Eastern Washington University "Eagles" Men's Basketball (0-0/0-0 Big Sky) Nov. 10 – Walla Walla, 1:05 p.m., Cheney, Wash. Nov. 12 – at Washington, 5 p.m., Seattle, Wash. Nov. 14 – at Stanford, 8 p.m., Stanford, Calif. all times Pacific
Radio:	700-AM ESPN in Spokane. Larry Weir calls the play-by-play (John Collett will handle duties on 11/10 while Weir is with football team). Broadcasts begin a half-hour prior to tipoff
Internet Radio:	http://www.tunein.com  (search for Eastern Washington University)
Radio  Mobile Phone App:	Via tunein radio
TV:	None for Walla Walla; UW & Stanford on the  Pac-12 Networks
­­­Webcast:	All EWU home games and all Big Sky Conference games available via Pluto TV and http://watchbigsky.com
Live Stats:	http://ewustats.com for all EWU home games.
Weekly Coaches Show:	To be announced.

The head coaching career for Shantay Legans gets to come against the "dubs."
 
The Eastern Washington University men's basketball team officially opens the 2017-18 season against teams with varying degrees of difficulty, starting first with the Walla Walla University Wolves from Walla Walla, Wash.
 
That game will take place on Friday (Nov. 10) at 1:05 p.m. at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash. Then, the Eagles begin a monstrous 10-game road stretch by playing the Washington Huskies in Seattle on Sunday (Nov. 12) at 5 p.m. Pacific time. The stretch continues at Stanford next Tuesday (Nov. 14), meaning the Eagles will play three games in five days.
 
"We'll be able to see exactly where we are," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans, whose team will go 36-straight days without a home game. "We'll see who is ready to play, who picked up everything from the preseason and who can play with the lights on. We have a bunch of players who can, and a lot of guys will be given opportunities. We'll need to put our best foot forward for us to win and succeed at the end."
 
The UW and Stanford games will be televised by the Pac-12 Networks, and all EWU games will be carried live on 700-AM ESPN in Spokane, with Larry Weir calling the play-by-play. Broadcasts begin a half-hour prior to tipoff and may also be heard via http://www.tunein.com (search for Eastern Washington University). A mobile phone app is also available via tunein radio.
 
Walla Walla is a member of the NAIA and competes in the Cascade Collegiate Conference. The Wolves were 3-26 a year ago, with a 2-18 league record. They opened their season on Oct. 29 with a 95-65 loss to Lewis-Clark State, ranked No. 24 in the NAIA.
 
Washington also has a first-year head coach in Mike Hopkins, as he inherits a team that was 9-22 a year ago and 2-16 in the Pac-12 Conference. The Huskies opened their season with a 91-87 exhibition opener versus Saint Martin's and former EWU assistant coach Alex Pribble, and play their official opener against Belmont on Friday (Nov. 10).
 
Stanford, 6-12 in the Pac-12 and 14-17 overall a year ago, beat Chico State 91-81 in its exhibition game. The Cardinal also play three games in five nights, hosting Cal Poly on Friday (Nov. 10), Pacific on Sunday (Nov. 12) and then the Eagles.
 
"We have to be playing our best basketball when it comes around to this time," added Legans. "It's a different situation when we get into Big Sky play, but right now when we play against these bigger schools we need to make sure we are doing everything at a high level. We have to have good practices and get the best out of our players. We have to go into those games with chips on our shoulders because teams like UW and Stanford are where we want to be. They are really good, and we need to be able to put our best foot forward to be able to beat those teams."
 
The Eagles are coming off a third-straight appearance in a national postseason tournament, and were 22-12 overall a year ago. Eastern finished 13-5 in the Big Sky to finish second behind regular season champion North Dakota, and then the Eagles advanced to the semifinals of the league tournament. Eastern beat Portland 76-70 in an exhibition game on Oct. 29 in Portland.
 
The Eagles return eight letterwinners from last year, including a trio of returning starters – Bogdan Bliznyuk, Mason Peatling and Luka Vulikic. The others are Cody Benzel, Grant Gibb, Ty Gibson, Jesse Hunt and Sir Washington, with Jacob Davison and Joshua Thomas returning as a 2016-17 redshirts. A senior, Bliznyuk was a second team All-Big Sky Conference selection a year ago, and was the league's Freshman of the Year in 2014-15.
 
 

Game Notes

 
Home Games Will be Cherished in 2017 Preseason
 
With just three home games in the preseason, the first season at the helm will be road-heavy and a challenging one for Shantay Legans and his team. Eastern will play eight opponents who played in national postseason tournaments last season, including five in the non-conference portion of EWU's schedule.
 
Three Pac-12 Conference opponents and a stretch of 36-straight days without a game at home are the task ahead. After opening the season at Reese Court on Nov. 10 against Walla Walla in the debut of Legans' head coaching career, the Eagles go on the road for 10-straight games. The Eagles play at Pac-12 foes Washington on Nov. 12 and Stanford on Nov. 14, respectively, before playing three games in Las Vegas.
 
Utah and South Dakota advanced to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), Georgia State advanced to the College Insider Tournament (CIT) and San Francisco and Wyoming joined EWU in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI). The other three postseason opponents came from the Big Sky Conference – North Dakota in the NCAA Tournament and Idaho and Weber State in the CIT.
 
In all, Eastern will play teams from 10 different conferences, with all but two of its games versus NCAA Division I opposition. Seven opponents won at least 20 games a year ago – Georgia State, Utah, San Francisco, South Dakota, Wyoming, North Dakota and Weber State.
 
 
Eagles Use Collective Effort to Down Portland 76-70 in Exhibition
 
Graduate transfer Benas Griciunas scored a team-high 18 points in leading the Eagles to a 76-70 victory over Portland on Oct. 29 at the Chiles Center in Portland, Ore., in an exhibition game benefitting the American Red Cross Hurricane Maria disaster relief efforts. The game does not count in the season record or statistics for either team, but was a bonus in providing new head coach Shantay Legans an early glimpse of his first Eagle team. Senior Sir Washington scored 16 points and had 11 key second-half points for EWU. Sophomore Mason Peatling chipped in 11, and Bogdan Bliznyuk scored in 10 with six assists and seven rebounds. The Eagles sank 13 3-pointers in the game and won the rebounding battle 43-38.  Before the season, Legans talked of his team's "success by committee" and in the first half seven different Eagles scored. In all, 13 Eagles played in the game, but six players saw the majority of action in the second half. The Eagles led by just one with just two minutes left, but Bliznyuk fed Peatling for a dunk that was followed by a pair of free throws by Jesse Hunt with 1:13 remaining to give EWU a five-point advantage. A basket and two free throws by Bliznyuk extended the lead to six, as Portland missed its last five shots of the game. The Eagles led for 33:20 of the game, but their biggest lead was just eight points. Portland led for only 2:27 and by as many as three, and the game was tied for 4:13. Junior Ty Gibson, who along with Bliznyuk is serving as a team co-captain this season, chipped in nine points, five rebounds and a pair of assists. Hunt played 20 minutes off the bench and had eight points and four rebounds. Besides Griciunas, other newcomers who saw action for the Eagles were freshmen Richard Polanco, Jack Perry, Brendan Howard, Kim Aiken Jr., and Tanner Groves. Polanco is from the Dominican Republic, which was also impacted by Hurricane Maria after it made a direct hit on Puerto Rico on Sept. 20. Although his family and home survived the hurricane relatively unscathed, he was in the country at the time and had his return to EWU delayed as a result.
 
 
Griciunas Scores Team-Leading 18 in Eagle Debut
 
Eastern's eight newcomers this season include Lithuanian seven-footer Benas Griciunas, a graduate transfer who has 59 games of NCAA Division I experience. He unofficially opened his Eastern career by scoring 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field. He had a trio of 3-pointers and also had nine rebounds. His best scoring performance while at UNC Charlotte was 14 points and his best as a freshman at Auburn was eight. He had 12 rebounds once while playing for the 49ers.
 
 
With 6-foot-6 Bogdan Bliznuk Seeing Time at Point, Eagles Feature Size
 
Led by Big Sky Conference Player of the Year candidate Bogdan Bliznyuk, the Eagles feature a team with size throughout their lineup. A 6-foot-6 point-forward, Bliznyuk was named to the preseason All-Big Sky team, and is one of 10 returning players to the Eagle roster. The Eagles return eight letterwinners from last year, including a trio of returning starters -- Bliznyuk, Mason Peatling and Luka Vulikic. The others are Cody Benzel, Grant Gibb, Ty Gibson, Jesse Hunt and Sir Washington, with Jacob Davison and Joshua Thomas returning as a 2016-17 redshirts.
 
Bliznyuk concluded his junior season with 701 points, becoming just the fourth player in school history to hit that mark (Jake Wiley, a senior on the 2017-18 squad, ranks fifth in school history with 694). In 103 career games (16th in school history), Bliznyuk is the 20th Eagle to join the 1,000-point club, currently ranking seventh with 1,428 points. He enters his senior season in 2017-18 needing just 375 points to break EWU's all-time mark of 1,803 points set by Venky Jois from 2013-16. In addition, if Bliznyuk plays 25 games he will equal the record of 128 set by his former teammate Felix Von Hofe from 2014-17.
 
A senior, Bliznyuk was a second team All-Big Sky Conference selection a year ago, and was the league's Freshman of the Year in 2014-15. He also earned second team All-District 6 honors from the National Association of Basketball Coaches. He is formerly from Lutsk, Ukraine, and graduated from Todd Beamer High School in Federal Way, Wash., in 2014.
 
 The Eagles finished the season with five Big Sky Conference records and 14 EWU marks, most broken as the result of EWU's 130-124 triple-overtime victory over Portland State on Feb. 4. Wiley and Bliznyuk set the most intriguing record when both scored a school-record 45 points in that game versus the Vikings.
 
 
Veteran and Newcomer Honored on College Sports Madness Preseason All-Big Sky Squad
 
Senior Bogdan Bliznyuk and true freshman Brendan Howard were selected to the College Sports Madness preseason All-Big Sky Conference team announced Oct. 3. The 6-foot-6 Bliznyuk was a first team all-league pick, and the 6-6 Howard was selected as the Big Sky's Freshman of the Year by CSM.
 
Howard ended his career at Great Falls (Mont.) High School career with a school-record 2,083 points to become the first AA player in the state of Montana to exceed the 2,000-point mark (the previous record was 1,930). He was a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year in Montana, was a four-time All-State selection and helped the Bison advance to the state tournament in each of his four years with the school.
 
"Brendan understands the game and plays extremely hard," said Legans. "Once he adjusts to the next level of competition, we expect big things from him in the years to come."
 
He had a 3.71 grade point average in high school, and is the son of former Montana State University players Bob and Kathleen Howard. Bob was his coach at Great Falls, and played two seasons in Bozeman for MSU. Kathleen is a native of Seattle who holds school records of 1,761 points and 990 rebounds at MSU. Brendan's brother, Bobby, went on to score 1,366 points and grab 600 rebounds for MSU.
 
 
Eagles Picked as High as Sixth in Preseason Polls
 
Last year the Eagles exceeded expectations of the prognosticators, and this season the Eagles will seek to do the same under first year head coach Shantay Legans.
 
Eastern has been picked to finish sixth by the media and seventh by the coaches in preseason polls released Oct. 13 by the league office. A year ago, Eastern was in a tie for fifth by the media and were also picked seventh by the coaches, but went on to finish as the league runner-up in the regular season.
 
Idaho, Weber State and Montana hold down the top three positions in both polls for the upcoming 2017-18 season. The media picked Montana State fourth, North Dakota fifth and Eastern sixth. The coaches picked Northern Colorado and Montana State in a fourth-place tie, followed by UND and EWU.
 
 
Eastern Honored For Fourth-Straight Year by the NABC for Academics
 
For the fourth consecutive year, the Eastern men's basketball team was honored with the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Team Academic Excellence Award announced last summer. In addition, a trio of players – including returning senior forward Bogdan Bliznyuk – were honored on the NABC Honors Court.
 
The team award was won by 209 colleges and universities for having a team cumulative grade point average of 3.0 and above for the 2016-17 season. Teams in NCAA Division I, II, II and NAIA Division I and II were eligible. Eastern and Gonzaga were the only NCAA Division I schools in the state of Washington to be honored, and were joined by Central Washington from NCAA Division II and Northwest College from the NAIA. Eastern, Idaho State and Montana were the only Big Sky Conference schools to be recognized.
 
Players on EWU's 2016-17 team included Academic All-America nominees Ty Gibson and Jesse Hunt, as well as their fellow Big Sky Conference All-Academic selections Jacob Wiley (Big Sky MVP), Bogdan Bliznyuk (second team All-Big Sky), Mason Peatling, Mario Soto and Luka Vulikic. Other members of the squad included Julian Harrell, Felix Von Hofe, Sir Washington, Cody Benzel, Michael Wearne, Grant Gibb and Geremy McKay, with Jacob Davison and Joshua Thomas redshirting.
 
Besides Bliznyuk, former Eagles Julian Harrell and Mario Soto were selected on the Honors Court. Recipients of the award must be a varsity player, and academically a junior or senior while earning a cumulative grade point average of 3.2 or higher.
 
Bliznyuk is a from Lutsk, Ukraine, and graduated in 2014 from Todd Beamer High School in Federal Way, Wash. He is a marketing major at Eastern, and currently has a 3.29 grade point average at EWU. A three-time member of the Big Sky All-Academic team, Bliznyuk is one of five returning players who earned that honor in the 2016-17 season. The others are Gibson, who has a near-perfect 3.99 GPA, Hunt (3.68 GPA), Peatling (3.96 GPA) and Vulikic (3.44 GPA).
 
 

 
Comments from Head Coach Shantay Legans . . .

 
On Portland Win: "We played pretty good, and it was good for our team to go on the road and face some adversity against a good team. To be able to go up, lose the lead and then take the lead back and hold on down the stretch was good for us. We want to thank Terry Porter and the University of Portland for inviting us. They are a first-class institution, so that made the entire trip worthwhile. They treated us with great respect, and it was just great having the game and important to do this. It was a lot of fun and for a great cause."
 
On Benas Griciunas: "I've been trying to tell people – he's a great person and a great teammate. He puts in all the hard work and he's a great-shooting big guy who makes a lot of threes. He hit a couple of those early and it changed the way Portland had to guard. He was out there making threes like he was Cody Benzel or Ty Gibson. We got a really good player when he decided to play his senior season with us."
 
On Areas to Improve After Portland Win: "We have to keep getting better. There are a lot of things we need to work on and we are not anywhere we want to be as a team. Bogdan didn't have his greatest game, but was still able to get seven rebounds and six assists, and played great defense early and down the stretch. He really showed of leadership on his part, and everybody knows he'll play better offensively. I thought our offense at times was a little stagnant, and I have to get better at play-calling and make it easier for our guys. There is a lot myself and our coaching staff can do to help us get better. It was good having veterans out there because they saved us."
 
On Academic Honors: "This is just a testament that we are more than just a talented basketball team. It also shows that academics are the highest priority for our student-athletes at Eastern Washington. I am proud of our players for finishing the year strong in the classroom, and setting an example for the incoming student-athletes."
 
 
 

Series Notes

 
* Eastern hasn't played Walla Walla or Washington since the 2014-15 season. Eastern improved to 3-0 all-time against Walla Walla with a 95-34 victory on Nov. 19, 2014. A month later on Dec. 14, Eastern lost its ninth-straight game to Washington by an 81-77 score.
* Until the Eagles lost to Colorado 76-68 on Dec. 22, 2016, it had been two years since Eastern had played a current member of the Pac-12 Conference. The Eagles fell at Cal 78-67 on Dec. 19, 2014. Coupled with an 11-55 record versus Washington State, 1-13 mark versus Washington and a 0-14 record against other current members of the Pac-12, the Eagles have a 12-82 record all-time against that league. Since Eastern moved to NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season, EWU is 2-40 with a current 20-game losing streak versus the Pac-12. Eastern has never played Utah, Arizona State or Stanford.
* Eastern's win at Washington in the 2002-03 season snapped a five-game losing streak versus Pac-12 Conference opponents dating back to Eastern's 83-82 overtime win versus Washington State on Dec. 22, 1997, in Kennewick, Wash. That victory over WSU was Eastern's first-ever win over a Pacific 8 or Pacific 10 Conference opponent since the inception of the conference in 1968. It was also Eastern's first win over Washington State since Dec. 1, 1952, when the Eagles pulled out a 72-71 overtime road win, which is EWU's last win in Pullman in the series. The Cougars had led the all-time series 50-10 and had won 17-straight games over the Eagles prior to that EWU victory in 1997.
 
 
 
 

SEASON OUTLOOK

Size and energy – and a renewed focus on defense – can take a basketball team a long way.

Eastern Washington University first-year head coach Shantay Legans is hoping those two things will help get the Eagles through a challenging early-season schedule, combined with many other intangibles that will create "success by committee" as he
calls it.

A veteran of eight previous seasons as an Eastern assistant, Legans has 18 players on his roster, equally split between veterans and newcomers. The Eagles, who open the season Nov. 10 versus Walla Walla, are coming off a third-straight appearance in a national postseason tournament, and were 22-12 overall a year ago.

"Our players and staff are excited to get started, said Legans. "I couldn't be happier. Our team is doing a great job and is really competing in practice. They are really getting after it on the court and we have 13 guys right now I believe who could get into the game and play. They are all fighting for playing time, so seeing that competitiveness is a lot of fun out there."

Led by Big Sky Conference Player of the Year candidate Bogdan Bliznyuk, the Eagles feature a team with size throughout their lineup. Eastern could potentially having a starting unit with a 6-foot-6 point guard, plus players 6-3, 6-6, 6-7 and 7-0. Bliznyuk was one of six players selected to the preseason All-Big Sky team.

The eight newcomers include Lithuanian seven-footer Benas Griciunas, a graduate transfer who has 59 games of NCAA Division I experience.

"I love this team – we have size, we have veterans and we have youth," said Legans. "We have athleticism and we can score on the low block right now, and we can shoot the ball from the outside very well. We feel really good about this team. We have a lot of size, with a seven-footer who could start and a point guard who is 6-6 and grew over the summer. That size will affect how we play offense and how other teams play against us."

The Eagles return eight letterwinners from last year, including a trio of returning starters -- Bliznyuk, Mason Peatling and Luka Vulikic. The others are Cody Benzel, Grant Gibb, Ty Gibson, Jesse Hunt and Sir Washington, with Jacob Davison and Joshua Thomas returning as 2016-17 redshirts. A senior, Bliznyuk was a second team All-Big Sky Conference selection a year ago, and was the league's Freshman of the Year in 2014-15.

Incredibly strong and talented when driving to the basket, Bliznyuk's energy is a characteristic of the entire team.

"We get our energy by having a young coaching staff, but most of it comes from our players," said Legans. "Bogdan is one of the most energetic players out here, and Sir Washington being here five years really has a lot of energy. Our other players feed off of that and have been working hard. The energy is electric in practice and it's been fun watching these guys go."

Such energy is contagious, and Legans saw the results firsthand a year ago when Jacob Wiley went from a virtual college unknown to receiving an offer to play in the National Basketball Association for the Brooklyn Nets.

 "Our freshmen who played last season, Mason and Luka, have come leaps and bounds," he added. "And Jesse Hunt has done a great job. We are going to do it by committee, but it's always hard replacing a pro."

Legans also has the task to blend in a large group of newcomers, including six who have never played NCAA Division I basketball. He'll have to determine who are ready to play now and who will need to be redshirted.

 "We have to catch our younger players up," said Legans. "Our veterans are really good – Sir has been here five years and Bogdan has been here four. Benas has played a lot of Division I basketball at a very high level. We also have Cody, Ty, Luka, Jesse and Mason, and all of those players have played and started at some point in their careers."

"They have to mentor the younger players, and let them know exactly what they need to be doing on and off the court," he continued. "They are doing a great job of that already – they started this summer and have carried it on over. We're building toward the beginning of our season, and we are off to a good start."

Legans said his team will have a renewed focus on defense, after previous teams under Jim Hayford were offensive-minded. A year ago the Eagles were among the Big Sky leaders in scoring offense at 79.5 points per game, but also allowed opponents to score at a 76.2 clip per game.

"I think we'll bring a lot more defense to the game plan," stated Legans. "We have Nick Booker on our staff, and he's a great defensive coach and he has our guys really revved up on that end. He's done a really good job with them early. We have a great base of offense that Coach Hayford established here before he left. We're going to keep building on that, with a couple of tweaks here and there. But defensively is where we are really going to make our name."

A former player at Cal and Fresno State, Legans had previously assisted Hayford in recruiting, scouting and game preparation for the Eagles, as well as on-the-floor coaching and the development of EWU's backcourt players. Legans is Eastern's 18th head coach in the school's 109-year basketball history, and the 10th head coach since EWU became a member of NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season.

He has been a part of Eastern teams from the 2013-14 through 2016-17 seasons which have win totals of 15, 26, 18 and 22. The two 20-victory seasons are the top two win totals in EWU's 34-year history in NCAA Division I. The combined 81 victories in four seasons, 66 in three and 44 in two are also the most since EWU became a member of NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season.

Eastern has had its first back-to-back national tournament postseason appearances at the Division I level with a current stretch of three-straight, including its first-ever win (79-72 over Pepperdine in the College Basketball Invitational in 2016). He helped coach Eastern to a 26-9 record overall, Big Sky Conference regular season and tournament titles and a NCAA Tournament appearance in the 2014-15 season.
 

Eagle Frontcourt . . .

Eastern has leaned heavily on graduate transfers the last two seasons, and this year will be no exception. After beginning his collegiate career at Auburn and then playing at UNC Charlotte, Griciunas will play his senior season at Eastern. Most recently he started seven of 20 games in the 2016-17 season at UNC Charlotte.

"Benas is a versatile 7-footer," Legans said. "He is mature, smart and extremely skilled."

Prior to the arrival of Griciunas, guard Austin McBroom played as a graduate transfer in the 2015-16 season, followed by forward Jacob Wiley. Wiley is now with the New Jersey Nets in the NBA, and was the Big Sky Conference MVP last season after averaging 20.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.8 blocked shots per game as a senior.

"Losing a professional obviously changes a lot," admitted Legans. "When we lost Tyler Harvey we picked up Austin McBroom, and when we lost Venky Jois we picked up Jake Wiley. And now that we've lost Jake, we've picked up a good player in Benas, our big fella from UNC Charlotte. He's a really good player. And then we put a lot more on Bogdan's shoulders."

The definition of versatility is the 6-6, 215-pound Bliznyuk, who burst on the scene in 2015-16 to earn Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year honors. He followed that by recording the first triple-double in school history as a sophomore, and then earned second team All-Big Sky and All-District 6 honors in 2016-17 when he averaged 20.6 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game.

He has scored 1,428 points in 103 career games, and needs just 375 points to break EWU's all-time mark of 1,803 points set by Venky Jois from 2013-16. If Bliznyuk plays 25 games he will equal the record of 128 set by his former teammate Felix Von Hofe from 2014-17.

Bliznyuk is formerly from Lutsk, Ukraine, and graduated from Todd Beamer High School in Federal Way, Wash., in 2014.
"He is an experienced, versatile player who will continue to do a little bit of everything for us," said Legans. "Bogdan is ready to have his best year as an Eagle yet."
The 6-8 Peatling started 17 of Eastern's 34 games as a true freshman in 2016-17, and averaged 4.0 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. Hunt, a 6-7 junior, averaged 2.8 points and 2.1 rebounds in 33 games (twice as a starter).
Eastern also added three new freshmen to the fold at forward, including 6-8 Richard Polanco, 6-9 Tanner Groves and 6-6 Brendan Howard. Howard was chosen by College Sports Madness as the preseason choice to garner Big Sky Freshman of the Year honors after a high school career at Great Falls (Mont.) High School that saw him score 2,083 points and become a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year in Montana.
"Our length is going to bother people," added Legans. "The way we are competing right now makes me believe that our size will be a big key in our success this season."
 
Eagle Backcourt . . .
More often than not, the 6-6 Bliznyuk brings the ball up the court as Eastern's versatile point-forward. But Eastern also returns another tall point guard who made improvements in leaps and bounds since the time he arrived on campus a year ago from Serbia.
Luka Vulikic started 22 of Eastern's 32 games a year ago, and finished with averages of 2.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and nearly one assist per game. He's actually added an inch since last season and now stands at 6-6, and will be a defensive presence as well for EWU.
"The transition period is over now, and Luka is eager to show that he can be our point guard on a consistent basis," said Legans. "He is no stranger to playing a lock-up defense and we think he has a chance to surprise many people this year."
Washington is the most experienced guard returning for the Eagles, with 89 games worth of experience (18 as a starter). He started 11 of 34 games in the 2016-17 season, averaging 6.7 points per game. He came on strong at the end of the year, scoring in double figures in four of EWU's last 10 games and making 12-of-24 of his 3-point attempts in Big Sky games.
The Eagles return a pair of sharp-shooting guards who both saw starting action a year ago, and combined to sink 95 3-pointers at a combined 46.6 percent clip (95-of-204). Ty Gibson was a seven-game starter and averaged 5.2 points per game, thanks to 48.5 percent shooting from the 3-point stripe (48-of-99). Cody Benzel started six of 34 games and made 44.8 percent of his 3-point shots (47-of-105), averaging 4.6 points.
Selected along with Bliznyuk as a co-captain for the 2017-18 season, Gibson ranked second in the league last year in 3-point field goal percentage both overall and in conference games only. Benzel was right behind him in in third, and led the Big Sky in league games only with 56.8 percent accuracy (21-of-37).
Sophomore Grant Gibb and redshirts Jacob Davison and Joshua Thomas also return from last year's team, with Gibb seeing action in eight games a year ago. Newcomers in the backcourt include 6-7 swingman Kim Aiken Jr., Australian Jack Perry and junior college transfer Tyler Kidd, with Steven Beo sitting out the season after transferring from BYU.
 
 
 
 
 
More Team Notes
 
Eagles Achieve Rare 20-Win Season, With Three-Straight Years of 18+
 
At 22-12 overall in the 2016-17 season, the Eastern basketball program under former head coach Jim Hayford hit a threshold that has occurred just twice in Eastern's 34-year history in NCAA Division I. Since 1983-84, the only other times EWU has won 20 games came in 1985-86 (20-8) and 2014-15 (26-9). This year's team is just one of five in the school's 34-year NCAA Division I history to have at least 18, including three-straight under Hayford.
 
Eastern has been in the Big Sky Conference for 30 seasons now, with a high of 14 league wins in 2014-15. Finishing 13-5 in league play in 2016-17, only one other time has EWU exceeded 11 league wins, that coming in 1999-00 when EWU had 12 to share the regular season league title with Montana.
 
Eastern closed the regular season with a 15-1 home record, tying the single season record of 15 set by the 1985-86 team. It was also accomplished two other times in EWU's NAIA era in the 1976-77 and 1977-78 seasons during EWU's school-record 31-game home winning streak.
 
In the last four seasons, Eastern has won 15 (2014-15), 26 (2014-15), 18 (2015-16) and 22 (2016-17) games. The combined 81 victories in four seasons, 66 in three and 44 in two are also the most since EWU became a member of NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season. The stretch of 81 victories is the third-best overall -- Eastern won 83 games from 1975-1978 and 106 from 1943-46. The Eagles have won 66 games in back-to-back-to-back seasons, which are also the third most. Eastern won 80 games from 1945 to 1947 and 66 from 1976-78. The 44 combined victories were the most overall in 39 years since EWU won a combined 45 in the 1976-77 and 1977-78 seasons as a member of the NAIA.
 
 
 
2016-17 Season Review
 
In both wins and postseason appearances, the Eagle men's basketball program continued to cement its legacy in Eastern Washington University men's basketball history in the 2016-17 season.
Eastern made its third-straight national postseason appearance when the team competed in the 2017 College Basketball Invitational. The Eagles finished with a 22-12 record in their 34th season as a member of NCAA Division I after finishing 13-5 in the league during their 30th season as a member of the Big Sky.
With win totals of 15, 26, 18 and 22 the past four seasons, the combined 81 victories in four seasons and 66 in the last three are the most since EWU became a member of NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season.
Under head coach Jim Hayford, the 2016-17 team won 11 of its last 16 games, and finished with a school-record 15 home victories. En route to finishing with the second-most league wins in Eastern's Division I history, its five league losses were by a combined 34 points (6, 3, 1, 9, 15). The Eagles beat Sacramento State 89-70 in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference Tournament, then fell to Weber State 80-72 in the semifinals. Wyoming edged EWU 91-81 in the CBI.
Eastern entered the year picked to finish seventh by the coaches and fifth by the media in the preseason polls. Eastern lost a pair of first team All-Big Sky Conference and All-District performers to graduation – including the school's all-time leading scorer – but reloaded to feature the league's MVP in senior graduate transfer Jacob Wiley and a second team All-Big Sky selection in junior Bogdan Bliznyuk. Wiley earned first team All-District 6 honors from the National Association of Basketball Coaches, while Bliznyuk was on the second team. It was the third-straight season two Eastern players have been honored by the NABC with all-district honors. Wiley also received honorable mention All-America accolades.
The Eagles finished the season with five Big Sky Conference records and 14 EWU marks, most broken as the result of EWU's 130-124 triple-overtime victory over Portland State on Feb. 4. Wiley and Bliznyuk set the most intriguing record when both scored a school-record 45 points in that game versus the Vikings. Senior Felix Von Hofe established new records for games played (128) and 3-pointers made (262) while becoming Eastern's winningest player in EWU's NCAA Division I history with 81 victories in four seasons.
Wiley, playing in his first and only season as an Eagle, made Big Sky Conference history by becoming just the second player in league history to score at least 639 points and have at least 303 rebounds in a single season in the league's 54-year existence. He finished with totals of 694 and 309, respectively, and no other player in league history has coupled that with at least 58 blocks (Wiley finished with 94 to come one shy of the league record) or a shooting percentage of at least .621 (Wiley finished at .643). Montana's Larry Krystkowiak (now head coach at Utah) is the other player to have at least 639/303 in the same year, and he had 709 points and 364 rebounds in the 1985-86 season. Wiley finished the season ranked sixth in NCAA Division I in field goal percentage, eighth in blocked shots (2.76 per game), 29th in scoring (20.4), 48th in rebounds (9.1) and 112th in free throw percentage (.828).
Bliznyuk concluded his junior season with 701 points, becoming just the fourth player in school history to hit that mark (Wiley ranks fifth in school history with 694). In 103 career games (16th in school history), Bliznyuk is the 20th Eagle to join the 1,000-point club, currently ranking seventh with 1,428 points. He'll enter his senior season in 2017-18 needing just 375 points to break EWU's all-time mark of 1,803 points set by Australian Venky Jois from 2013-16.
Von Hofe finished his career sixth in league history for career 3-pointers with a school-record total of 262. He played in a school-record 128 games and finished with the 18th-most points in school history with 1,058, and 3-point records for both makes (262) and attempts (657)
Eastern entered league play with a winning record of 8-5 – only the fifth time that has happened in Eastern's 30 years in the Big Sky. The impressive start for EWU equaled the NCAA Tournament team of 2014-15 (9-4) and the 1985-86 team (9-4) as the only teams to start 8-5 or better in 34 years in NCAA Division I. They were just the sixth team in 34 years to start 5-2 or better, including three under Hayford.
 
 
 
More Team Notes 
• Eastern's shooting from the field and the free throw line both ranked in the top 28 in NCAA Division I and in the top four in the Big Sky Conference. Eastern's 47.9 field goal percentage was 27th in the nation and fourth in the league, led by Jacob Wiley at 64.3 percent to rank sixth individually and first in the league. Eastern's clutch free throw shooting was a major reason EWU won its first six games decided by six points or less (EWU finished 11-3 in games decided by five or less and 13-7 in games decided by 10 or less). Eastern made 77.0 percent to lead the league and rank 14th in NCAA Division I. Jacob Wiley was 112th at 82.8 percent and Bogdan Bliznyuk was 132nd at 82.1 percent. They were ranked ninth and 11th, respectively, in the Big Sky. Felix Von Hofe was not ranked, but made 42-of-53 (79.2 percent) and Ty Gibson sank 25-of-29 (86.2 percent). Eastern was as high as second in the nation early in the year. Eastern was also 53rd nationally in 3-point shooting at 37.9 percent to rank third in the league. The Eagles were paced by Felix Von Hofe (38.4 to rank 58th nationally), Ty Gibson (48.5 to rank second overall in the league) and Cody Benzel (44.8 to rank third overall in the Big Sky). Gibson and Benzel didn't have the minimum number of attempts to be ranked nationally.
• Eastern finished second among league teams with a RPI ranking of 148 compared to 144 for league-champion North Dakota. Eastern was a season high 57th on 12/13 in the official NCAA RPI ratings. Prior to beating Montana on Jan. 26, Eastern had fallen behind Weber State briefly, and had been the top Big Sky team until UND passed them on March 11. The next-best Big Sky teams were Weber State (#185), Idaho (#207), Montana (#221) and Montana State (#254). With an 8-5 mark entering Big Sky play, Eastern joined Portland State at 7-4 as the only other league team above the .500 mark prior to the start of the league season. Plus, the Eagles received 10 votes in the Collegeinsider.com Mid-Major top 25 on Dec. 12 when the Eagles were 7-2.
• The Eagles compiled some impressive records in several areas during the 2016-17 season, including an 18-3 record when scoring 73 or more points and a 5-1 record in overtime games. Eastern was one of the league's top shooting teams, and finished 14-2 when they made at least 50 percent and 17-5 when making 45.0 percent or better. Eastern finished ranked first in league games only in field goal percentage (.501) and scoring margin (+7.3). The Eagles were impressive rebounding the basketball in the second half of the season, with a 13-4 record when they out-rebounded opponents. Eastern had advantages in 15 of its last 20 games – including 11 of the last 13 -- but in its first 14 games, Eastern had a rebounding advantage just two times. Eastern was also 17-3 when it had 36 rebounds or more, and 17-6 when opponents had 35 or less. Eastern's defense produced a 13-2 record when opponents made 44.9 percent of its shots or less, and 11-3 when opponents scored 72 or fewer. The Eagles were a perfect 12-0 when they forced 12 or more turnovers.