852 rebounds to rank fourth in school history, and he also ranks on leaders lists for scoring average (14.40, 12th), rebounding average (8.2, eighth), field goals attempted (1,042, fifth), field goals made (589, second), free throws made (311, fourth) and owns the school record for free throws attempted (549).
 
* In dissecting the league's best defense and top-rated team in the RPI, senior graduate transfer Austin McBroom scored 26 points and had seven assists in EWU's 74-60 home win over Idaho. The Vandals had entered the game ranked 122nd in the RPI and had the best defensive scoring average at 64.6 points per game (42nd in NCAA Division I). McBroom made 8-of-14 shots from the field, including 6-of-10 3-pointers, on his way to his third-best scoring night of the season. He also had seven assists – his most against a NCAA Division I opponent this season and second overall behind the 10 he had against George Fox. Including his assists, he contributed toward 45 of EWU's 74 points, including 31 of the team's 46 in the first half in taking a 16-point lead at halftime. Eastern out-shot the Vandals 53 percent to 31 percent, with Eastern's defensive performance its best of the year by six percent. The team's 15-of-29 performance from the 3-point arc was its most accurate night of the season at 52 percent
 
* The hottest Eagle as of late, junior sharpshooter Felix Von Hofe has averaged 24.0 points in his last five games with outings of 28, 27 (twice) and 19 (twice). In that stretch, he has made 52.6 percent of his shots overall (40-of-76) and 50.0 percent of his 3-point shots (27-of-54), and also made 13-of-16 free throws (81.3 percent) and averaged 4.4 rebounds. Von Hofe is averaging 17.1 points per game this season, and ranks third in NCAA Division I in 3-pointers per game with a league-leading average of 3.86 per game. He is also 22nd nationally and second in the league in 3-point shooting percentage (.462), with the fourth-best mark nationally when combining his per game average and percentage (3+22=25). He was selected on Dec. 21 as the Big Sky Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week after back-to-back career-best performances. The 6-foot-5 sharpshooter eclipsed his career high with 28 in a huge 74-58 road win at Denver on Dec. 20 on 9-of-18 shooting from the field and 8-of-14 from the 3-point stripe. Von Hofe finished two treys away from the school record of 10 and also had six rebounds -- two from his career high. One game earlier, he scored 27 at Western Carolina, which bested his previous high of 25 points set against Seattle on Nov. 18. He made 10-of-16 shots overall and 5-of-9 from the 3-point stripe against Western Carolina, for two-game totals of 19-of-34 (55.9 percent) and 13-of-23 (56.5 percent).
 
* Preseason Big Sky Conference MVP Venky Jois is ranked fourth in NCAA Division I in field goal percentage, having made 67.9 percent of his shots thus far (he was as high as third at 72.4 percent after his first seven games played). He has had a pair of double-doubles in his last four games, including his 29th career double-double at Northern Colorado on Dec. 31, finishing with 25 points and 10 rebounds for his second-straight double-double (he had 26 points and a career-high 16 rebounds at Denver on Dec. 20). He had his first double-double of the season with 21 points, 14 rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots at Davidson on Dec. 9. One game later versus Pitt, he moved up two spots to sixth on EWU's all-time career scoring list. He is now fourth in school history with 1,484 points, ahead of the 1,438 of Rodney Stuckey, who now plays for the Indiana Pacers in the NBA. Jois played in the 100th game of his career and became the 16th player in school history to hit the century mark on Dec. 14 when EWU played at Western Carolina. He equaled his career high with seven assists on Nov. 29 against South Dakota, which double and triple teamed him when he got the ball in the post and limited him to just three shots. He also went to the free throw line five times against the Coyotes to surpass the school's career record for charity shots. Now with 549 free throws attempted in his career, he broke the previous school record of 499 set by Dave Hayden from 1970-73. His 311 free throws made are fourth in school history, with Rodney Stuckey (2006-07) owning the record of 386. Jois averaged 16.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.2 blocked shots per game as a junior, and so far as a senior has averages of 15.4 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.0 blocks. Jois has three double-doubles this season and 29 total in his career.
 
* Senior graduate transfer Austin McBroom is averaging 19.0 points per game to rank second in the Big Sky and 45th in NCAA Division I. In addition, his average of 3.64 3-pointers per game is second in the league behind teammate Felix Von Hofe and is seventh nationally. McBroom is also 13th in the nation in minutes per game with a league-leading 37.1 average, and he is 48th in 3-point percentage (.432). He is 10th in the league in free throw percentage, making 39-of-49 for 79.6 percent (he was 10th nationally after making 19 of his first 20). He has upped his assists average to 3.6 per game, ranking 10th in the league. The Eagles lost a pair of All-Big Sky guards from last year's NCAA Tournament team, but McBroom has provided an instant solution for the Eagles. He scored 76 points on Eastern's East Coast road trip, including 33 at Davidson on Dec. 11, 14 two nights later at Pitt and 29 on Dec. 14 at Western Carolina. He His performance against Davidson included a 12-of-19 shooting night, and eclipsed his previous top game as an Eagle of 20 points (versus Pacific) and as a collegian of 26 points (for Saint Louis against Bradley on 11/29/14). He sank 10-of-17 shots from the field at Western Carolina, including 7-of-12 3-point attempts. His 19 points, five 3-pointers and five assists helped EWU win at San Francisco 81-77 on Dec. 1. He had a double-double with 19 points and 10 assists versus George Fox on Nov. 15. McBroom came to EWU with 97 games and 45 starts worth of NCAA Division I experience -- he played in 66 games at Saint Louis (15 as a starter) and 31 (30 as a starter) at Central Michigan in 2011-12.
 
* Junior Julian Harrell, a transfer from City College of San Francisco who previously played at Penn, made the first start of his career against Idaho on Jan. 9. The Eagles jumped out to a quick 28-12 lead, with Harrell scoring all 10 of his first-half points in that stretch on a trio of 3-pointers and a free throw. He finished with 14 points and three rebounds in a total of 25 minutes. He made 5-of-7 shots from the floor, including 3-of-5 3-point attempts. One game earlier versus North Dakota (1/4/16), he made his Eagle debut after missing the first 13 games with a hand injury. He had two points, five rebounds and an assist in 10 minutes of action.
 
* Sophomore forward Bogdan Bliznyuk has been used frequently at bringing the ball up the court, and is averaging 10.8 points and 2.1 assists per game with a deft ability to get to the rim. He has made 17-of-55 3-pointers thus far for 31 percent, and is 40-of-88 inside the stripe (45 percent) with an overall percentage of 40 percent. He has also made 31-of-43 free throws (72.1 percent), has a team-high 20 steals and is averaging 5.3 rebounds. He was the Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year after coming off the bench to average 8.7 points and 4.0 rebounds for the Eagles. It's an honor now won six times in the past 14 seasons by Eastern players, including current Eagle Venky Jois in the 2012-13 season. Bliznyuk, who also earned Big Sky All-Academic honors, averaged 12.0 points in league play to rank 24th in the Big Sky -- tops among all freshmen. He was also fifth in field goal shooting (58.0 percent) and 12th in rebounding (5.6) while also averaging 24.3 minutes and 1.4 assists. He made 58.0 percent of his shots (80-of-138) in those 18 league games and converted 39-of-51 free throws (76.6 percent). Bliznyuk is formerly from Lutsk, Ukraine, but graduated from Todd Beamer High School in Federal Way, Wash., in 2014. He was less than 2 years old when his father, a truck driver, died in an accident. Their mother moved them to Federal Way five years later to be closer to family. Born with a gap in his upper jaw, he has had multiple surgeries after moving to the United States, included transferring bone from his hip.
 
* Guard sophomore Sir Washington had a career-high 11 points in the team's opener at Mississippi State, and topped that with 15 points and a career-high nine rebounds against Great Falls on Dec. 6. He also scored 11 in two other games, including Northern Colorado on Dec. 31. He has started four games thus far, and is averaging 5.8 points on 44 percent shooting from the field, and is also averaging 17.5 minutes and 2.7 rebounds with 10 assists and 12 steals.
 
* Six Eagles have already made their college basketball debuts this season, and five of them have played in at least 14 Eastern games. Those five were inserted into the starting lineup by head coach Jim Hayford against Great Falls on Dec. 6.
 
* Starting true freshman Jesse Hunt, a 6-foot-7 forward, made the first start of his career against Pacific (11/28/15), and is averaging 13.2 minutes, 2.7 rebounds and 1.8 points per game as a nine-game starter. He missed EWU's game at Western Carolina with a sprained ankle. Redshirt freshman Will Ferris, who came off the bench to play 23 minutes against Seattle on Nov. 23 and score a career-high nine points, is averaging 1.7 points, 0.7 assists and 7.5 minutes on the season. Ty Gibson has seen significant action as a true freshman, averaging 9.0 minutes per game and starting twice. Redshirt freshman Bear Henderson has averaged 6.6 minutes and 2.1 points thus far, and started his first career game against George Fox on Nov. 15. Freshman redshirt Cody Benzel has averaged 4.7 points in an average of 6.0 minutes, including 23 points on a 7-of-14 3-point shooting performance against Great Falls on Dec. 6. He also had a 12-point performance against South Dakota on Nov. 29 when he made four 3-pointers in just eight minutes of action. All five of those players made their collegiate debuts in EWU's opener at Mississippi State on Nov. 13, and Ferris, Benzel and Gibson made the first starts of their careers against Great Falls. True freshman Michael Wearne made his collegiate debut versus George Fox, however, will now redshirt because of a hip injury requiring surgery.
 
* Making his NCAA Division I debut against Mississippi State on Nov. 13 was junior college transfer Rico Nuno, who had a career-high seven rebounds at Denver on Dec. 20 and is averaging 1.9 rebounds, 0.7 points and 6.9 minutes per game. Senior graduate transfer Austin McBroom made his Eagle debut against the Bulldogs, and junior transfer Julian Harrell played for the first time on Jan. 2 after missing the first 13 games with a hand injury. Three Eagles – transfer Geremy McKay, transfer Mario Soto and freshman Grant Gibb – will redshirt.
 
* Two major cogs in Eastern's roll to the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament last season – Venky Jois and Bogdan Bliznyuk -- were selected to the preseason All-Big Sky Conference team as selected by a panel of sportswriters, broadcasters and sports information directors in the league. Jois, a senior 6-foot-8 forward, is EWU's lone returning starter this season and was selected as the league's preseason MVP. A year ago, Eastern's Tyler Harvey won the award and went on to lead NCAA Division I in scoring and was eventually drafted in the second round of the NBA Draft by Orlando. Besides Jois, Bliznyuk was also selected to the seven-player team and was the only underclassmen chosen. The others honored included Montana's Martin Breunig, Montana State's Marcus Colbert, Northern Arizona's Kris Yanku and Weber State's Joel Bolomboy and Jeremy Senglin.
 
 
 
 
 

Quoting Coach Hayford

 
On 0-2 EWU Beating 2-0 UI: "It doesn't let Idaho get three games up on us, and I think they are going to be one of the top four teams. The first goal is to compete for the Big Sky championship, but no matter what you want to be one of those first four teams who don't have to play four games in the Big Sky Tournament. If we would have been 0-3 with a loss at home, it would have been very early to have your back against the wall – especially when your team still has to come together."
 
On Austin McBroom Versus Idaho: "We didn't think they had a good matchup on Austin McBroom, and we wanted to put the ball in his hands. He's obviously an extremely quick player and a great shooter. He's disappointed if he doesn't shoot the three at about 55 percent. He was obviously the player of the game – and the game ball goes to our team defense. I was really pleased with how we played."
 
On Julian Harrell: "We've been missing a piece. Sir Washington is a great sixth man, and we were throwing different freshmen in there trying to find that fifth piece, knowing it would be Julian. He's a really good player. That kind of rounded us off, and took away some of the bumps we were hitting. He's a fourth-year junior – he's played defense since he was a freshman. It was great having him in there, and with each week he gains more stamina and his hand gets more comfortable. It's hard for opponents when you look at our starting lineup because we have five dynamic offensive players – what are you going to stop? We just have to get those five dynamic offensive players to play defense."
 
On Playing at Home: "I feel like if our guys could have gotten a couple of more home games in December and preparation weeks of practice, we would have been a lot further along right now. Wins bring confidence, and our players were having to build confidence even though they weren't winning games. The road was tough, especially when you ask them to play 11 of 14 games away from home. It really was nice to be on our home court."
 
On Defense: "We've really been challenging our team to step up defensively. To hold that Idaho team to 31 percent and allow only 30 points in each half, I was really pleased with how we played. I think about 95 percent of practice this week was defense. Even a fifth-grader could tell that we needed to get better on defense – the offense isn't the problem. It was a great time to have a bye day, because we could just go hard for five days and get better as a team defensively. This team is going to be a good defensive team. They've had five and now they need another 10 really hard practices to understand what hard and smart defense is. We'll keep pushing them there."
 
On Offense Versus Idaho: "We ran our offense well and shot over 50 percent. We knew with their defense we had to make outside shots and we did that. As long as you can shoot the ball well against their pack defense, you're going to have a good day. And we shot the ball well. The first six or seven minutes of the second half we missed some really good, wide-open threes. If you go down to Moscow and don't shoot the ball well, you are in for a whole different game. But if you shoot the ball well from the outside against their defense, it's going to open everything up and you are going to get to play your game."
 
On Ball Movement Versus Idaho: "With 15 assists on 25 baskets, we passed the ball well – we are a really good offensive team. The other side of that is somebody at the other end of the pass has to make a shot, and at home you shoot better. When you make 10 threes in the first half, it really stretches the defense and then you can do whatever you want. Kind of our main priority defensively was to hit them hard the first five minutes and then slow the game down so the clock ticks the whole way. We did that really well."
 
 
 
 
 

Recent Game Recaps

 
* After dusting off the cobwebs at Reese Court in a decisive manner, Eastern head coach Jim Hayford stated the obvious. "It sure is nice to play on our home court," he said as his opening comment to the media after his team picked up its first Big Sky Conference victory of the season on Jan. 9 in Cheney, Wash. Jumping out to an early 16-point lead and having its best defensive field goal percentage of the season, the Eagles soared past Idaho 74-60 at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash. Senior Austin McBroom had 26 points and seven assists, and Julian Harrell scored 14 in his starting debut as an Eagle. Eastern out-shot the Vandals 53 percent to 31 percent, with Eastern's defensive performance its best of the year by six percent. McBroom hit 8-of-14 shots from the field, including 6-of-10 3-point attempts. His seven assists were his most against a NCAA Division I opponent this season as he accounted for 45 of EWU's 74 points (31 of 46 in the first half). Felix Von Hofe added 19 points and five 3-pointers to help EWU to a 15-of-29 performance from the 3-point arc. And senior Venky Jois had four blocked shots to move into the No. 2 spot on the Big Sky career leaders list with a career total of 212.  Jois was a perfect 4-of-4 with a pair of dunks to finish with nine points and eight rebounds. Sophomore Bogdan Bliznyuk chipped in six points, a team-high nine rebounds and three assists. The Eagles ranked 344th out of 351 NCAA Division I teams in field goal percentage defense entering the game at 51.0 percent. But Eastern held Idaho to just 30 points in each half on 31.3 percent shooting from the field. Previously, the lowest shooting percentages against the Eagles were 37.5 percent by George Fox on Nov. 15 and 37.5 percent by Pacific on Nov. 28. Eastern continued its torrid shooting from the 3-point stripe, sinking 15-of-29 for a season-best 51.7 percent. The previous high-water marks for EWU was 48.1 percent against Western Carolina (13-of-27) and 48.0 percent versus Denver (12-of-25). The Eagles made nine of their first 11 shots and jumped out to a quick 28-12 lead, with Julian Harrell scoring all 10 of his first-half points in that stretch on a trio of 3-pointers and a free throw. Eastern led by no less than nine the rest of the half as Austin McBroom hit a pair of free throws with one second left to give EWU a 46-30 halftime lead. Eastern opened the second half on an 8-0 run to take its biggest lead of the night at 24, and the closest Idaho came was 11 with 1:01 left. Idaho never led, and EWU led for all but the game's first 12 seconds when it was 0-0.