­­­­­­­Eastern Washington University "Eagles" Men's Basketball (7-9/2-1 Big Sky) Jan. 6 – Sacramento State, 2:05 p.m., Cheney, Wash. Jan. 12 – Idaho, approx. 7:30 p.m., Cheney, Wash. (30 minutes after EWU-UI women's game at 5:05 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:	None for Sac State; The Idaho doubleheader will be broadcast in the Eastern Washington region by SWX.
­­­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:	The next show hosted by Larry Weir and featuring head coach Shantay Legans is Tuesday, Jan. 9 at 6 p.m. from Barrelhouse Pub & Pizza in Cheney and aired live on 700-AM ESPN. The show will take Mondays the remainder of the season.

As the Idaho Vandals admitted, you can't fall asleep on Sacramento State's record.
 
Following a successful home league opener for first-year head coach Shantay Legans, the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team continues its three-game homestand by hosting the dangerous Hornets on Saturday (Jan. 6) at 2:05 p.m. at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.
 
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.
 
The Hornets are coming off a narrow 69-68 loss at Idaho in which Sac State held an 11-point lead with 8:45 remaining in the game. Although just 4-11 on the season and 1-1 in Big Sky play, the Hornets recorded a huge win at home when it upset Portland State 80-75 on Dec. 30. At the time, PSU was the top-ranked Big Sky team in RPI at No. 52 and had recorded 10 preseason victories.
 
Eastern has won four of its last five games, and is 7-9 overall and 2-1 in the league after opening a 13-point second-half lead against the Vikings and holding on for an 81-74 win. The Eagles are 4-0 at home while Sac State is 0-10 away from home (0-6 on opponent home courts and 0-4 at neutral sites).
 
The Eagles are 50-9 (85 percent) at Reese Court in the past five seasons since 2013-14. After this week's games, on Jan. 12 Eastern will host an Idaho team picked to win the Big Sky title. The Vandals are 10-5 overall and also 2-1 in the league heading into action Saturday.
 
"It's a fun league and being 2-1 right now is good for us," said Legans. "I'm always watching the league, but we make sure our players are just watching the next game. It's a deep league so we need to make sure we are prepared for every team every single game."
 
Two of the league's top-scoring forwards will square off at Reese Court on Saturday. The Hornets feature 6-foot-7, 220-pound Justin Strings, the reigning Big Sky Conference Player of the Week. He has scored 51 points in two league games thus far and is averaging 17.7 on the season.
 
Eastern counters with 6-6, 215-pound senior Bogdan Bliznyuk, who broke the school's career free throws made record against Portland State and is on cusp of the EWU scoring record. He's averaging 19.5 points on the season, including a league-leading 26.7 in three Big Sky games.
 
Bliznyuk now has 1,740 career points, one behind Ron Cox (2005-18) for second on the school's scoring list and 63 behind the record of 1,803 set by Venky Jois (2013-16). He currently ranks 16th in the 55-year history of the Big Sky, ranking 47 points behind North Dakota's Quinton Hooker with 1,787 in four seasons from 2014-17. Jois is No. 14 on the Big Sky list.
 
Bliznyuk sank 13-of-13 free throws and finished with a double-double of 28 points and 12 rebounds against PSU to give him 391 free throws in his career. That surpassed the school record of 386 set by 10-year NBA veteran Rodney Stuckey in two seasons from 2006-07. Bliznyuk is 27 field goal attempts from that EWU record as well.
 
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.
 
 
 

Game Notes

 
Eagles Have Now Had Top Seven Shooting Performances of the Season in Last Seven Games
 
After making only 39 percent of their shots through nine games this season, Eastern has had its top seven shooting performances of the year in the last seven games. Eastern has made half of its shots in those seven games to climb well above 40 percent for the season at 43.9 percent overall and 35.1 percent from the 3-point stripe. In those seven games, Eastern is shooting at a 50.0 percent clip overall and 42.8 percent on 3-pointers (.393/.302 prior to that).
 
Eastern is also holding opponents to 44.1 shooting overall and 35.1 from the arc this season. As a result, Eastern is eighth in the Big Sky Conference in field goal percentage and sixth in the league defensively. The Eagles are 7-0 when they out-shoot their opponents and 0-9 when they don't.
 
The Eagles had their second-best shooting performance of the season (best against a NCAA Division I opponent) at 54.0 percent at North Dakota, and are coming off a 49.0 percent performance against Portland State. Eastern made a season-best 56.7 percent against Providence on Dec. 20, sinking 62 percent in the second half as they eclipsed the 51.5 percent they had three days earlier versus CSUN. Eastern's 11-of-22 performance from the arc against the Matadors equaled its season-best of 50 percent, while its 51.6 percent shooting afternoon eclipsed the .484 shooting percentage EWU had at Wyoming in its previous outing. That was better than Eastern's previous game when the Eagles made what was then a season-best 45.6 percent against South Dakota on Dec. 10.
 
The Eagles have also been a solid free throw shooting team and are currently second in the league (75.9 percent) and tops in league games only (89.3 percent). Senior Bogdan Bliznyuk is third in the league at 86.5 percent. In individual field goal shooting, junior Jesse Hunt is 13th in the league at 50.5 percent, as well as seventh in rebounding at 6.6 per game. Bliznyuk is right behind him in 15th in field goal shooting (49.5 percent) and ninth in rebounding (6.3), and is also third in scoring (19.5) and ninth in assists (3.3). True freshman Jack Perry is eighth in 3-point shooting at 44.2 percent (19-of-43) and junior Cody Benzel is 12th at 42.2 percent (19-of-45). Junior Ty Gibson has averaged 2.3 3-pointers per game (37-of-91 total) to rank seventh in the league, and is currently third on the team in scoring at 8.3 per game. One of the team's co-captains, Gibson has scored in double figures in six of the last nine games.
 
 
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 seven different starting lineups along the way. The Eagles had an early-season gauntlet of playing seven games in a 15-day span – and a total of 13 in 41 days (Nov. 10-Dec. 20).
 
For the season, Eastern is averaging 27.1 points per game from its bench (433 total), compared to an average of 19.0 by its opponents (304 total). Nine Eagles are averaging between 14.8 and 33.6 minutes per game, and two others are each averaging at least 9.7. For the season, Bogdan Bliznyuk is averaging 19.5 points per game, but 10 others are averaging between 4.5 and 9.1.
 
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, and the first two without starter Mason Peatling. Peatling missed a total of four games, and Vulikic has missed eight thus far.
 
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 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.
 
 
6-foot-6 Point-Forward Bogdan Bliznyuk Now 63 Points from School Record
 
Big Sky Conference Player of the Year candidate Bogdan Bliznyuk went over the 1,700-point mark in his career on Dec. 31 at North Dakota and is now just 63 points from ending what could be a short-lived record. And he's already broken a record held by a former 10-year NBA veteran.
 
In 119 career games (fifth in school history), Bliznyuk is third in school history in career scoring with a current total of 1,740 points – one from second and 63 from the school record. Next on the list is Ron Cox (1,741 from 1974-77) and a former teammate, Venky Jois (school-record 1,803 points from 2013-16). Against San Francisco on Dec. 7, Bliznyuk passed Irv Leifer (1,550 from 1942-47), who held the 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 391 free throws made in his career, Bliznyuk broke 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. He's just 27 field goal attempts from the record of 1,286 held for the past 45 years by Hayden.
 
In addition, if Bliznyuk plays nine more games he will equal the record of 128 set by his former teammate Felix Von Hofe from 2014-17. 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 329). Against Portland State on Jan. 4 Bliznyuk equaled the 119 games played of Marc Axton (2002-05) after surpassing the 118 Snow played.
 
This season, Bliznyuk has made 49.5 percent of his field goals (15th in the Big Sky) and 86.6 percent of his free throws (third) to average 19.3 points (third) through 16 games. He is also averaging 6.3 rebounds (ninth) and 3.3 assists (ninth) to rank as the only player in the league to be in the top 10 in scoring, rebounding and assists. He now has nine performances in his 119-game career of at least 30 points, 34 with at least 20 and 82 scoring in double figures, including the school record 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.
 
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.
 
 
Junior Jesse Hunt Has Made Most of Five Starts
 
Junior Jesse Hunt has started EWU's last five games, and registered his career high in the first four games. 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).
 
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 (13th 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.
 
 
Trio of Newcomers Contributing Significantly, Including Two as Starters
 
True freshman Jack Perry has started EWU's last eight games, and had his first two first double-figure scoring performances 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 5.4 points and 2.6 assists per game while making 48.3 percent from the field and 19-of-43 3-pointers (44.2 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.
 
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 6.3 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. He has made 29-of-35 free throws (82.9 percent).
 
And true freshman forward Richard Polanco has provided an offensive boost, averaging 9.7 minutes and 5.3 points. He's scored in double figures three times this season and has made half of his shots from the field (31-of-62) and 68.4 percent of his free throws (13-of-19).
 
 
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 their 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.
 
 
 
Eagles End One of Top 3 Road Stretches in 110 Years
 
Eastern's recently-concluded 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. 4, his total is at 1,008.
 
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, Next Basketball Coaches Show is Jan. 9
 
Featuring a new location, the next Eastern Washington University basketball coaches show will take place Wednesday, Jan. 9 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. The next show will take place Tuesday, Jan. 9, then move to Mondays starting on Jan. 15.
 
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 Bliznyuk's Free Throws & Record: "Bogdan breaking our free throws record was pretty big. He gets fouled almost every time he goes to the bucket. He's so big and he absorbs a lot of contact. It's huge when a player goes 13-of-13 from the free throw line. It makes it easier for everybody else because they see the ball going in – it's kind of contagious."
 
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 Portland State Win: "Portland State does a really good job of pressuring. We've been practicing against seven guys all week and we were prepared for it. I think our schedule had us ready for this game. We've played against some really good players and against a lot of great teams and we built toughness. I'm proud of the way we played defense tonight. We held them to 36 percent and 15 percent from three. We put them on the line a little bit too much, but our guys came out and played really, really tough and hard."
 
On Contributions of Senior Sir Washington: "Since we've been in league play Sir has stepped up and played huge. He's playing like a senior. He's had some ups and downs, but since we've started league play he's played his butt off. He's done a great job the last three games – he's defending and he's getting big rebounds. He's taken some pressure off Jack (Perry) at the point and even played at the four today. He's playing undersized but he's tough. When you have a senior who is a great leader, we count on him. He did a great job tonight. He didn't turn the ball over and he played a big 29 minutes. He was our X factor tonight – he played great defense on some of Portland State's good players."
 
On Being at Home For Two-Straight Weeks: "It will be great to be home for two weeks. It's really important to get a little bit of rest and have some of our nagging injuries looked at. Playing at home is a great thing. We have great fans and their support is amazing. We've only had three games at home, but we've had terrific crowds. We're looking to build upon that -- if we can keep winning the fans will come watch. We want to fill Reese Court up as much as possible. We have a great bunch of guys and they love playing at home. We'll be shooting at our own baskets and they get to sleep in their own beds."
 
 On Jesse Hunt: "He'll be an all-league player if he keeps doing this. He's playing great and he's guarding guys who are bigger than him. He's tough and he gets a lot of that from his father, who played at Portland and was a tough player. Jesse is following right in those footsteps and is a tough kid. He plays that way and shows his emotions on his sleeve -- I love that. He does a great job and he stops the other team's best post player."
 
On Preseason Schedule: "We've had a great, hard schedule – we had five non-conference wins and a difficult strength of schedule. We're playing against some really, really good competition. And we've had some young guys play with some other players injured. For us to be picked seventh, our team put that on our shoulders and said we aren't going to be seventh. We are going to be better than that."
 
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 Jack Perry: "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 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

 
 * Since Eastern became a member of NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season, the Eagles are now 33-14 versus Sacramento State, and the two schools did not play against each other prior to that. The Eagles have won 26 of their last 36 games against the Hornets, and have a 20-3 record versus Sacramento State in Cheney, are 11-11 in Sacramento and 2-0 on a neutral court. Last year, Eastern played the Hornets just once in the regular season and beat the Hornets 77-72 in Cheney before winning its sixth-straight game in the series by knocking off Sac State 89-70 in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference Tournament in Reno. In the 2015-16 season, Eastern swept the Hornets with a 74-67 win in Cheney and a 93-88 victory in Sacramento. The other neutral site game came in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference Tournament in 2015 in Missoula, when the Eagles won 91-83 on their way to the school's second-ever league tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance. Felix Von Hofe came off the bench to score 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.
 
* Last year in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Tournament, six Eagles scored at least eight points and Eastern rolled to an 89-70 victory over Sacramento State March 9 at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nev. The Eagles held the Hornets without a field goal for a stretch of 7:45 in the first half and 10:08 in the second half, on their way to a 55 percent to 42 percent advantage in shooting from the field. Runs of 12-1 and 9-0 were the catalyst in helping EWU improve its season record to 22-10 with 11 victories in their last 14 games. Jacob Wiley scored 18 of his game-high 24 points in the second half and had 10 rebounds, with Bogdan Bliznyuk adding 18 points, nine rebounds, six assists and a pair of steals. Four other players also scored at least eight, including 11 by Sir Washington, nine each by Cody Benzel and Felix Von Hofe, and eight by Mason Peatling. Matching Sac State's physicality, Eastern was whistled for 30 fouls and sent Sac State to the line 36 times, but no Eagle fouled out. After the Hornets cut Eastern's 13-point halftime lead to six on a pair of occasions early in the second half, Eastern used a 9-0 run to regain command. Washington had a driving layin and a 3-pointer to start the run, then baskets by Benzel and Peatling gave EWU a 55-40 advantage. Later, 3-pointers by Benzel and Bliznyuk opened a 64-45 Eagle lead during a stretch in which Sac State missed eight-straight shots and went without a field goal for 10:08.
* In last year's meeting in the regular season, Eagle Jacob Wiley equaled the eighth-most points in school history at the time en route to a double-double with 38 points and 12 rebounds as Eastern beat Sacramento State 77-72 Feb. 2 at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash. The Eagles used runs of 8-0 and 6-0 in the second half to take the lead for good, and helped move the Eagles into a second-place tie in the league standings. The Hornets started a front line of 6-foot-11, 6-8 and 6-7, and brought a 6-8 player off the bench. But Wiley was still able to make 14-of-23 from the field and 10-of-13 free throws, and also had four blocked shots and three assists. Cody Benzel hit a 3-pointer in both of EWU's runs, which helped the Eagles open a 10-point lead with 5:51 to play. Felix Von Hofe chipped in nine points and six rebounds, but it was his defense late in the game that also caught the eye of Hayford. Junior Bogdan Bliznyuk was the only other Eagle scoring in double figures, finishing with 11 to go along with a team-high six assists, four rebounds and three steals.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Recent Game Recaps

 
Toughness Prevails as Eagles Edge Vikings
 
It was another record-breaking night for senior Bogdan Bliznyuk, but it was toughness that saved the day at Reese Court as Eastern edged Portland State 81-74 on Jan. 4. Eastern used a 16-0 run to build a double-digit cushion midway through the second half versus a team with 10 victories already this season. But 40 minutes of full-court pressure by the Vikings caught up with the Eagles, who needed a 3-pointer by true freshman Jack Perry with 15 ticks of the clock left to seal it for the Eagles. Eastern won the game with a dominating 49 percent to 37 percent advantage in field goal percentage, and out-shot the Vikings 8-3 from the 3-point line. Until Eastern took a 13-point lead with 9:20 to play following a 16-0 run, the game featured 10 ties and 14 lead changes – both season highs for the Eagles. Bliznyuk broke the school record for career free throws, ending the night with 391 to surpass the 386 of 10-year NBA veteran Rodney Stuckey from 2006-07. Bliznyuk was 13-of-13 at the line and finished with a double-double of 28 points and 12 rebounds. Jesse Hunt scored in double figures for the fifth-straight game, finishing with 11 on 3-of-5 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 from the free throw line. He had four rebounds but played only 16 minutes before fouling out. Sir Washington came off the bench to contribute seven points and three rebounds in 29 minutes, and Ty Gibson hit three of EWU's eight 3-pointers in the game to finish with 10 points. Richard Polanco scored nine points in just 11 minutes off the bench, and Perry contributed seven points, four rebounds and four assists in 33 minutes as a starter.