Upcoming Games (times Pacific)

Coverage

Radio: All Eastern games are on 700-AM ESPN in Spokane. Larry Weir returns for his 23rd season calling the play-by-play, starting 30 minutes prior to tipoff.
Internet Radio: www.700espn.com or www.tunein.com.
Radio iPhone App: Search for "Spokane Radio" and download app. An app is also available for tunein radio.
Live Stats:  ewustats.com for EWU home games.
EWU Coaches Show: The shows, featuring head coach Jim Hayford & host Larry Weir, continue Mondays until at least Feb. 29 live at 6 p.m. Pacific time from 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.
 

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The Eagles and Hornets are surging.
 
With both teams coming off huge victories, the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team hosts Sacramento State Saturday (Jan. 30) in a Big Sky Conference showdown at high noon at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.
 
Fans can listen to the game 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.
 
Saturday's game is a "Red Out Reese" Day, featuring 1,500 shirts given out to fans courtesy of Northern Quest Resort and Casino. Saturday is also EWU Alumni Day, with face painting, EWU tattoos and sign-making station available for children. Also, the EWU coaching staff will participate in the Coaches vs. Cancer "Suits & Sneakers" nation-wide promotion.
 
The Eagles evened their records to 10-10 overall and 4-4 in the Big Sky with a convincing 112-83 victory over Portland State on Thursday (Jan. 28) at Reese Court. The victory, which featured a school-record 20 3-pointers and 64 percent shooting overall, improved EWU's home record to 7-0.
 
Meanwhile, the Hornets opened a 21-point lead at Idaho and held on for a 65-63 victory to even their overall record at 9-9. However, Sac State has played the last six games without its starting point guard, team co-captain and fourth-year senior Cody Demps the last five games. Demps, who is averaging 12.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.1 assists, suffered a lower body injury eight minutes into his team's league opener Jan. 2 at Portland State and has yet to return. After entering the league season with the Big Sky's best non-conference record at 7-4, but is just 2-5 thus far in league play.
 
"We have a lot of respect for Sacramento State," said Eastern head coach Jim Hayford. "They are a tough-minded program and have great culture and togetherness. They have been snake-bit by injuries, but I anticipate a really good game."
 
The Eagles split in the regular season with Sacramento State a year ago, but then roared past the Hornets 91-83 in the Big Sky Conference Tournament during EWU's 3-0 run that yielded the school its second NCAA berth. The Eagles finished 26-9 a year ago and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, and Sac State was 21-12 and played in the CollegeInsider Tournament.
 
Saturday's game and next week's road trip will be extremely important toward EWU's goals of finishing the season with a winning record and, perhaps more importantly, earning one of four first-round byes in the Big Sky Conference Tournament March 8-12 in Reno.
 
"It is time for our team to make or break our season in terms of having a winning record next to our name and go into the Big Sky Tournament as one of the top four teams," Hayford explained. "We'll do everything we can to coach and get our team ready for this. We just ask our fans to come out and support us really well."
 
Eastern returns to the road to begin the second half of the league season on Feb. 4 when the Eagles play at Northern Arizona, followed by a game two nights later at Southern Utah. Eastern soundly defeated both of those foes earlier this season at home, knocking off the Thunderbirds 106-80 and NAU two days later by a 96-73 score.
 
Eastern is looking for its first road breakthrough of the league season, having gone 4-0 at home and 0-4 on the road thus far in the league season. The Eagles have made 57 percent of its shots from the field at home this season (45 percent on 3-pointers) while averaging 99.1 points per game, but are just 46 percent from the field on the road (36 percent from the arc) and are averaging 73.4 points.
 
 
 
Opponent/Series Notes 
 
* Since Eastern became a member of NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season, the Eagles are now 29-14 versus Sacramento State, and the two schools did not play against each other prior to that. The Eagles have won 22 of their last 32 games against the Hornets, and have an 18-3 record versus Sacramento State in Cheney, are 10-11 in Sacramento and 1-0 on a neutral court. That neutral site game came in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference Tournament last year in Missoula, when the Eagles won 91-83. Felix Von Hofe came off the bench to score a career-high 23 points with seven 3-pointers made, helping EWU lead by as many as 26 in the second half. At one point, the Eagles made 16-of-17 shots from the field, including seven of its last eight in the first half and their first nine of the second half. Earlier in the season, Eastern won 64-61 at home and lost 90-77 in Sacramento.
 
 
 
Game Notes 
 
* Coaches Shows featuring head coach Jim Hayford and host Larry Weir continue Mondays 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. Shows will continue through at least Feb. 29, with the show on March 7 depending 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.
 
* Coming off a school-record performance with 20 3-pointers against Portland State, Eastern's average of 10.8 3-pointers per game is seventh in NCAA Division I (previously fourth after eight games) and leads the Big Sky. The team's percentage is 14th at 40.4 percent (previously 175th/33.9 percent after six games). Austin McBroom (3.68 per game) and Felix Von Hofe (3.21 per game) are ranked first and third in the Big Sky and are fourth and 20th, respectively, in the nation. Against PSU on Jan. 28, the Eagles made 20-of-31 to break the previous record of 18 3-pointers set against New Hope on Dec. 4, 2010 (the Big Sky record is 30). Eastern's 20 treys were by eight different players – six by Austin McBroom, five by Felix Von Hofe, four by Julian Harrell and one each by Bogdan Bliznyuk, Sir Washington, Bear Henderson, Will Ferris and Cody Benzel. A year ago, Eastern was fifth nationally with an average of 9.8 made treys per game, and its 40.0 percent accuracy was eighth-best in the nation.
 
* The Eagles led for 39:13 out of 40 minutes against Portland State on Jan. 28 to continue a recent trend, and opened a double-digit lead it never relinquished at 16-4 just 3:40 into the game. Eastern led by 20 or more for the last 26:21 of the game and 27:13 total. In its previous three-game homestand, EWU led 113:30 out of a total of 120 possible minutes, sank 57 percent of their shots (99-of-174) and had an average winning margin of 21.0 points per game. Eastern averaged 92 points per game while allowing an average of 71. Proving just how difficult it is to win on the road, Eastern led Montana on Jan. 23 for just 3:29 and two nights earlier led MSU for just 5:23.
 
* Eastern is now 8-0 this season when it has a better field goal percentage than its opponent, and 2-10 when it has been out-shot. The Eagles are also 6-1 when allowing 71 points or fewer, and 4-1 when their opponent makes 44.9 percent or less from the field.
 
* This only the second time in Eastern's 33 seasons as a member of NCAA Division I that the Eagles have scored at least 100 points in four games. Eastern also achieved that feat in 2006-07 season when Rodney Stuckey averaged 24.6 points per game when the Eagles averaged 84.2 per game to establish EWU's high-water mark as a member of DI. The overall record for 100-point performances is eight set in the 1970-71 season, and the 1971-72 squad had seven when Eastern averaged a school-record 90.0 points per game.
 
* Eastern's scoring average for the season is at 82.4 points to rank 21st in NCAA Division I and lead the Big Sky Conference through games of Jan. 28. 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 has now led at halftime in 14 of 19 games this season, and has a 10-4 record in those 14 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 786-666 in the first half (average score of 39-33) and has been outscored 878-862 in the second half (43-43).
 

 
 
Player Notes 
 
* Now with 1,592 points in his career and the school record on the horizon, senior Venky Jois moved from fourth to second in career scoring against Montana on Jan. 23. A first-half dunk moved him past the 1,550 points of Irv Leifer (1942-47) and in the second half he moved past the 1,564 scored by former teammate Tyler Harvey. Jois also ranks ahead of the 1,438 of Rodney Stuckey (now with the Indiana Pacers in the NBA), but is 149 points behind the school record of 1,741 held by Ron Cox (1974-77). If he equals his 16.5 scoring average the rest of the season (including one Big Sky Tournament game), Jois would finish with 1,773 and break the record. Jois' school-record total of 220 blocked shots are 27 from the league record of 247 (Brian Qvale, Montana, 2008-11).  Jois has 897 rebounds to rank third in school history, and he also ranks on leaders lists for games played (109, 10th), scoring average (14.60, 10th), rebounding average (8.2, eighth), field goals attempted (1,106, fourth), field goals made (632, second), free throws made (324, second) and owns school records for dunks (135) and free throws attempted (579). Jois became the fourth player in school history to hit the 1,500-point mark in his Eagle career with 24 against Southern Utah on Jan. 14.
 
* Senior graduate transfer Austin McBroom is averaging 19.8 points per game to rank first in the Big Sky and 34th in NCAA Division I. His scoring average currently ranks as the ninth-best in school history In addition, his average of 3.68 3-pointers per game leads the league (just ahead of teammate Felix Von Hofe) and is fourth nationally. His 70 total 3-pointers already ranks eighth all-time in single season school history. McBroom is also 27th in the nation in minutes per game with a league-leading 36.5 average, and he is 32nd in 3-point percentage (.440). He is ninth in the league and 130th nationally in free throw percentage, making 60-of-73 for 82.2 percent (he was 10th nationally after making 19 of his first 20). He has upped his assists average to 3.4 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. 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.
 
* Preseason Big Sky Conference MVP Venky Jois is ranked fourth in NCAA Division I in field goal percentage, having made 67.7 percent of his shots thus far (he was a season-high third several times, as recently as Jan. 27th). His current mark is on pace to break the school record of 66.0 percent set by Ron Cox in the 1976-77 season. Jois has had a four double-doubles in his last nine games, including his 31st career double-double against Montana (1/23/16), finishing with 20 points and 10 rebounds. 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. 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 579 free throws attempted in his career, he broke the previous school record of 499 set by Dave Hayden from 1970-73. His 324 free throws made are second in school history, with Rodney Stuckey (2006-07) owning the record of 386. Jois also owns school records with 220 blocked shots (second in Big Sky history) and 135 dunks. He 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 16.5 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.9 blocks. Jois has five double-doubles this season and 31 total in his career. He had a huge weekend in Eastern's home sweep on Jan. 14 and 16, scoring 45 points on 21-of-28 (75 percent) shooting from the field, with a total of 11 dunks. Jois also had 20 rebounds, three assists, three blocked shots and a pair of steals. Eastern beat Southern Utah 106-80 and Northern Arizona 96-73 in a pair of romps that EWU led for a total of 73:22 and trailed for just 4:09 out of 80 minutes. He made 11-of-16 shots with six dunks to score 24 against SUU, and also had 12 rebounds to record his fourth double-double of the season and 30th of his career. He made 10-of-12 shots from the field with five dunks, and added eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals in a 21-point effort versus NAU.
 
* Junior Julian Harrell, a transfer from City College of San Francisco who previously played at Penn, averaged 13.3 points in his first three starts this season (all victories). He sank 15-of-20 shots in those three games, including 6-of-9 3-point shots. In seven games played this season, he is averaging 10.7 points and 4.0 rebounds per game, while making 57.8 percent of his shots and 13-of-26 3-pointers (50.0 percent). His season high is 16 points versus Portland State on Jan. 28 when he finished with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including 4-of-6 3-pointers. He made the first start of his career against Idaho (1/9/16), helping EWU to a 28-12 lead by 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, then had 15 points in 19 minutes on 6-of-7 shooting against Southern Utah (1/14/16). He had two points, five rebounds and an assist in 10 minutes of action in his Eagle debut versus North Dakota (1/4/16) after missing the first 13 games with a hand injury. He also takes on the added role of usually guarding the opposing team's best player.
 
* Playing a key "blur" position for the Eagles, sophomore forward Bogdan Bliznyuk registered the first triple-double in school history with 11 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists in a 96-73 victory over Northern Arizona (1/16/16). He made 4-of-12 shots from the field and both of his free throws, and also had three blocked shots. Not even Rodney Stuckey, now of the Indiana Pacers, or former All-Big Sky point guard Drew Brandon, were able to register the rare feat. He followed that with his fourth double-double of his career and third this season with 22 points and 13 rebounds at Montana State (1/21/16), and against Portland State (1/28/16) he had another monster game with 11 points, seven rebounds, six assists, five steals and four blocked shots in 34 minutes.. Bliznyuk plays a position head coach Jim Hayford calls a "blur" because it shares attributes of a shooting guard, small forward and power forward. He has been used frequently at bringing the ball up the court, and is averaging 11.1 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.4 steals with a deft ability to get to the rim. He has made 23-of-70 3-pointers thus far for 33 percent, and is 54-of-115 inside the stripe (47 percent) with an overall percentage of 42 percent. He has also made 45-of-60 free throws (75.0 percent). 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). 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. He officially became a United States citizen on Jan. 12, 2016.
 
* Junior sharpshooter Felix Von Hofe is averaging 14.3 points on the season, but in a five-game stretch from Dec. 14 to Jan. 9, he averaged 24.0 points with outings of 28, 27 (twice) and 19 (twice). In that stretch, he 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 ranks 20th in NCAA Division I in 3-pointers per game with an average of 3.21 per game (he was third with a 3.86 average following EWU's game on Jan. 9) and is 34th in accuracy at 43.6 percent (he was 22nd with a 46.2 percent accuracy rate after Jan. 9). 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).
 
* Eastern's sixth-man, sophomore guard Sir Washington has scored in double figures five times this season, including a 10-point effort on perfect 3-of-3 shooting against Portland State (1/28/16). Three games earlier he came two points from his career high by hitting all five of his shots and three free throws to finish with 13 points in a 96-73 win over Northern Arizona (1/16/16). He also had six points, six rebounds and two steals in 28 minutes at Montana (1/23/16). The Eagle sixth man opened the season with 11 points in the team's opener at Mississippi State, and topped that with career highs of 15 points and nine rebounds against Great Falls on Dec. 6. He also scored 11 in two other games, including Northern Colorado (12/31/16) in the team's league opener. He was injured and didn't play versus Idaho (1/9/16). He has started four games, and is averaging 6.3 points on 52 percent shooting from the field, and is also averaging 17.8 minutes and 2.9 rebounds with 15 assists and 14 steals.
 
* Six Eagles have already made their college basketball debuts this season, and five of them have played in at least 17 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 11.2 minutes, 2.3 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 2.1 points, 0.8 assists and 7.5 minutes on the season. Ty Gibson has seen significant action as a true freshman, averaging 8.1 minutes and 1.9 points per game and starting twice. He made all three of his 3-point attempts and a free throw to finish with a season-high 10 points against Southern Utah (1/14/16). Redshirt freshman Bear Henderson has averaged 5.9 minutes and 2.0 points thus far, and started his first career game against George Fox on Nov. 15. Freshman redshirt Cody Benzel has averaged 4.1 points in an average of 5.9 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 1.7 rebounds, 0.6 points and 6.4 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.
 

 
Quoting Coach Hayford
 
On PSU Win: "We had great balance and we saw our team really playing within their roles and off of each other. As good as we were offensively, we were that good defensively in the first half. It's hard to keep the intensity in the second half, but we were really good in the first half. Cameron Forte deserves recognition for how well he played for them tonight."
 
On 3-Point Record: "I'm very happy for our team that they were able to set a school record. I don't know if I've ever coached a team that has made 20 threes – we've been close before. And we did it against a really good opponent. Portland State won its last two road games, but we were clicking on all cylinders."
 
On Upcoming Stretch of Games: "What we have to learn how to do is win on the road – that's why we have to look ahead to that weekend. If we are going to win on the road it is going to be on that trip, and we have to pack our bags with a lot of resolve.  If we don't, we'll end up in the middle of this whole thing and have to hope for good luck in Reno."