Kim Aiken Jr. has been the main beast of the last two weeks.
 
Continuing his recent hot streak in conjunction with a sizzling stretch for his team, the pre-season All-Big Sky Conference selection has been honored for the second-straight week as Big Sky Conference Player of the Week for helping the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team to back-to-back season sweeps over the Montana schools. The league made the announcement on Monday (Feb. 22), and he was also honored with the same honor by College Sports Madness.
 
The 6-foot-7 junior from Redlands, Calif., averaged 24.5 points and 9.0 rebounds in twin 90-76 victories over Montana last week for EWU's first season sweep of the Grizzlies in 18 years (since 2003). Coupled with a pair of victories over Montana State the week prior when Aiken was also honored by the league, Eastern enjoyed a 15.0 margin of victory in the four games (16, 16, 14, 14). Eastern previously had season sweeps over the two Montana schools in 2003 and 1990, but won by an average of 10.8 in '03 (10, 15 vs. UM; 14, 4 vs MSU) and 9.4 in '90 (1, 17 vs. UM; 6, 14 vs. MSU).
 
In the two games combined versus the Grizzlies, Aiken made 65.4 percent of his shots overall, including 7-of-11 from the 3-point stripe for 63.6 percent. He also made 8-of-10 free throws and had six steals, three assists and a pair of blocked shots. Eastern led by as many as 27 in the first half in the Jan. 18 game versus UM, and 22 at halftime in the rematch, with its largest lead in that game at 29. The wins helped extend EWU's winning streak to nine – just two from the school record -- and keep the Eagles in sole possession of first place in the Big Sky Conference standings.
 
In the last four games alone, Aiken has a trio of 20+ scoring performances and is a single rebound away from averaging a double-double. He has 81 points (20.3 average), 39 rebounds (9.8), nine assists (2.3) and eight steals (2.0) in those four Eagle victories (average winning margin of 15.0 per game).
 
Eastern, which closes the Big Sky regular season at home versus Idaho State on March 3 and 5, is atop the league standings with an 11-2 record. A balanced attack all year – but particularly as of late during a nine-game winning streak – has put the Eagles on the cusp of a second-straight regular season title.
 
"We kept throwing (Tanner Groves) the ball, and Kim and Mike (Meadows) stepped up to have terrific games," said Legans of the Feb. 20 win at Montana to wrap up the team's fourth-straight Big Sky season sweep. "When you have players who can do things like that and change the game, it really helps. You can take away our 3-point shot, but we can throw the ball inside to Tanner and he's efficient.
 
"Kim was driving the ball to the hole and Mike can get to the rim -- Jacob Groves too," Legans continued. "We have multiple players than can go make plays at the basket and lead this team. We have players who can do different things and they all play for each other. As a coach, that really makes your day and really makes you proud. They are listening and understanding, but the most important thing is they are playing for each other and that's all that matters."
 
In the first game against the Grizzlies, Aiken hit all six of his 2-point shots and 3-of-6 3-pointers to finish with 21 points, eight rebounds and four steals. In the next game, he finished with a career-high 28 points, 10 rebounds, two blocked shots, two steals and two assists to give him three double-doubles this season and 20 in his career. He now has 23 double-figure rebounding performances in his career and 11 performances with at least 20 points. He sank 8-of-14 shots overall, 4-of-5 from the 3-point arc and 8-of-9 free throws. His previous career high was 26 versus Washington on Dec. 4, 2019.
 

More on Kim Aiken Jr. . . . .

Prior to the start of the season, Aiken joined teammate Jacob Davison on the 2020-21 Big Sky Conference Preseason All-Conference Team announced by the league office on Nov. 10.
 
Aiken has averaged 12.3 points (16th in the Big Sky) and 8.2 rebounds (first, along with teammate Tanner Groves) thus far in his junior season. He's made 48.3 percent from the field and 34.6 percent from the arc (28-of-81). He's also made 48-of-59 free throws (.814 to rank eighth in the league) and has 20 steals (1.1 per game to rank 12th), 17 blocked shots (0.94 to rank ninth) and 37 assists.
 
In Big Sky Conference games only, Aiken is leading the league in rebounding (8.9) and is 15th in scoring (13.8), 10th in free throw percentage (.813), 12th in 3-pointers per game (1.69), 12th in steals (1.0) and eighth in blocked shots (1.08).
 
Aiken had 14 double-figure rebounding performances as a sophomore (23 in his career), and thus far in his 79-game career (60 as a starter), he is averaging 10.5 points and 7.5 rebounds with 19 career double-doubles (14-5 record). He has 91 career steals, 68 blocked shots and 93 assists. His 596 rebounds currently rank ninth in school history, his 7.5 average is 10th and his 68 blocks are 10th. He also ranks 10th in 3-point field goal attempts with 400 and is nearing the all-time list in makes with 133.
 
In the sweep at Montana State on Feb. 11 and 13, Aiken averaged a double-double to help the Eagles to a pair of 16-point victories to earn Big Sky Conference Player of the Week on Feb. 15 from the league office. 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 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. 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 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 after the sweep. "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."
 
He scored 19 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the 3-point stripe in EWU's 80-64 win at Northern Arizona, and also had nine boards. He had his first double-double of the season with 23 points and 12 rebounds versus Southern Utah on Jan. 16. He had 11 rebounds versus Idaho on Feb. 6, then had his 18th career double-double of his career at Montana State on Feb. 13 with 12 points and 13 boards.
 
Aiken averaged nearly a double-double in the 2019-20 season, finishing fourth in NCAA Division I in defensive rebounds per game (8.2) and 36th in rebounding overall (9.7). He led the Big Sky in both categories, and was also 38th in the nation with 12 double-doubles and averaged 13.3 points per outing.
 
Aiken's overall rebound average was Eastern's best since Ron Cox averaged 12.3 in the 1976-77 season when the school was affiliated with the NAIA. Aiken's average broke the school's previous DI record of 9.1 in the 2016-17 campaign, and his single-game high of 22 is the second-most in school history and EWU's DI record.
 
The 6-foot-7 Aiken also finished his sophomore season third in the league and 85th in the nation in steals (1.74). In league games only, Aiken finished second in rebounding (9.0), first in defensive rebounds (7.5), third in 3-pointers made per game (2.3), fifth in steals (1.7), 12th in blocked shots (1.1) and 21st in scoring (12.1). At times his shooting was inconsistent, but he still managed to sink a team-leading 76 3-pointers on 229 attempts for 33.2 percent. Overall, he shot at a 39.8 percent clip from the field and 78.7 percent from the free throw line (59-of-75).
 
He had what was then a career-best 26-point effort at Washington on Dec. 4, 2019, and had five total performances of 20+ points (11 in his career). Against Belmont in a huge 87-82 victory, he scored eight of EWU's last 12 points and had four defensive boards in the final 44 seconds on his way to final tallies of 11 points and 11 boards.