One game he helped lead the Eagles to a school-record free throw percentage, the next he was a monster on the boards.
 
Pre-season All-Big Sky Conference selection Kim Aiken Jr. averaged a double-double last week as the junior helped lead the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team to a pair of 16-point victories at Montana State and was honored Monday (Feb. 15) as Big Sky Conference Player of the Week. It was the first Big Sky Player of the Week honor for Aiken, who was a third team All-Big Sky selection in 2019-20 campaign.
 
In addition, junior Tanner Groves earned the same weekly player of the week honor from College Sports Madness for the third time this season. The 93-77 and 85-69 victories helped extend EWU's winning streak to seven and keep the Eagles in sole possession of first place in the Big Sky Conference standings.
 
In the two games combined, Aiken averaged 16.0 points and 10.5 rebounds, and also had six assists and a pair of steals. The 6-foot-7 junior guard/forward from Redlands, Calif., was a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line while making 47.4 percent overall (9-of-19) and 4-of-12 3-point attempts.
 
In the first win on Feb. 11, he scored 20 points and made all eight of his free throws to help EWU break a school record with a .964 team percentage (27-of-28). He also had eight rebounds and three assists for EWU. In the next game, in which EWU had a key 37-35 rebounding advantage, Aiken had his second double-double of the season and 18th of his career by finishing with 12 points and 13 rebounds. He also had a trio of assists and a steal as EWU held MSU to just seven offensive rebounds after having 17 in the first meeting.
 
"Kim was amazing on the boards," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans. "That's the Kim Aiken we have come to know and we've seen in the past. When he plays like that he's one of the top three players in the league. He goes to the boards, defends, rebounds, blocks shots, he's hitting threes and he's leading our team. He's really hard to guard and hard to play against."
 
Aiken and is currently second behind Groves in the BSC in rebounding in the league at 8.1 per game overall while averaging 8.8 in league play to lead the Big Sky. Overall, he is eighth in the BSC in blocked shots (0.9) and seventh in free throw percentage (.816), and in league games only he is eighth in blocked shots (1.1) and seventh in free throw percentage (.816). He is averaging 10.8 points as one of four Eagles averaging in double figures for the season, and 11.8 in league games only (20th) with five Eagles averaging at least 11.0.
 
For the season, Aiken has made 44.8 percent of his shots from the field and 30.0 percent from the arc (21-of-70). He's also made 40-of-59 free throws (.816) and has 14 steals, 15 blocked shots and 34 assists.
 
Aiken has had four double-figure rebounding performances this season (22 in his career, including 14 as a sophomore). Thus far in his 77-game career (58 as a starter), he is averaging 10.1 points and 7.5 rebounds with 18 career double-doubles (13-5 record). He has 85 career steals, 66 blocked shots and 90 assists. His 578 rebounds currently rank ninth in school history, his 7.5 average is 10th) and his 66 blocks are 10th.
 
Groves, who has been honored twice this season by the league office as player of the week, averaged 21.0 points and 7.5 rebounds in last weekend's sweep over MSU. Included was a double-double in the first meeting as he equaled his career high with 26 points and also had 12 rebounds. He sank 68.2 percent of his field goal attempts and 3-of-5 3-point shots (37.5 percent) in the two games combined, and made all nine of his free throws. He had 15 rebounds for the weekend.
 
The Eagles play a pair of games versus the Montana Grizzlies this week, including Thursday (Feb. 18) in a game that starts at 6:05 p.m. Pacific time at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash. The two rivals will play again two days later (Feb. 20) in Missoula in a game that will begin at 11:05 a.m. Pacific time.