­­­­­­­Eastern Washington University "Eagles" Men's Basketball (10-11/5-3 Big Sky) Jan. 27 – Northern Colorado ­– Cheney, Wash. – 2:05 p.m. Feb. 1 – at Sacramento State ­– Sacramento, Calif. – 7:05 p.m. all times Pacific
Radio:	700-AM ESPN & 105.3-FM in the Spokane/Cheney area. Larry Weir calls the play-by-play. 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:	UNC game televised internationally by Eleven Sports
­­­Webcast:	All EWU home games and all Big Sky Conference games are available via Pluto TV and http://watchbigsky.com
Live Stats:	http://ewustats.com for all EWU home games.
Weekly Coaches Show:	Shows hosted by Larry Weir and featuring head coach Shantay Legans take place Mondays at 6 p.m. at Barrelhouse Pub & Pizza in Cheney. They are aired live on 700-AM ESPN.

The Eagles and Bears will be on the hunt for a sixth conference win.
 
With the Big Sky Conference schedule reaching the halfway point for both schools, the Eastern Washington University men's basketball hosts Northern Colorado in a battle for at least third place in the conference standings on Saturday (Jan. 27) at 2:05 p.m. at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.
 
The UNC game will be broadcast internationally via Eleven Sports. All of EWU's remaining regular season games will be available via http://watchbigsky.com via Pluto TV. In addition, all Eastern games are carried live on 700-AM ESPN and 105.3-FM in the Spokane/Cheney area, 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.
Both teams are coming off victories, with EWU leading from start-to-finish in a 95-71 romp past North Dakota on Thursday (Jan. 25). Now 6-1 at home, the Eagles are 10-11 on the season and 5-3 in the Big Sky, and have won seven of their last 10 games. The Eagles are now 52-10 (84 percent) at Reese Court in the past five seasons since 2013-14. However, the Eagles saw their 12-game home court winning streak snapped against Idaho on Jan. 12, having not lost at home since falling to Montana on Jan. 7, 2017.
 
Eastern's victory, coupled with Northern Colorado's 80-63 win at Idaho, helped Eastern move up one spot into third in the Big Sky standings. Montana leads the way at 8-0 after beating Southern Utah 71-47 on Thursday, with idle Weber State currently second at 5-2. The Eagles, Vandals and Bears are all 5-3, with Montana State losing at home to Northern Colorado 77-75 on Thursday to fall to 4-4 in the league. Idaho State was also idle and is just ahead of the Bobcats at 4-3.
 
After beating Idaho, the Bears are 14-7 on the season and 5-3 in the Big Sky, and are 3-5 on opponent home courts this season. North Dakota and Northern Colorado battled last Saturday (Jan. 20) in overtime, with the Bears prevailing 94-91. They won it with a half-court buzzer-beater by Andre Spight, who finished with 34 points. Spight is averaging a Big Sky-leading 23.1 points per game during league play thus far, and third overall with a 19.9 average.
 
Earlier this season, Eastern opened conference play with a road split, falling at Northern Colorado 88-75 before rebounding for a 77-64 victory over UND on New Year's Eve. Bliznyuk scored 23 against the Bears, but Eastern has played the last four games without Jesse Hunt, who had 16 points and eight rebounds in both of those early games.
 
"We're excited about being able to win a home game against North Dakota, but we know we have to come back and win the next one," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans. "We let one slip against Idaho – we wanted to go perfect at home. You can only control what you can control. Northern Colorado beat us on their court, so I know our guys will be ready. We're excited about that."
 
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.
 
Bill Doleman will provide play-by-play of Saturday's TV broadcast, with former Big Sky coach Joe Cravens providing analysis. Eleven Sports is available in 70 million homes worldwide in Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Singapore, Taiwan and the United States, via various cable, satellite, telco, and OTT providers.  Go to http://elevensportsusa.com/where-to-watch/ to find Eleven Sports in your area. All Eleven Sports productions will also be available on WatchBigSky.com and Pluto TV, which airs all EWU regular season home games and other Big Sky road games.
 
 
 

Game Notes

 
6-foot-6 Point-Forward Bogdan Bliznyuk Sets EWU Scoring Record; 11 Points From Big Sky Top 10
 
There are still plenty more points to be scored for Big Sky Conference Player of the Year candidate Bogdan Bliznyuk. He's already broken EWU's career scoring record, but he's now on the verge of moving into the top 10 in Big Sky Conference charts history as well. And he's already broken an EWU record held by a former 10-year NBA veteran, and another mark held for 45 years.
 
Bliznyuk now has 1,830 career points in 124 career games, breaking the previous record of 1,803 set by Venky Jois (2013-16). He broke the record on Jan. 25 in a 95-71 victory at home versus North Dakota with a 3-pointer barely a minute into the game to give EWU a 7-2 lead. Eastern head coach Shantay Legans called a timeout so his accomplishment could be acknowledged, then the Eagles used the energy to open a 30-8 lead while making 12 of their first 15 shots.
 
Bliznyuk moved up four spots against UND to 11th in the 55-year history of the Big Sky, with Jois previously ranking No. 14 on the Big Sky list. Bliznyuk also passed the 1,810 points by Jim Potter from Idaho State from 1992-95, the 1,819 by Donn Holston from Idaho State from 1984-87 and the 1,827 by Michael Ray Richardson from Montana from 1984-87.  Bliznyuk is now just 11 points from moving into the top 10 (1,841 by Tom Domako from Montana State from 1985-88).
 
Ron Cox had 1,741 points from 1974-77 and held the school record for 39 years – about 14,300 days – until broken by Jois on March 3, 2016 in an Eagle loss. Thus, Jois owned the record for just 693 days. Against San Francisco on Dec. 7, Bliznyuk passed Irv Leifer (1,550 from 1942-47), who held the Eastern record for 30 years after playing for EWU from 1942-47. He then passed the 1,564 points of his former teammate Tyler Harvey (2013-15). Previously, Bliznyuk passed 10-year NBA veteran Rodney Stuckey (1,438 points from 2006-07) in EWU's first game of the season, and then Dave Hayden (1,461 points from 1970-73) against Washington.
 
With 412 free throws made in his career, Bliznyuk has also broken the record of 386 held by Stuckey, who played a total of 10 years with the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers in the NBA. Bliznyuk broke the record when he was 13-of-13 from the line against Portland State on Jan. 4, and also made 16-of-16 versus Northern Arizona on Jan. 18 (Harvey holds the school and Big Sky records with a 20-for-20 performance). Bliznyuk currently ranks fourth in school history with 82.9 percent accuracy rate from the free throw line. He enters the Northern Colorado game on Jan. 27 having made his last 37 in a row, dating back to the second half of the North Dakota game on Jan. 31.
 
Bliznyuk has a school-record 1,324 field goal attempts, breaking the 45-year record on Jan. 18 against NAU when he moved past the 1,286 Hayden had from 1970-73. In addition, if Bliznyuk plays four more games he will equal the record of 128 set by his former teammate Felix Von Hofe from 2014-17. Parker Kelly, another former teammate, is second with 126. Von Hofe, now living back in Melbourne, Australia, was at the UND game on Jan. 25. Bliznyuk is ranked in the top 10 in school history in several other categories, and against Providence on Dec. 20 moved passed Eagle legend and former Big Sky MVP Alvin Snow (2015-17) into seventh in assists (Snow had 318 and Bliznyuk has a current total of 355 to rank fifth all-time at EWU).
 
This season, Bliznyuk has made 49.1 percent of his field goals and 88.8 percent of his free throws (second in the Big Sky, 31st in NCAA Division I) to average 19.1 points (fifth) through 21 games. He is also averaging 6.3 rebounds (ninth) and 3.7 assists (third) to rank as the only player in the league to be in the top 10 in scoring, rebounding and assists. He now has 10 performances in his 124-game career of at least 30 points, 35 with at least 20 and 86 scoring in double figures, including the school record scoring total of 45 set as a junior. Plus, he had the lone triple-double in school history as a sophomore.
 
On Jan. 1, Bliznyuk was one of five players in the league named by HoopsHD.com to its mid-season All-Big Sky team. He was selected on Dec. 19 as the Big Sky Conference Player of the Week after a 30-point effort in one game and a near triple-double in another. In two games – including an overtime loss at Wyoming and a 28-point NCAA Division I home win, the Big Sky Player of the Year candidate averaged 23.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game. He made 50 percent of his shots overall (15-of-30) and from the 3-point arc (4-of-8), and also made 12-of-15 free throws for 80 percent. On Nov. 8, Bliznyuk was selected to the Lou Henson Award preseason Watch List by Colllegeinsider.com. The award is presented annually to the nation's top Division I mid-major player, and the initial watch list featured 51 players from across the country.
 
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). 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.
 
Bliznyuk has played in seven Big Sky Tournament games (5-2 record), with Bliznyuk averaging 15.9 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. He scored 32 points with eight rebounds in the 2017 semifinals, and had 18 points, nine rebounds and six assists in the quarterfinals.
 
Led by Bliznyuk, the Eagles in 2017-18 feature a team with size throughout their lineup. They were bolstered by the addition of 7-footer Benas Griciunas, a senior graduate transfer from UNC Charlotte. 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.
 
 
Jacob Wiley Returns After Playing 21 Games With Brooklyn & Long Island Nets
 
Former Eagle Jacob Wiley returned to Cheney for EWU's games versus North Dakota and Northern Colorado to be with his former teammates while rehabilitating a foot injury after stints with the Brooklyn Nets of the NBA and the Long Island Nets of the NBA's G-League. Wiley originally signed a two-way contract with the Nets, and played five games with Brooklyn and then 16 (six as a starter) with Long Island.
 
He averaged 6.6 minutes per game in his five games with Brooklyn, scoring four points and grabbing 11 rebounds. He scored all four of the points and eight of the rebounds in 21 minutes of action against Denver on Nov. 7, 2017. He made his regular season NBA debut versus Denver on Oct. 29, 2017. He then averaged 7.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists for Long Island, including a season-high 20 in his first game on Nov. 16, 2017. Wiley scored in double figures five times, and had a season-high seven rebounds on Jan. 2, 2018.
 
He played with the Nets during the 2017 NBA Summer League, averaging 15.6 minutes, 2.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 0.5 blocked shots in the team's four games in­ Las Vegas. Prior to that, he played in the Portsmouth Invitational and averaged 27.2 minutes, 17.3 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in three games.
 
Playing in his first and only season as an Eagle in 2016-17, Wiley 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. The honorable mention All-American, Big Sky MVP and first team NABC All-District 6 selection 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). 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). He signed a contract with the New Jersey Nets of the NBA.
 
 
Coaches vs. Cancer "Suits and Sneakers Week" which runs from Jan. 22-28.
 
Coaching staffs across the nation are wearing sneakers as part of the Coaches vs. Cancer "Suits and Sneakers Week" which runs from Jan. 22-28. Coaches vs. Cancer Suits and Sneakers Week is a nationwide event when basketball coaches across the country unite for a common cause – saving lives from cancer! Coaches and their staff across the nation wear sneakers with their suits during games to raise awareness and help save lives from cancer by raising funds and encouraging people to educate themselves about cancer prevention, screening, and early detection.
 
 
EWU Free Throw Shooting Tops in the League; Benzel's 3-Point Percentage Ranks Second
 
The Eagles have been a solid free throw shooting team this season and are currently leading the league and ranked 26th in NCAA Division I (76.4 percent, as well as tops in league games only at 83.8 percent). Senior Bogdan Bliznyuk is second in the league and 31st nationally at 88.8 percent, including 41-of-42 (97.6 percent) in league games only to lead the Big Sky. He's made his last 37 free throws in a row.
 
From the 3-point line, Eastern is fourth in league games only at 40.0 percent while ranking also ranking fourth defensively at 34.0 percent. Overall, Eastern is third (36.3 percent) offensively and sixth defensively (35.3 percent). Junior Cody Benzel is second in 3-point shooting overall at 48.8 percent (39-of-80), including 24-of-46 (52.2 percent) in league games only to rank seventh. True freshman Jack Perry is eighth on the season at 42.4 percent (28-of-68). Junior Ty Gibson has averaged 2.1 3-pointers per game (44-of-121 total) to rank 11th in the league, and is currently third on the team in scoring at 7.5 per game. One of the team's co-captains, Gibson has scored in double figures in six of the last 14 games.
 
In individual field goal shooting, injured junior Jesse Hunt is 12th in the league at 50.5 percent, as well as seventh in rebounding at 6.6 per game. Bliznyuk is right behind him in ninth in rebounding (6.3), and is also fifth in scoring (19.1) and third in assists (3.7). He's the only player to rank in the top three in the league in all three categories, both overall and Big Sky games only. Bliznyuk has 36 assists in eight Big Sky games to rank second in the league with a 4.5 average.
 
Perry has averaged 2.8 assists overall this season to rank 14th in the league, and Mason Peatling is seventh with an average of 1.0 blocked shots per game.
 
 
Eastern 5-0 When it Makes 50 Percent from the Field
 
Eastern has made at least half of its shots in five of its last 10 games, and is 5-0 this season when it hits that mark. The Eagles are coming off a 52.8 performance against North Dakota on Jan. 25 when Bogdan Bliznyuk made 12-of-15 shots on his way to a 28-point night.
 
What Eastern accomplished in the first three months of the season, the reverse happened Jan. 18 and 20. For the first time this season, Eastern was out-shot at Northern Arizona on Jan. 18 and won a game. In the next game in an overtime setback to Southern Utah, the Eagles suffered their first loss when they've had a better shooting percentage. Eastern made 48.9 percent compared to 50.9 percent to the Lumberjacks, then made 40.0 percent against the Thunderbirds while holding them to 35.6 percent. For the season, Eastern is now 9-1 when they out-shoot their opponents and 1-10 when they don't.
 
Eastern made significant shooting improvement in late December and January after starting the year making only 39 percent through nine games. The Eagles have improved that to 44.6 percent for the season. Eastern has had its top 10 shooting performances of the year in the last 12 games, and the team's three-point shooting has also improved from 30.2 percent after nine games to a current mark of 36.3. In league play, the Eagles have sank 47.8 percent of their shots from the field overall and 40.0 percent from the 3-point arc.  In eighth league games thus far, the Eagles are holding opponents to 34.0 percent from the 3-point line and 43.8 percent overall.
 
 
Punctuated by Performances Against Sac State, Balanced Minutes and Balanced Scoring is Key for Eagles
 
Eastern head coach Shantay Legans has gone to his bench often, continuing in league play what the Eagles started in the preseason while utilizing eight different starting lineups along the way. With eight different players scoring in double figures in two home games in early January, the Sac State game on Jan. 6 was the punctuation mark on EWU's balance this season.
 
For the season, Eastern is averaging 25.4 points per game from its bench (533 total), compared to an average of 20.1 by its opponents (422 total). Ten Eagles are averaging between 14.2 and 33.3 minutes per game, and one other is averaging 9.3. For the season, Bogdan Bliznyuk is averaging a team-leading 19.1 points per game, but 10 others are averaging between 4.5 and 9.1.
 
Versus Sac State, 80 of Eastern's 82 points were scored by players not named Bliznyuk, Gibson and Hunt. Bliznyuk and third-leading scorer Ty Gibson combined for only two points in the first half and were scoreless in the second half. In addition, second-leading scorer Jesse Hunt didn't play because of a foot injury suffered the day before in practice and has been out ever since. However, five other Eagles did score in double figures, with all five of them entering with season scoring averages of between 4.5 and 5.4 points per game. Those five had entered the game with just a collective total of nine double-figure scoring performances in EWU's first 16 games of the season. Eastern had career-high performances from starter Cody Benzel (25 on 7-of-10 shooting from the 3-point stripe) and substitute Benas Gricinunas (16), as well as 14 points from true freshman Jack Perry, 12 by sophomore Mason Peatling and 10 by senior Sir Washington.
 
Eastern had 26 bench points in its league opener at Northern Colorado, then 19 at North Dakota and 22 versus Portland State. The Eagles played those games without injured starter Luka Vulikic (planter fasciitis), and the first two without starter Mason Peatling (hand). Peatling missed a total of four games, and Vulikic has missed EWU's last 13. Peatling returned on Jan. 4, but that was the last game Hunt (foot) played before he was sidelined.
 
All 11 players who were available against Providence on Dec. 20 scored to contribute toward EWU's season-best output of 94 points, and each had at least one rebound. Against Cal State Northridge on Dec. 17, five players scored in double figures as the Eagles at the time had their best shooting percentages (.516 overall and .500 from the 3-point stripe), as well as a season-high 22 assists. Five different Eagles had at least three assists, and three Eagles had at least six rebounds. Defensively, Eastern had a season best by allowing just 58 points, surpassing the previous low of 61 on two other occasions – both wins.
 
The Eagles had a season-low 18 bench points at South Dakota on Dec. 10, but had a season-high 40 versus Eastern Kentucky on Nov. 22. Eastern routed Eastern Kentucky by 21, jumping out to a 19-point lead in the first half and leading 39-16 at intermission. Eastern led by as many as 28 in the second half and no less than 19 in the final minutes in the 83-62 win. That helped give EWU a 39-point turnaround in two games, having lost to Georgia State by 18 points two days earlier on Nov. 20 in its MGM Resorts Main Event opener.
 
 
Trio of Other Newcomers Contributing Significantly, Including Two as Starters
 
True freshman Jack Perry has started EWU's last 13 games, and had his fourth double-figure performance of the season with 11 against Northern Arizona on Jan. 18. He had a 14-point, six-assist effort in EWU's 82-67 win over Sacramento State on Jan. 6, and had his first two first double-figure scoring performances of the season with 13 at South Dakota on Nov. 10 and 17 two nights later at Wyoming when he also had a season-high seven assists. On the season he's averaging 6.4 points and 2.8 assists per game (14th in the Big Sky) while making 49.0 percent from the field and 28-of-66 3-pointers (42.4 percent to rank eighth in the Big Sky). His clutch 3-pointer with 15 seconds left helped clinch EWU's 81-74 win over Portland State on Jan. 4, then he hit another clutch trey with 1:06 left in EWU's 81-76 victory against Northern Arizona on Jan. 18.
 
Redshirt freshman Jacob Davison made the first start of his career at Seattle on Dec. 3 and started seven-straight games. He is now coming off the bench and has averaged 5.5 points on the season. He had a 13-point performance against Utah on Nov. 24 for his third double-figure scoring performance in a four-game span. He came off the bench to score 20 against Georgia State on Nov 20, and had 11 one game earlier versus UNLV.
 
And true freshman forward Richard Polanco has provided an offensive boost, averaging 9.3 minutes and 4.5 points. He's scored in double figures three times this season and has made nearly half of his shots from the field (34-of-72) and 73.9 percent of his free throws (17-of-23).
 
 
Senior Sir Washington Averaging 9.3 Points in Conference Play; Benzel 9.9
 
Four-year letterwinner Sir Washington has picked up his scoring pace in the Big Sky Conference season. After averaging only 4.3 points and 1.8 rebounds in the 12 preseason games he played, the senior has averaged 9.3 points and 4.1 rebounds in conference play. He sank only 30.4 percent of his shots overall (17-of-56) in the preseason, but has made 46.6 percent (27-of-58) of his field goals and 15-of-21 free throws (71.4 percent) in conference play thus far.
 
Scoring at least 10 in four of EWU's last six games, he is coming off a an 11-point effort at home against North Dakota on Jan. 25 in which he also had five rebounds and three assists. Now with 19 double figure performances of his career, he had a 15-point performance in an overtime loss at Southern Utah on Jan. 20. He finished with his second double figure scoring performance of the season with 10 points versus Sacramento State on Jan. 6. He ranks 13th in school history with 109 career games played (25 as a starter) while averaging 5.5 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists.
 
Junior Cody Benzel has also picked up his scoring pace, and is averaging 9.9 points in league play after owning a 4.5 average during non-conference play. He's made 24-of-46 3-point attempts (52.2 percent) in Big Sky games, compared to 16-of-42 (38.1 percent) prior to that. Benzel has scored at least 15 points in three of his last five outings.
 
 
Coming Off Back-to-Back Double-Doubles, Peatling Back to Pre-Injury Form
 
Sophomore Mason Peatling has provided some big games since joining the starting lineup, and has had back-to-back double-doubles. He had the first double-double of his career with 10 points and 10 rebounds in EWU's overtime loss at Southern Utah on Jan. 20, then had 11-11 versus North Dakota on Jan. 25. For the season, Peatling has averaged 6.2 points in 17 games (13 as a starter), and has averaged 4.4 rebounds and 1.0 blocked shots per game (seventh in the Big Sky). In his 51-game career (30 as a starter), he's averaged 4.8 points and 3.5 rebounds with a total of 28 assists, 30 blocks and 25 steals.
 
Making his first start since Dec. 12 after missing four games because of a hand injury, Peatling embraced his return to the starting lineup on Jan. 6 against Sacramento State. It took barely over seven minutes for him to hit the double-figure mark, as he finished with 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field in 13 minutes of action. Prior to being sidelined with his injury, he scored a career-high 19 at South Dakota on Dec. 10 and had 11 points and six rebounds one game earlier at San Francisco.
 
 
Junior Jesse Hunt Has Made Most of Five Starts
 
Sidelined against Sacramento State on Jan. 6 with a foot injury suffered the day prior in practice, junior Jesse Hunt has started EWU's the last five games he has played. In those five outings (including four Eagle victories), he's averaged 14.6 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game, while making 25-of-43 shots overall (58.1 percent), 7-of-11 from the 3-point stripe (63.6 percent) and 16-of-20 from the free throw line (80.0 percent). He registered his career high in the first four games.
 
Hunt scored a career-high 14 points and had eight rebounds in his first start of the season against CSUN on Dec. 17, then had his second double-double of the season with 16 points and a career-high 11 rebounds against Providence three days later. He equaled his career high with 16 points at Northern Colorado on Dec. 29 when he also had a career-high four blocked shots and eight rebounds in a career-high 29 minutes of action. He played 29 minutes at North Dakota and finished with 16 points and eight boards, then had 11 points and four rebounds in just 16 minutes because of foul trouble against Portland State.
 
For the season, Hunt is averaging 21.3 minutes, 9.1 points, 6.6 rebounds (seventh in the Big Sky) and has eight blocked shots, while making 50.5 percent of his shots from the field (12th in the league) and 83.3 percent from the free throw line. In his 79-game career (17 as a starter), Hunt has averaged 12.3 minutes, 3.7 points, 2.9 rebounds and has 28 blocks.
 
 
Honored Academically Within Past Year, Eagles Post 3.43 GPA in Fall Quarter
 
Despite a road-heavy second half of the quarter for the Eagles, EWU basketball players posted a collective 3.43 grade point average in the fall.  "This is very impressive, especially considering the amount of days we were on the road this quarter," praised Eastern head coach Shantay Legans. "Our guys work hard, and our coaches and administration do a great job of making sure they have all the support they need."
 
In the offseason, the Eastern men's basketball team was honored with the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Team Academic Excellence Award announced last summer. It was the fourth consecutive year EWU has won that award. 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 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 3.31 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 (3.62 GPA), Peatling (3.94 GPA) and Vulikic (3.41 GPA).
 
 
Home Games Cherished in Second-Toughest Preseason in 31 Years
 
With just three home games in the preseason, the first season at the helm has been road-heavy and a challenging one for Shantay Legans and his first team, with 10 of 13 preseason games away from home. In fact, the only time in 31 seasons as a member of the Big Sky Eastern has had a more road-heavy preseason schedule was in the 1988-89 season when EWU played 11 of 14 games away from home. That team was 1-10 away from home and 3-11 overall heading into conference play (EWU finished 8-22 overall and 5-11 in the league).
 
Seven of EWU preseason losses were on the home court of its opponents, which finished their pre-conference schedules 69-27 (72 percent) on the season and 50-6 (89 percent) at home. The Eagles recorded a huge win at Stanford (67-61 on Nov. 14) and barely lost at Wyoming (93-88 in overtime on Dec. 17). After 36-straight days without a home game, Eastern returned to Reese Court where the Eagles had won 84 percent of their games (46-9) in the previous four years since the 2013-14 season.
 
This season is also just the second time in school history EWU has played three Pac-12 Conference opponents in the same year, with 2011-12 the other season and included losses to Oregon, Washington State and UCLA. In the 2017-18 season, 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 were the task EWU took on. Three other teams in NCAA Division I also have such a streak:
39 – Penn (Nov. 18 vs. PSU-Brandywine; Dec. 27 vs. Delaware State)
39 – Harvard (Nov. 12 vs. UMass; Dec. 21 vs. Boston University)
37 – New Mexico State (Dec. 12 vs. vs. Eastern New Mexico, Jan. 18 vs. Seattle U.)
36 – Eastern Washington (Nov. 10 vs. Walla Walla; Dec. 17 vs. CSU-Northridge)
 
In all, Eastern has played teams from 10 different conferences this season, 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. 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.
 
Eastern's long road stretch was rare, but not unprecedented in 110 years of basketball at Eastern. The 10 games (2-8 record) without a home game is the second-longest stretch, ranking only behind the 1988-89 team which played 11-straight away from home (1-10) while going from Dec. 3 to Jan. 12 without a home game. That team went 39 days without playing at home and the 1981-82 squad had a stretch of 37 days (5-4 in nine games away from home). This year's team went 36 days – Nov. 10 to Dec. 17 – without playing at home at Reese Court, where the Eagles are 46-9 (84 percent) in the last four-plus years (since the 2013-14 season). Since joining NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season, Eastern has had eight month-long stretches without a home game, and prior to that had seven known such streaks.
 
The Eagles began their road trip against the University of Washington in Seattle on Nov. 12 – two days after playing at home on Nov. 10 versus Walla Walla. The first leg of EWU's road stretch included 4,432 airline miles, while the other trips in the road stretch included 3,449 air miles. That's a total of 7,881 air miles, not including ground travel and a bus trip to and from Seattle for the game versus the Redhawks.
 
 
1,000 Broadcast Milestone Reached Dec. 3 by Broadcaster Larry Weir
 
Long-time Eastern Washington University radio announcer Larry Weir called his 1,000th Eagle men's basketball or football game on Dec. 3 in EWU's game at Seattle. He was the 2015 and 2016 State of Washington Sportscaster of the Year, and was honored at Eastern's home game versus Providence on Dec. 20.
 
Weir recently concluded his 27th season as the football voice of the Eagles and is in his 25th calling men's basketball for EWU, whose games are broadcast on 700-AM ESPN. Through the Dec. 3 game, Weir had missed just 27 out of 706 men's basketball games, calling a total of 679 to go along with 321 out of a possible 322 football games. Through Jan. 25, his total is at 1,013.
 
Weir first began calling games in the 1991-92 season, and the only football game he missed in that span was a 2005 playoff game at Northern Iowa when he was broadcasting Eastern's basketball games in Alaska. Weir is in his 25th season calling men's basketball action for the Eagles (from 1991-2009 and again from 2012-present). Weir's tenure has included calling games coached by seven men's basketball coaches and five in football. The 2017-18 season marks his first year working with EWU coaches Aaron Best in football and Shantay Legans in basketball.
 
 
Now in Cheney, Basketball Coaches Show Are Mondays
 
Featuring a new location, the next Eastern Washington University basketball coaches show take place Mondays throughout the season at 6 p.m. Pacific time and will be broadcast live on 700-AM ESPN.
 
The public is invited to attend the live shows, which are now taking place at Barrelhouse Pub and Pizza in Cheney, Wash., just a few blocks from the EWU campus. They begin at 6 p.m., and feature head men's basketball coach Shantay Legans, host Larry Weir and other special guests, including women's head coach Wendy Schuller.
 
Barrelhouse is located at 122 College Ave. in downtown Cheney, and is owned by Mike Lyons. The restaurant features specialty pizzas, calzones and other appetizers, as well as a large variety of draft beer and a full bar. It also has a large assortment of televisions tuned to each day's top sporting events.
 
 
 

Comments from Head Coach Shantay Legans . . .

 
On Development of Players in His Program: "Development is important, and it's important for our recruits to see that. A lot of players have talent. The way we play we give players freedom for creativity on the offensive end. When you get a player as creative as Bogdan or Jake Wiley, they are talented but sometimes you just need to give them the confidence. We want to make sure we are a place where we are always providing encouragement. When Bogdan came here he wasn't a great 3-point shooter, but he is now – guys can't leave him early. Tyler Harvey came as just a catch-and-shoot guy, but he left being able to put the ball on the floor. We have a lot of young coaches and we like to get in the gym with them as much as our 20-hour limit allows us. We have built a culture of guys working on their game together, and working in the gym is important. They go really hard and focus, and that's what we've been building for the last four or five years."
 
On Win Versus UND: "It was a good game. For us to come out and play that way was really exciting for us. The team responded to the loss we just had on the road, and came out and played great. It was fun."
 
On Bliznyuk's Record-Setting 3-Pointer: "I was going to wait until the media timeout, but it just felt good. He shot his first shot and it went in and it was a special moment for him and his family. I couldn't be happier and it couldn't happen to a better kid. I'm glad we have Bogdan – he played great. The team came out and did a great job. Before the game he got a chance to talk to the guys and got them really fired up."
 
 
On Bliznyuk: "I think he's the best player in the league, so he means a lot to us. Tonight he came out and had a big game scoring, rebounding and passing, and he played great defense on their best player. He comes out and works hard every day, is the last guy in the gym and always encourages his teammates. I haven't ever heard him say anything negative toward another player – he's always uplifting. We have freshmen and sophomores who have seen how he's done it. He's had some great mentors along the way and he's taken things from everybody, and now he's given back to all his teammates."
 
On Bliznyuk Being a Coach on the Floor: "It makes it easy, especially for my first year. I told him, 'Thank you for getting us this job, because if you weren't so good for four years I wouldn't have it.' There is a lot of trust here in him – he has the rights to call plays. He's a captain and a leader, and for me it means a lot to have so much trust in him. He helps everything – defensively, offensively and options for us to run on offense. He's huge for us – he's like another coach on the floor."
 
On Sir Washington vs. SUU: "Sir played great and he is stepping up as a senior. He is playing with a lot of composure and freedom and has confidence. That is what we need. He played terrific and I am proud of him -- he has been playing super hard. I am really proud how he came out and kept us in this ball game."
 
On Cody Benzel: "He's been playing great. The thing that got him into the starting lineup and his minutes up is his defense. He's been doing a great job defending the other team's best shooters. He came out and took defense to heart, and wanted to show us he could defend. Since then he's been playing great basketball and has helped us out tremendously both offense and defense. He's been on fire since then."
 
On Jack Perry: "I'm on him the whole game to talk more and to lead more, but he's a freshman and he's learning. But when he gets these open looks, he's a great shooter and a smart player. He gets guys involved and he's a great defender. He's more of a pass-first guy, but I don't mind if he shoots 10-15 shots because he's that good of a shooter. We're lucky to have him. He does a lot of things right and his father is a good coach back in Australia. Jack comes battle-tested and it's great having him. He is confident every time he's on the court and he understands exactly what is going on. It's like having another coach out there, and he's doing everything the right way. We have a lot of different options we can go with."
 
On Richard Polanco Getting Extra Minutes in the Absence of Benas Griciunas: "Richard played a great first half and stepped in for Benas, who didn't play tonight. He played a terrific 13 minutes for a freshman and he told me he was the most tired he's ever been in his life. He did great."
 
On Having Players Like Bliznyuk: "It's good, and it's always great to have players like Bogdan. He can do everything for us. I've said it all the time that when we have guys like this on the team it's easy to coach – they are smart, they play hard, they are getting better every day and they come in with great attitudes. It makes life easy."
 
On Strength of League: "There are lot of good coaches, and recruiting is starting to pick up and they are getting good players from all over the world. It's a tough league because every team has three or four really tough players and are well-coached. There are a lot of skilled players and the depth of the league is wild."
 
On Captains: "Bogdan and Ty are our captains and they keep our team level-headed – not too high and not too low. They keep us steady, and it makes it easy to coach with them on our team."
 
On Bliznyuk's Abilities: "Bogdan has been the personification of what we want our EWU program to look like. He is the perfect student-athlete and deserves all the accolades he receives. He shows that hard work and determination pays off. We talked about it before the season started that he was going to be double-teamed and he has to make sure he's making the pass. He's making the pass and that's exactly what we're looking for. He's doing a great job of leading our players, getting them in the huddle and talking to make sure we are doing everything the right way. He's a great captain."
 
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

 
* The Eagles are 11-11 all-time versus UNC (7-3 in Cheney, 4-8 in Greeley), with the first meeting taking place on Dec. 20, 1971, when Eastern beat the Bears 76-68 in Greeley, Colo. Since then, all of the meetings have been with EWU as a member of NCAA Division I (since 1983-84), starting in the 2006-07 season when the Bears became a Big Sky Conference member. Eastern won the lone meeting last year 70-44 in Greeley and picked up a 97-80 home victory the year before in the last meeting in Cheney on Feb. 13, 2016.
* Earlier this season in Greeley, a late rally came up short as EWU opened Big Sky Conference play with an 88-75 loss at Northern Colorado on Dec. 29. Although the Bears led from start to finish, a 9-3 Eagle run late in the game cut the lead to seven. But the Bears regained a double-digit lead and snapped EWU's two-game winning streak overall and a two-game victory streak in the series versus UNC. Senior Bogdan Bliznyuk scored 23 to lead the Eagles, and junior Jesse Hunt equaled his career high with his second-straight 16-point performance. Hunt also had eight rebounds and a career-high four blocked shots while playing a career-high 29 minutes. The Bears led by as many as 16 and never trailed, and out-shot Eastern 55 percent to 45 percent.
 
 
 

Recent Game Recaps

 
Scoring Record Belongs to Bliznyuk After EWU's 95-71 Romp Past North Dakota
 
Senior Bogdan Bliznyuk broke the career scoring record and finished a near triple-double of 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, as EWU used big runs in each half to beat North Dakota 95-71 on Jan. 25 at Reese Court. Bliznyuk needed just two points to break EWU's all-time scoring record, and achieved it with a 3-pointer barely a minute into the game to give EWU a 7-2 lead. Eastern head coach Shantay Legans called a timeout so his accomplishment could be acknowledged, then the Eagles used the energy to open a 30-8 lead while making 12 of their first 15 shots. North Dakota pulled within eight early in the second half, but EWU used a 14-0 run to pull away. Bliznyuk didn't score in the run, as four Eagles scored in double figures and nine different players scored. Besides taking over the EWU scoring lead, Bliznyuk moved up four spots into 11th on the Big Sky all-time list after making 12-of-15 shots from the field, including 3-of-5 3-point field goals. Junior Cody Benzel made 5-of-9 3-pointers to finish with 15 points, his third performance in five games with at least 15. Senior Sir Washington had 11 points, making a pair of 3-pointers and adding five rebounds and three assists. Sophomore Mason Peatling had his second-straight double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, and also had a pair of blocked shots. True freshman Jack Perry chipped in nine points and six assists, junior Ty Gibson scored nine and Jacob Davison had seven tallies and five rebounds. Eastern made 15-of-36 3-pointers for 42 percent against UND. The Eagles sank 52.8 percent overall, compared to 45.1 percent for the Fighting Hawks. Eastern out-rebounded North Dakota 37-26 and had just six turnovers.
 
 
Bliznyuk Just Short of Record After 66-62 Eagle Overtime Loss at SUU
 
With Bogdan Bliznyuk coming up just short in his quest for the school's career scoring record, Eastern came up just short of a road sweep when the Eagles lost 66-62 to Southern Utah on Jan. 20 in Cedar City, Utah. Bliznyuk finished with a team-leading 18 after entering the game needing 19 to tie and 20 to break EWU's all-time scoring record. He played just 27 minutes because of foul trouble, but fellow senior Sir Washington stepped up to finish with a season-high 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field. Sophomore Mason Peatling had his first career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Neither team scored in the final 2:22 of regulation as the game was knotted at 54 heading into overtime. The Thunderbirds hit their first two shots of overtime and was 4-of-6 in the extra period, while EWU was 3-of-7 in OT. The Eagles struggled at the 3-point line at 19 percent (4-of-21), but was efficient inside the arc and finished at 40.0 percent overall. Eastern's defense held SUU to 35.6 percent shooting, but the Thunderbirds were able to make 11-of-28 3-point shots for 39.3 percent. Coupled with EWU's win at Northern Arizona, the Eagles have now split on the road six-straight times, dating back to the 2015-16 season when the Eagles swept the same Southern Utah and Northern Arizona road trip. One trip earlier that season, Eastern was swept by the Montana schools.
 
 
Eagles Have Another Fast Start Before Winning 81-76 Nailbiter
 
An 18-0 first half run helped open an early 28-point lead, but the Eagles needed every little bit of that advantage to lead from start-to-finish and edge Northern Arizona 81-76 Jan. 18 in Flagstaff, Ariz. Senior Bogdan Bliznyuk made all 16 of his free throws and scored 28 points, while true freshman Jack Perry and junior Ty Gibson hit big baskets in the last 1:06 to help EWU win for the sixth time in its last eight games. The Eagles, who didn't practice the day prior because of travel delays leaving Spokane, were fresh in the first half, but had to hold on for dear life after that. The Eagles used an 18-0 run – all on 3-pointers by five different players – to jump out to an early 29-7 lead. The Eagles led by as many as 28 in the first half and 21 at halftime, but Northern Arizona roared back. The lead was down to 12 less than four minutes into the half and by single digits just a few minutes after that. But the Eagles never gave up their lead, as Bliznyuk made 10-of-10 free throws in a 6 1/2-minute stretch. Perry hit a clutch 3-pointer with 1:06 left to put the Eagles up by four, then Gibson sank a reverse layup – only EWU's second 2-point field goal of the half -- with 28 ticks left. Bliznyuk closed out the win with four free throws in the final six seconds. Junior Cody Benzel made five 3-pointers to finish with 16 points, and Eastern sank 15-of-23 3-pointers in the game for a season-high 65.2 percent. Eastern had 10 in the first half alone as EWU came just five from the school record of 20. Perry added 11 points with a trio of 3-pointers and also had three steals, three rebounds and a pair of assists.