It took one game yesterday to earn the honor, and another opportunity to ascertain its worth comes later this morning.
 
Junior Tanner Groves has been selected as this week's Big Sky Conference Player of the Week after he had his third-straight double-double on Sunday (Jan. 31) in a 68-60 victory over Sacramento State at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash. He earned the same honor Monday (Feb. 1) from College Sports Madness.
 
Groves and the Eagles, now 4-2 in the Big Sky Conference and 5-6 overall, get a chance to win their third-straight game when they host the Hornets Monday morning (Feb. 1) at 11:05 a.m. Pacific time. And the Eagles are hoping the get much of the same from their 6-foot-9 post player.
 
The graduate of Spokane's Shadle Park High School (2017), finished with 23 points and a career-high 15 rebounds in Sunday's victory, hitting double figures in the first half alone with 15 points and 11 boards. He had a trio of 3-pointers in EWU's monster 18-1 run to end the first half and give EWU a 37-22 halftime advantage. Teammate Jacob Davison scored the first five points in the run and Groves had the next nine as the Eagles scored 14 unanswered points during the outburst.
 
He made 9-of-16 shots from the field in the game, including a trio of 3-pointers, and also had a pair of assists and a blocked shot. Groves now has five double-doubles this season and six in his career. His previous high for rebounds was 13 twice this season, including at Northern Arizona to open league play in December. His 26-point effort against the Lumberjacks helped him earn his first Big Sky Conference Player of the Week Award on Dec. 21, 2020.
 
Groves leads the Big Sky Conference in rebounding (9.6 per game) and field goal percentage (.575). He is also fifth in scoring (17.4), sixth in blocked shots (1.1) and fourth in free throw percentage (.811). He is averaging a double-double in the Big Sky, and is first in rebounding (10.0) and second in scoring (21.7). He is also tops in field goal percentage (.613), fourth in free throw percentage (.912) and 12th in blocked shots (0.7).
 
Monday's game will be available via PlutoTV channel 1053 and via https://bigskyconf.com/watchbigsky. Eastern games are also aired live on radio on 700-AM ESPN, 105.3-FM, via the web at tunein.com and via mobile phone app, with pre-game coverage starting a half-hour prior to tipoff. Larry Weir serves as the play-by-play broadcaster. Live statistics from all Eastern home games are available via http://ewustats.com.