The road trip continues for Eastern Washington men's basketball on Saturday, Dec. 10 as the team will face South Dakota State in Brookings, S.D. at 2 p.m. Pacific Time.

Eastern's matchup against the Jackrabbits will be streamed live on GoJacks.com and live stats are also available through the team's website. Fans can listen to the game live on 700-AM ESPN with Larry Weir on the call.

Last Time Out
Eastern defeated California, 50-48 on Wednesday (Dec. 7) in Berkeley, Calif. The Eagles improved to 4-5 this season and Cal dropped to 0-10. The game marked the fifth-ever win for EWU over a Pac-12 opponent. It is the second-straight season with a win against the Pac-12, as Eastern defeated Washington State in November of 2021.
 
After the Eagles led for the majority of the game, Cal made a late run, tying the game with under a minute to play. Tyreese Davis would drive to the net and score to get the lead back for the Eagles. A defensive stop from Eastern and key rebound by Casey Jones clinched the team's first road win.
 
Jones recorded his second career double-double with 10 points and a career-high, 14 rebounds. Davis matched his career-high as an Eagle with 14 points on 6-of-10 (60%) shooting.
 
Overall, Eastern Washington shot 38.5 percent for the game and 21.7 from three-point range. The Golden Bears shot 38.6 percent and struggled with a 13.3 percent.

A Look at the Eagles
Eastern Washington is 4-5 on the season, with a 1-3 mark on the road, 1-1 at home and 2-1 in neutral site games. The team has won three of its last four games. This season, Eastern is averaging 65.2 points per game, while allowing 69.2. Collectively, the team is shooting 42.4 percent on field goals. The Eagles distribute the ball well, averaging 13.1 assists per game, with 118 total. The Eagles have recorded 10 or less turnovers in three of the last five games.
 
Steele Venters is averaging 18.2 points in the past four games. Venters is 14th in the Big Sky with a 13.7 points per game average and is fifth in shooting with a 43.5 percentage. The redshirt-sophomore scored a career-high, 33 points, in the team's win against North Dakota State earlier this season. Venters averages 2.0 made threes a game to tie for eleventh in the Big Sky.
 
Casey Jones is the top rebounder for Eastern, averaging 6.7 a game to rank seventh in the conference. Ethan Price is tied for 14th in the Big Sky with 4.9 rebounds per game, contributing 7.6 points and tying for third in the Big Sky with eight total blocks.
 
Tyreese Davis leads the team with 3.1 assists per game and ranks ninth in the Big Sky. He is sixth in the conference with a 1.7 assist-to-turnover ratio. Angelo Allegri has 26 total assists to lead the team, averaging 2.9 per game, ranking 12th in the conference.
 
Cedric Coward is developing into the key bench player for Eastern, ranking third on the team with 4.7 rebounds per game and is sixth with 6.6 points, while averaging 17.6 minutes of playing time off the bench. The sophomore is fifth in the conference with 1.9 offensive rebounds per game, posting 17 total this season.
 
Eastern has excelled this season at taking the opponents passing lanes away, ranking third in the conference with 6.3 steals per game. Coward and Jones both average 1.0 steals per game to be included in a seven-way tie for 12th on the conference leaderboard. Venters is in a five-way tie for 19th in the Big Sky. Adding to the team's defensive effort, the Eagles rank second in the conference with 25.8 defensive rebounds per game.
 
Scouting the Jackrabbits
South Dakota State is 3-7 on the season after dropping its last four contests. Most recently, they lost to Big Sky opponent Montana by a score of 56-81 on Tuesday (Dec. 6). Overall, the Jackrabbits are 0-1 at home, 1-5 on the road and 2-1 at neutral sites. They average 66.2 points per game, allowing 74.4. SDSU makes the most of its opportunities at the free throw line, sinking 79.4 percent to rank first in the Summit League and eighth nationally.
 
The Jackrabbits are led by sophomore guard Zeke Mayo, who paces the team with 12.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. Senior guard Alex Arians dishes out 2.8 assists per game to rank 10th in the Summit League, while freshman forward William Kyle III blocks 1.2 shots to rank sixth.
 
Series History
Eastern has one previous meeting with South Dakota State, that game taking place on Dec. 18, 2018 at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash. The Eagles fell by a score of 64-74 as three-time Summit League Player of the Year Mike Daum scored 27.
 
Up Next
Eastern Washington will wrap up its road trip in Lubbock, Texas where they will play Texas Tech for the second consecutive season. The game will be on Tuesday, Dec. 13 at 5 p.m.