The game certainly had a Washington feel too it.
 
In a game which featured rosters dotted with talent from the state of Washington, the University of Washington Huskies used a fast start and hot shooting to upend Eastern Washington University 83-59 Tuesday (Nov. 27) in a non-conference men's basketball game at Bank of America Arena in Seattle, Wash.
 
Both teams sank 12 3-pointers, but it was Washington's early 24-6 lead and 26-4 advantage in points in the paint that led to the fifth victory in seven tries for EWU. The Eagles, who were led by the 15 points of Jesse Hunt, fell to 1-4 with the loss.
 
"We didn't stop fighting no matter what the score was which is a positive," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans. "Jesse Hunt is playing out of his mind and playing great basketball right now."
 
Eastern held UW leading scorer Jaylen Nowell to just eight points, but Dominic Green hit 7-of-10 3-pointers to lead the Huskies with a career-high 25 points. Green is a senior from Renton, Wash., and Nowell is out of Seattle's Garfield High School, while five other Huskies are from the state. Eastern has nine players on its roster from Washington. Senior Ty Gibson (Issaquah), junior Tyler Kidd (O'Dea/Skagit Valley CC) and true freshman Elijah Jackson (Chief Sealth) are Eagles from high schools in the Seattle area who have played this season.
 
"Our guys in the locker room want to play against Washington and Stanford and whoever we can possibly play," said Legans. "It's a great experience for the team and we get our university on television. We have to make it look a little better, but at the same time we are out there and competing."
 
Eastern, which hadn't played since Nov. 17 when it beat UMKC (Missouri-Kansas City) 87-80 in Cheney, used an 11-0 run with two 3-pointers by Cody Benzel and another by Jacob Davison to cut the lead to seven in the first half and 35-25 at halftime. But Washington went on a 12-0 run in the second half to put the Huskies up by 24 and put the game away. Washington led by as many as 27 late in the game and had a 26-2 advantage in fast-break points.
 
The Eagles played the Huskies in the first of five-straight road games for EWU. The Eagles return to Seattle in four days to face the Jim Hayford-coached Seattle Redhawks is another annual clash, followed by games at North Dakota State, San Francisco and Stanford before returning home to face South Dakota State on Dec. 18.
 
Eastern has played Washington 16 times – second only to Washington State (66 meetings) among Pac-12 foes. The Eagles suffered narrow losses the last two times they've played by a 79-69 score last year and 81-77 in 2014, and are 1-15 overall versus UW.
 
 
 
Records . . .
 
* The Eagles are 1-4, having split a pair of overtime games in the Cheney sub-regional of the 2K Empire Classic Benefiting the Wounded Warrior Project. Eastern lost 82-78 to Green Bay on Nov. 16, then knocked off UMKC (Missouri-Kansas City) 87-80 in the consolation game. Senior Jesse Hunt had double-doubles in both games to earn all-tournament honors.
 
 * The Huskies are currently 5-2, having played six games in a 16-day span before Thanksgiving. Washington had defeated Western Kentucky (73-55) and San Diego (66-63) at home; lost at Auburn (88-66) and have played three games at the Vancouver (B.C.) Showcase. Washington was 2-1 in those three games, including an 82-68 win over Santa Clara, a 71-67 victory over Texas A&M and a 68-66 loss to Minnesota on a shot with 2.1 seconds remaining in UW's last game on Nov. 21. Entering the EWU contest, Washington was led by Jaylen Nowell with an average of 19.8 points per game and Noah Dickerson with averages of 18.2 points and 8.0 rebounds.
 

What's Next . . .
 
* The Eagles take on the Seattle Redhawks on Saturday (Dec. 1) at 5 p.m. Pacific time in a game that will be aired via radio in Spokane on Rock 94.5-FM. Seattle is 6-2, including a 78-69 win over Washington State on Nov. 14 in Kent, Wash. Playing this year's games at its campus venue, the Redhawk Center, Seattle is 6-1 at home heading into its game Nov. 28 against Northwest University. The Eagles have played Seattle at least once every season since 2009, and are 15-10 all-time versus the Redhawks. In the first game versus his former team last year, Hayford's Redhawks won 84-64.
 

Top Performers . . .
 
* Senior Jesse Hunt sank 6-of-13 shots from the field to lead EWU in scoring for the third-straight game, finishing with a team-high 15 points.
* Senior Ty Gibson scored eight with a pair of 3-pointers, and also had six rebounds.
* Redshirt freshman Kim Aiken Jr. chipped in six points and had a team-high seven rebounds.
 
 
Key Stats . . .

* The Eagles made just two of its 13 shots (15 percent), but bounced back to make 30 percent in the first half. A stretch of 13-straight misses in the second half resulted in a 29 percent shooting night for the Eagles, while UW made 52 percent. Washington sank nine of its first 13 shots, and made 52 percent in each half.
 
  
Notables . . .
 
* Eastern is 1-15 all-time versus the Huskies, with near-upsets the last time the two teams have met. Eastern fell 79-69 last season for its 10th-straight loss to the Huskies, after having not played them since Dec. 14, 2014, when Eastern lost to Washington by an 81-77 score.
 
* Seniors Cody Benzel and Ty Gibson have both played in more than 100 games for the Eagles, with current totals of 106 and 101 games of experience, respectively. Benzel has started 31 games in his career and Gibson has started 42. Both players are three-point threats with Benzel ranking eighth in school history with 155 3-pointers, while Gibson has made 126 3-pointers to rank just out of the top 11.
 
 
Comments from Head Coach Shantay Legans . . .
 
On Green and Fast Start for UW: "You have to contest shots. Green is their only real shooter on their team and he made seven tonight, which is not good for our defense. We didn't follow our game-plan exactly like we wanted, but at the same time we fought to the very end."
 
On Positives in Playing Tough Opponents: "I liked Kim Aiken today and Tyler Kidd played okay, and defensively he did a good job of picking guys up. We just need to get our younger players caught up with the older dudes right now, and as we do that our team is going to be good. We have depth and the fourth-hardest strength of schedule – the coach is an idiot whoever set this schedule up."
 
On Playing in Seattle: "We have another game against a very good Seattle team which is 6-2. It's getting us ready for our conference season and it's a lot of fun. Playing here at Washington is a lot of fun and you get to see a lot of people from within the state. I just wish we would have showed better."
 
On Shooting: "We had some terrific looks by the guys we want to get shots, but we just didn't knock them down. We'll make them -- I have a lot of confidence in our team. They are in the gym and are putting the work in. When you see that as a coach you feel good about it. They are working and doing everything they can to get better. You have to believe in what they are doing."
 
On Week Off: "It actually helped us. It got us more healthy and in better shape. Jesse Hunt could have played all 40 minutes – he's playing his butt off and looked like he was in good shape tonight. He shot the ball well and shot with confidence. We are just trying to get the rust off Jacob Davison and get him all the way healthy and feeling 100 percent confident. When he does that he's one of the best guards in the league – I wouldn't take anybody over him. We just have to get players with a little more confidence behind him."
 
On Game Saturday at Seattle: "They have a lot of talent and do a good job. They have a similar style to us with four guards out there – they shoot a lot of 3's and come off a lot of ball screens. It's going to be a fun game for us, and our players our going to be excited. It's another chance to play in Seattle and play in the state of Washington. We love doing that and need to do it more often. We'll let this one go and move on."