Eastern Washington men's basketball is back at home, and they host UC Davis on Saturday, Dec. 17 at 1 p.m. Pacific Time. The Eagles have two non-conference games left and look to close them out strong before Big Sky play begins.

The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ and live stats can be viewed on GoEags.com. Listen to the game live on 700-AM ESPN with Larry Weir for the play-by-play action. Tickets to the game can be purchased at Reese Court or online by clicking the link HERE.

Fans attending the game will also be able to take photos with Santa Swoop at halftime. Additionally, fans are encouraged to bring new or gently used toys to drop off for the Toys for Tots Drive.

Last Time Out
Eastern Washington played Texas Tech in Lubbock on Tuesday (Dec. 13), falling to the Red Raiders, 70-77. Eastern led for the majority of the first half, but Tech managed to tie the game up at halftime. In the second half, the Eagles would retake the lead, before a counter run from the Red Raiders would put them back in front. Eastern continued to play well and prevented Tech from putting the game away. Despite the effort, the Red Raiders hung on to defeat the Eagles. Eastern finished with a 48.1 shooting percentage, while Tech shot 42.2 percent for the game.

Steele Venters led the team with 26 points on 10-of-19(52.6%) shooting and 5-of-11(45.4%) from three-point range. Including Venters, Eastern had three players score in double figures, with Angelo Allegri recording 14 and Ethan Price getting 11. Cedric Coward had a game-high 11 rebounds.

A Look at the Eagles
Eastern Washington is 4-7 on the season, with a 1-1 record at home, 1-5 on the road and 2-1 at neutral sites. The Eagles are on a two-game losing streak after winning three-of-four games. Eastern averages 66.6 points per game, while allowing 70.6 points to opponents. An area of growth of the team is its rebounding, as they rank first in the Big Sky with 25.8 defensive rebounds per game. The Eagles are fourth with 34.8 combined rebounds per game, along with a plus-1.8 rebounding margin.

Steele Venters is carrying the load for the Eastern's scoring, ranking ninth in the conference with 14.7 points per game. Venters has three 20-point games this season and 14 for his career after scoring 26 against Texas Tech. In the conference, Venters is seventh in field goal percentage, connecting with 43.4 percent of his shots. The redshirt-sophomore is averaging 2.2 made three-pointers a game to rank ninth in the Big Sky.

Tyreese Davis and Angelo Allegri give Eastern two effective distributors this season. Davis has dished out 33 assists with Allegri right behind with 32. The two are ninth and 12^th in the conference in assists per game. For their assist-to-turnover ratio, Davis and Allegri are tied for seventh in the Big Sky with a 1.5 figure.

Casey Jones tops the Eagles and is seventh in the conference with 6.5 rebounds per game. Jones has two double-doubles this season and averages 7.0 points per game.

Cedric Coward keeps developing into a reliable bench player for Eastern, adding 6.2 points per game. The sophomore averages 5.0 rebounds per game to rank third on the team and 14^th in the Big Sky.

Scouting the Aggies
UC Davis is 7-3 this season, with a 1-2 road record, 3-1 at home and 3-0 in neutral site games. The Aggies are coming off a 107-55 win over Holy Names on Tuesday (Dec. 13). The team has won three of its last four games. Davis also defeated another Big Sky team, Sacramento State, on Nov. 22 (82-71). This season, the Aggies have a high-powered offense, averaging 81.5 points per game, while shooting 47.6 percent from the floor.

The points come from multiple spots for Davis, with four players averaging double figures for scoring. Elijah Pepper leads with 19.6 points per game and Ty Johnson adds 17.0 points per game. Pepper is also the team's leading rebounder with 6.8 per game. At the net, Christian Anigwe has 17 blocks this season and adds 12.1 points per game.

Series History
Eastern Washington is 1-2 against UC Davis in program history and will be playing the Aggies for the second consecutive season. Eastern lost to UC Davis, 76-84, on Nov. 12, 2021 in Davis, Calif. Steele Venters had 18 points in the game and Ethan Price scored 11.

EWU vs. the Big West
Eastern is 28-32 against the Big West Conference after falling to Hawaii by a score of 51-71 earlier this season (Nov. 13).

Up Next
Eastern Washington will play its final non-conference game of the season against Northwest Indian College on Tuesday, Dec. 20 at Reese Court, with tip-off scheduled for 3:30 p.m.