It will be nice to come home for the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team.
 
An early 6-5 Eagle lead was wiped out by a 24-0 Oregon run, and the No. 14/16 Ducks went on to hand Eastern its second-straight loss to teams ranked in the top 20 nationally by a 81-47 score Friday (Nov. 9) at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Ore. Eastern opened the season with at No. 16/14 Syracuse three nights earlier.
 
"We got taught a lesson by two really good teams," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans. "We are going to take these back and get better and get smarter. We'll use this experience to move forward and be the best team we can be. We're trying to make that happen by Big Sky play."
 
The Eagles hit 13 out of a school-record 45 three-point attempts, but Oregon's 7-foot-2 Bol Bol was triple trouble for the Eagles, finishing with 23 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks. The son of the late Manute Bol who played in the NBA for Golden State and Philadelphia, Bol Bol sank 9-of-16 shots from the field as the Ducks out-shot the Eagles 49 percent to 23 percent for the game.
 
"He wasn't a center either – he played a wing position," said Legans. "It's kind of tough to have to put smaller guys on him and to see him go to work. They are a good team and well-coached, and they are going to be good down the road. It's going to be fun to watch Oregon and Syracuse as the season goes along and to say we played them. Hopefully we get the opportunity again -- these are two NCAA Tournament teams."
 
Senior Cody Benzel sank five of EWU's 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 16 points. Senior Jesse Hunt had three on his way to nine points and a team-high eight rebounds. The Ducks had a 30-2 advantage in points in the paint, 12-2 in points off turnovers and 16-6 in fastbreak points
 
Eastern played without four players – Mason Peatling, Jacob Davison and Steven Beo – plus senior Ty Gibson. Gibson did not play versus the Ducks because of an injury in the first half versus Syracuse after playing just eight minutes.
 
The Ducks, the favorite to win the Pac-12 Conference title, are ranked 14th in the Associated Press preseason poll and 16th in the USA Today Coaches rankings. The Orange entered the EWU game ranked 16th and 14th, respectively, and came away with a 66-34 victory.
 
The game was the first of two preliminary games of the 2K Empire Classic Benefitting the Wounded Warrior Project. The Eagles next play a sub-regional round of the tournament at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash., taking on Green Bay next Friday (Nov. 16) and then either UMKC or Morehead State the next day.
 
 
Records . . .
 
* Eastern is now 0-2 after closing the 2017-18 season with a 20-15 record in their 35th season as a member of NCAA Division I after finishing 13-5 in the league during their 31st season as a member of the Big Sky Conference. Eastern made its fourth-straight national postseason appearance when the team competed in the 2018 College Basketball Invitational (CBI).
 
* Now 2-0 this season, a year ago Oregon was 23-13 overall (10-8 Pac-12) and advanced to the second round of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). In their season opener on Nov. 6, the Ducks jumped out to a 45-29 halftime lead and beat Portland State 84-57. Oregon made 62 percent of their shots in the first 20 minutes and 54 percent in the game, and had four players score in double figures.
 

What's Next . . .
 
* Eastern will host Green Bay on Nov. 16 and either UMKC or Morehead State on Nov. 17, respectively, as part of a sub-regional of the 2K Empire Classic benefitting the Wounded Warrior Project. The Eagles will also host powerhouse South Dakota State on Dec. 18, and Corban University on Dec. 21.
 
* After the 2K Classic sub-regional at Reese Court, the Eagles play their next five games on the road –- Washington, Seattle, North Dakota State and Stanford. Last season, in just the third game under Legans, Eastern upset Stanford 81-67 on Nov. 14, 2017.

 
Top Performers . . .
 
* Senior Cody Benzel out of Spokane's Ferris High School sank 5-of-11 shots – all from the 3-point arc, to finish with a team-high 16 points. He made his 28th start of his career and had his 17th performance of scoring in double figures.
 
* Senior Jesse Hunt nearly had his third career double-double, finishing with nine points and eight rebounds. He made 3-of-7 shots from the field and also had a blocked shot.
 
* True freshmen Tanner Groves and Elijah Jackson both made their first 3-pointers as Eagles. Groves is from Spokane's Shadle Park High School and finished with six points, a rebound and a blocked shot. Jackson, out of Chief Sealth High School in Seattle, finished with five points and had a pair of rebounds with a steal.
 
* Sophomore Luka Vulikic had eight rebounds and six assists for the Eagles, but made just 1-of-9 shots to finish with three points.
 
 
Key Stats . . .

* Aside from an early 0-of-19 shooting stretch, Eastern sank 15-of-46 shots for a more respectable 33 percent. Oregon sank 49 percent of its shots in the game and had six blocked shots, while Eastern made 23 percent. The biggest lead for the Ducks was 42 points with 3:29 left in the game.
 
  
Notables . . .
 
* Eastern had 45 attempts from the 3-point stripe, breaking the previous record of 44 set on Jan. 31, 2015, versus Idaho
 
* The game versus Oregon was Eastern's 27th game (Syracuse was the 26th) versus a ranked opponent, and EWU is now 1-26. Prior to this season, the last time EWU faced a ranked opponent came against No. 17 Xavier on Dec. 20, 2017, and earlier in the 2017-18 season lost 85-52 to No. 21 Texas. Eastern head coach Shantay Legans remembers well the only time the Eagles defeated a ranked opponent back in 2001. The Eagles are now 1-24 versus nationally-ranked teams, and he was in the gym that night on Nov. 15, 2001, when Eastern beat 10th-ranked St. Joseph's 68-67 at the BCA Classic in Berkeley, Calif. The next night, Eastern lost to 56-27 to host Cal, whose starting point guard was Legans. He had five points, an assist and a rebound in 20 minutes of action versus EWU.
 
* Eastern and Oregon have now met three times, including on Dec. 15, 2006, when the 22nd-ranked Ducks beat EWU 100-74. They met again on Nov. 17, 2011, and Oregon prevailed 73-65. Both meetings were on the road. In the meeting in 2011, Eastern led 39-34 at halftime and by as many as nine in the second half and seven with 11:33 left. But the Ducks went on a 7-0 run to knot the game, then took the lead for good with 5:37 to play and led by as many as eight in the final 1:34.
 
* Since Eastern moved to NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season, EWU is now 3-43 against the Pac-12 Conference, having gone 1-2 versus the league in the 2017-18 season. Eastern snapped its 21-game losing streak versus the Pac-12 with a 67-61 victory at Stanford on Nov. 14, 2017. Entering this year, the only current member of the Pac-12 Eastern has never played is Arizona State. A year ago, Eastern fell to Washington 79-69 on Nov. 12, 2017 and Utah 85-69 on Nov. 24, 2017. Coupled with an 11-55 record versus Washington State, 1-14 mark versus Washington and a 1-15 record against other current members of the Pac-12, the Eagles have a 13-85 record all-time against that league.
 
 
Comments from Head Coach Shantay Legans . . .
 
On Playing Shorthanded: "We're playing against great teams and in great venues. I talk to our team about the opportunity they are being given at such a young age. We have freshmen out here playing that we thought might redshirt at some point. We want to make sure they are ready to go, but sometimes these freshmen need time to get better. At the same time, I like the fight we had – we played hard. Some of the guys are playing different positions, some aren't even playing the positions they've played all year long. There are no excuses -- you have to come out here and play the game and put for the effort to try and win these games."
 
On Differences in Game: "We did a good job taking care of the ball. We had to be able to play good defensively and make some shots. We chart a lot of different things on the bench, and we had 18 wide-open looks in the first half and they didn't go in. If they go in maybe the game is a little different. We got a little tight and that leaked over into our defense. You have to play both sides and can't let missed shots mess with our defense."
 
On Leadership: "We have a great group of leaders -- I think that is one of the things Bogdan Bliznyuk left behind. We were down in games just like this last year, and our thought is we always have to get better. Last game we had 19 turnovers and against Oregon we had nine, plus 13 assists. Those are positives and they put in the work to gain confidence, and they've gotten better. I love this team and they are going to be really good. I know the score doesn't shot it, but there are a lot of positives we can take out of our first two games."
 
On Individual Contributions: "We are going to get there. Cody Benzel shot well and we'll get he and Ty together shooting the ball well from three. We had some good flashes from Tanner Groves and saw what he can do. And Elijah Jackson played hard and tough, was flying around and did some good things. Some of our other guys didn't shoot the ball well, but they've put in the work and they'll be ready the next game."
 
On Being at Home for Next Two Games: "It's going to be important. We want to get some guys back healthy, but the team we have right now has to get better. We are not going to play too many teams like the two teams we just played. But Green Bay is a really good team, and Morehead State and UMKC are really good basketball clubs too. We get to play them at home and get our own fans behind us. We'll play really hard and the product is going to get better – that's the most important thing. The guys we have in uniform have to get ready for the next game, and I'm excited to get on the practice court and get them ready to go."