True freshman Ellis Magnuson is already living up to the high expectations of his head coach.
 
The point guard protégé of Eastern Washington University head men's basketball coach Shantay Legans has been selected by College Sports Madness as its Big Sky Conference Player of the Week for his performance in EWU's win over mid-major powerhouse Belmont last Tuesday (Nov. 26) in Cheney.
 
A 2019 graduate of Borah High School in Boise, Idaho, Magnuson scored 13 points and had nine assists in the 87-82 win over Belmont, which was ranked ninth entering the game in the Collegeinsider.com Mid-Major top 25 poll.
 
He made 5-of-9 shots from the field and 3-of-4 from the free throw line, and equally distributed his production with six points and five assists in the first half, and seven points and four assists in the second half in which EWU out-scored the Bruins 47-40.
 
That was just his sixth game as a collegian, but he has started all six EWU games and has averaged 5.2 assists and 4.8 points per game thus far. Magnuson was the USA Today Idaho 5A Player of the Year in his senior season when he led the Lions to the State 5A title and a 24-3 record. He averaged 15 points, six assists and two steals per game over his last two years in the program.
 
Magnuson had his breakout game just three days earlier when Eastern jumped out to a 15-2 lead and beat High Point on the road on Nov. 23 in North Carolina. Magnuson scored 12 points in the first half, including a pair of 3-pointers after entering the game 0-of-7 as a collegian. Besides his 12 points, Magnuson also finished with eight assists and three steals.
 
"He's a very good basketball player, and he is going to be very good for us down the road," said Legans, a collegiate point guard himself, after Magnuson's performance versus High Point. "He's a freshman point guard, and I believe that is the hardest position, especially playing for me. I'm really hard on point guards. Anyone who's been around me knows that the big guys can mess up, but the point guards have to be really good and mentally tough.
 
"He is a very mentally tough kid, and he will be a great player," Legans continued. "He's going to break a lot of records here. He sees the floor well."
 
The win over the Bruins helped EWU improve to 4-2 on the season, a record the Eagles will take to Seattle this Wednesday (Dec. 4) when they take on the Washington Huskies of the Pac-12 Conference. Eastern received 13 votes in last week's Mid-Major poll, but this week's poll has yet to be released. In this week's NCAA Division I polls, Washington is ranked 22nd by Associated Press and 23rd by the Coaches, while Gonzaga, EWU's opponent on Dec. 21 in Spokane, is ninth in both.
 
Belmont was 27-4 a year ago and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, but EWU's win dropped the Bruins to 4-3.