NABC Team Academic Excellence News Release
NABC Honors Court News Release
 
For the ninth consecutive year, the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team has been honored with the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Team Academic Excellence Award announced recently. In addition, six players have been honored on the NABC's 2020-21 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court.
 
The team award was won by 258 colleges and universities for having a team cumulative grade point average of 3.0 and above for the 2020-21 season. Teams in NCAA Division I, II, II and NAIA Division I and II were eligible. This is the ninth year the award has been presented by the NABC, so Eastern has been chosen every year.
 
Eastern, Gonzaga and Seattle were the only NCAA Division I schools in the state of Washington to be honored, and were joined by Seattle Pacific and Saint Martin's from NCAA Division II, and Whitman and Whitworth from Division III. Eastern, Montana and Weber State were the only Big Sky Conference schools to be recognized.
 
Players on EWU's 2019-20 team included Kim Aiken Jr., Isaiah Amato, Jacob Davison, Austin Fadal, Jacob Groves, Tanner Groves, Ellis Magnuson, Michael Meadows, Kaelan O'Neil, Jack Perry, Victor Radocaj, Tyler Robertson, Casson Rouse, Jordan Veening and Steele Venters.
 
Among the 1,229 student-athletes recognized on the Honors Court, Tanner Groves and Jack Perry were selected for the second-straight year. They were joined by Austin Fadal, Michael Meadows, Casson Rouse and Jordan Veening. Groves, Meadows and Perry have since transferred and Veening is no longer on the squad, but Fadal (management major) and Rouse (psychology) return for the Eagles in the 2021-22 season under first-year head coach David Riley.
 
A year ago, Eastern had four selections, and the year before had an all-time school best of seven. Eastern had six in 2017-18 and also had four in the 2014-15 school year. Of the 39 selections in school history, 37 of them have come in the last eight seasons starting in 2012-13. Besides Groves and Perry, repeat winners have included Mason Peatling, Jesse Hunt, Ty Gibson, Bogdan Bliznyuk, Venky Jois, Tyler Harvey, Daniel Hill and Julian Harrell.

The Honors Court recognizes those men's collegiate basketball student-athletes who excelled in academics during the past season. The NABC Honors Court recognizes the talents and gifts that these men possess off the court and the hard work they exhibit in the classroom.  To qualify, the recipients must have junior or senior standing academically, and have a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.2 or higher at the conclusion of the 2020-21 academic year. They must have also matriculated at least one year at their current institution.
 
All six Eastern players honored were selected to the winter Big Sky Conference All-Academic team, with a collective total of 13 honors won. Perry was honored four times, followed by Groves (three), Fadal (two), Meadows (two), Rouse (one) and Veening (one).
 
Rouse averaged 2.9 points and 1.1 assists in the 18 games he played in the 2020-21 season, and made nine 3-pointers (in 38 attempts for 23.7 percent, 28.4 percent overall). So far in his career, he's played in 49 games (12 as a starter) and is averaging 5.2 points, 1.5 assists and 1.7 rebounds while sinking 46-of-134 3-point attempts (34.3 percent).  He has a total of nine career games scoring in double figures (one with at least 20). He's led Eastern in single games in scoring (5 times), assists (9), steals (3) and rebounding (2).
 
Fadal played in four games off the bench and did not score in a total of nine minutes played. He has played in 25 career games, including 21 as a freshman in the 2018-19 season. He has now averaged 11.5 minutes, 3.2 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.4 assists in those games (two as a starter).
 
Groves, now at Oklahoma along with his brother Jacob, was rewarded as the Big Sky Conference MVP and first team All-Big Sky honors in the 2020-21 season. He was also selected to the NABC All-District 6 first team. Groves finished the year ranked tied for second in the Big Sky Conference in rebounding (8.0 per game, just behind teammate Kim Aiken Jr. at 8.5) and field goal percentage (.560 to rank 33rd in NCAA Division I). He was also fourth in the league in scoring (17.2) and sixth in blocked shots (1.1).
 
Meadows played in 19 of EWU's 24 games (15 starts) and averaged 10.5 points in the 19 games he played to rank 28th in the league. He averaged 12.9 points (19th in the Big Sky) in the 12 league games he played with a string of nine-straight games in double figures to end league play.
 
Perry, who has joined Meadows at Portland under former Eastern head coach Shantay Legans, averaged 4.5 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game while sinking 22-of-44 3-point shots for 50 percent to equal the third-best mark in school history. He missed four games from Jan. 31 to Feb. 6, but played in 20 games in 2020-21 (eight as a starter).
 
Veening played in five games off the bench in the 2020-21 season, scoring his lone point against Montana (3/12/21). He had rebounds in three separate games.
 
Eastern closed the 2020-21 season 12-3 in the league and 16-8 overall after falling to third-seeded and 12th-ranked Kansas at the NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis, Ind. The Eagles led for 20:47 compared to 18:07 for the Jayhawks, who led the final 8:46.
 
Winners of 12 of their last 14 games, Eastern had won nine-straight games before falling to Idaho State 68-63 on March 3. But the Eagles rolled through the Big Sky Conference Tournament with a trio of victories, leading for a total of 108:19 out of 120 minutes (trailed for 8:25 and tied for 3:16). EWU led by as many as 12, 38 and 20 in the three wins, respectively.

EWU Players Selected to the NABC Honors Court
2008-09             Andy Genao, Benny Valentine
2012-13             Jordan Hickert, Kevin Winford
2013-14             Tyler Harvey, Daniel Hill, Martin Seiferth
2014-15             Tyler Harvey, Daniel Hill, Venky Jois, Fred Jorg
2015-16             Julian Harrell, Venky Jois
2016-17             Bogdan Bliznyuk, Julian Harrell, Mario Soto
2017-18             Cody Benzel, Bogdan Bliznyuk, Grant Gibb, Ty Gibson, Benas Gricinuas, Jesse Hunt      
2018-19             Steven Beo, Ty Gibson, Jesse Hunt, Tyler Kidd, Mason Peatling, Josh Thomas, Luka Vulikic
2019-20             Kim Aiken Jr., Tanner Groves, Mason Peatling, Jack Perry
2020-21            Tanner Groves, Austin Fadal, Michael Meadows, Jack Perry, Casson Rouse, Jordan Veening