Already armed with one Pac-12 victory under its belts, the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team is preparing to take on Colorado tomorrow evening (Dec. 8) in Boulder, Colo. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. Pacific time inside the CU Events Center.
 
Larry Weir will have the call on 700-AM ESPN/103.5 FM, or the game can be watched on the Pac-12 Networks.
 
LAST TIME OUT: After a tough outing against Southern Utah last Thursday, the Eagles immediately put the past behind them and picked up a 91-82 road victory at Omaha on Saturday morning. The win marked Eastern's third road victory of the season.
 
Rylan Bergersen poured on a career-high 32 points in the win, going 10-of-13 from the field and 11-of-15 from the free throw line. Not to be overlooked was Steele Venters who scored 21 points for his second-straight 20-plus output and the fourth of the season. Angelo Allegri added 12 points as well. As a team, the Eagles had a season-low 11 turnovers, out-rebounded the Mavericks 38-27, and shot 53.7 percent from the field with 10 three-pointers.
 
In all, the game had 13 lead changes and 11 ties. After being up 48-46 at the half, EWU finally broke away with a 9-0 run and never looked back, pulling ahead 72-64 with 6:58 left to play. With less than a minute to play, the Mavericks would get as close as six points, but Eastern ended the game on a 6-1 run to seal the 92-81 road win.
 
A LOOK AT THE EAGLES: Eastern Washington is 4-4 on the year (0-1 Big Sky) with a signature win over Pac-12 opponent Washington State on Nov. 27. On the road so far this season, the Eagles are 3-2, and have only played twice at home in Reese Court.
 
Redshirt-freshman Steele Venters leads the Big Sky in scoring with 19.1 points per game. He has scored at least 20 points in half of EWU's games this season, with a career-high 29 against Southern Utah. He's been heating up from behind the arc as of late, draining six three's against SUU and five at Omaha. Venters averages 2.9 three-pointers per game and makes 52.3 percent of his attempts, both of which lead the Big Sky. Overall, he shoots 52.6 percent (50-95) from the field and 85.7 percent (30-35) from the free throw line, both of which are the fourth-highest in the league.
 
Rylan Bergersen is 13^th in the conference with 13.8 points per game while also leading the way with 4.6 assists per game, already totaling 37 on the year. The senior is also 13^th in the conference with 5.8 rebounds per game and ranks eighth with 1.6 steals per contest.
 
Linton Acliese III has sat the last two games, but still ranks sixth in the conference in points (16.5) and seventh in rebounds (7.8) per game.
 
As a team, the Eagles are second in the Big Sky in points per game (81.0), third in rebounding (39.1), third in steals (6.88) and lead the way with 16.5 assists per game.
 
A LOOK AT THE BUFFS: Colorado is 6-3 on the year and are 1-1 in Pac-12 play. The Buffs are coming off of consecutive losses to ranked opponents in No. 5 UCLA (73-61) and No. 13/15 Tennessee (69-54). They have one other Big Sky opponents on their schedule in Montana State, who they topped 94-90 in overtime back on Nov. 9.
 
As a team, Colorado averages 74.1 percent from the field, shooting 45.7 percent overall. Jabari Walker leads the Buffaloes with 14.3 points and 9.1 rebounds per game and he already has five double-doubles on the season, four of which have come consecutively.
 
Evan Battey (13.3) and Keeshawn Barthelemy (12.0) are also averaging double figures in scoring.
 
SERIES HISTORY: This will be the fourth all-time meeting between the two squads, with Eastern Washington dropping the previous three. The last time the two teams met was on Dec. 22, 2016 where Eastern lost 76-68.
 
Against the Pac-12, Eastern Washington is 4-49 all-time, including the win over WSU on Nov. 27.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern's three-game road swing concludes on Saturday morning (Dec. 11)  when they take on the Fighting Hawks of North Dakota at 11 a.m. Pacific time in Grand Forks, N.D.