Shantay Legans Comments: “He had a terrific junior season. The thing that got him on the floor last year was his understanding of our defensive gameplans and of course his ability to stretch the floor. Though he was never labeled a defensive player during his early career, Cody placed an increased emphasis on that part of his game and wanted to show he could defend. Since then he’s been playing great basketball and has helped us out tremendously on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor. He has had his best summer and has shown great leadership."
Career: The Big Sky Conference Tournament championship game on March 10, 2018, was Benzel’s 100th game as an Eagle. In his 101-game career (27 as a starter), Benzel has averaged 13.4 minutes, 4.9 points and has 84 rebounds, 41 assists and 40 steals. He has made 145-of-346 3-pointers in his career to rank ninth and 11th, respectively on EWU’s all-time leaders list. His 41.9 percent accuracy is 10th-best in school history. In four games in national postseason tournaments, he has seven points, five rebounds and a pair of assists.
2017-18: Was named to the Big Sky All-Academic team. Benzel made 67 3-pointers to rank 11th in school history. He ranked 12th in the Big Sky Conference in 3-point shooting overall at 41.6 percent (67-of-161), including 50-of-112 (44.6 percent) in league games only to rank fifth. He also ranked fourth in league games only with an average of 2.8 treys per game. Benzel averaged 2.0 3-pointers per game to rank 11th overall in the league, and averaged 6.6 points per game (8.9 in league games only). Benzel finished with eight games in double figures (16 in his career) and a pair with at least 20. He picked up his pace in conference play, averaging 8.9 after owning a 4.5 average during non-conference play when he made only 16-of-42 (38.1 percent) 3-point attempts. Benzel scored at least 15 points five times during a nine-game stretch from Jan. 6 to Feb. 9, including a career-high 25 against Sacramento State (1/6/18) when he was 7-of-10 from the 3-point stripe, and 21 against Portland State (2/3/18).
2016-17: For the season, Benzel averaged 4.6 points on 47-of-105 shooting from the 3-point stripe (44.8 percent to rank third in the Big Sky). In league games only, he led the league at 56.8 percent (21-of-37). Benzel came off the bench to make all four of his 3-point attempts in the first half to finish with 12 points in EWU’s 130-124 victory over Portland State (2/4/17) in three overtimes. It was his fifth double figure scoring game of the season and eighth of his career, but first since scoring 11 at Seattle (12/4/16). He hit a trio of 3-pointers in EWU’s Big Sky Conference Tournament game against Sacramento State (3/9/17).
2015-16: The freshman redshirt averaged 3.3 points in an average of 5.9 minutes, and finished the year ranked fourth on the team with 31 3-pointers and was third with a .388 3-point shooting percentage. He scored in double figures 12 three times, including 23 points on a 7-of-14 3-point shooting performance against Great Falls (12/6/15). He also had a 12-point performance against South Dakota (11/29/15) when he made four 3-pointers in just eight minutes of action. Benzel’s other double figure performance was against George Fox (11/15/15) when he finished with 12 points. Late in the year, he had four points, three assists, two steals and two rebounds versus Idaho State (3/3/16). He made his collegiate debut in EWU’s opener at Mississippi State (11/13/15) and made the first start of his career against Great Falls.
2014-15: Redshirted. He showed glimpses of what’s to come when he scored 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the 3-point stripe in EWU’s 89-55 exhibition victory over Puget Sound (11/9/14). He also had three rebounds and a steal in 11 minutes of action.
High School: Graduated from Ferris High School in 2014. He capped his career by playing in the Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association (WIBCA) All-State Game. Was given honorable mention 4A All-State accolades by Associated Press as selected by sportswriters and broadcasters. Earned MVP honors in the Greater Spokane League as a senior after averaging 21.4 points per game. He made 48 percent of his shots from three-point range and 58 percent from inside the arc. Benzel led Ferris to a final record of 18-5 after dropping its last two games of the season. Prior to that, he scored 19 points with two assists and two dunks to help Ferris capture the 4A District 8 title. Benzel also had season-best outings of 36 and 34 points. Earlier in the season, he broke a 63-all tie with a basket with 27 seconds left to beat Mead 67-63. He also earned first team All-GSL honors as a junior when he averaged 18.6 points. He scored a career-high 37 points in the district playoffs in 2013. Benzel also lettered as a sophomore.
Personal: Marketing major at Eastern. Benzel was born Oct. 29, 1995, in Spokane, Wash. His parents are Ron and Molly Benzel. His older siblings, Jenny and Erik, also played basketball at Ferris. Jenny was a four-year starter and 2000 graduate, and Erik graduated the following year after starting two seasons for the Saxons. Erik played four seasons from 2001-05 at the University of Denver, and scored 17 points each of three games versus EWU. Denver won two of those, and Erik made 9-of-19 3-pointers (47 percent), 18-of-36 shots overall (50 percent) and had five steals collectively in his career versus EWU.
| Year |
GP |
GS |
Min |
Avg |
FG |
FGA |
Pct |
3FG |
3FGA |
Pct |
FT |
FTA |
Pct |
Off |
Def |
Tot |
Avg |
PF |
FO |
Ast |
TO |
Blk |
Stl |
Pts |
Avg |
| 2015-16 |
33 |
1 |
194 |
5.9 |
37 |
89 |
.416 |
31 |
80 |
.388 |
3 |
4 |
.750 |
3 |
12 |
15 |
0.5 |
19 |
0 |
7 |
4 |
3 |
6 |
108 |
3.3 |
| 2016-17 |
34 |
6 |
473 |
13.9 |
54 |
118 |
.458 |
47 |
105 |
.448 |
2 |
3 |
.667 |
4 |
25 |
29 |
0.9 |
61 |
0 |
16 |
13 |
2 |
14 |
157 |
4.6 |
| 2017-18 |
34 |
20 |
687 |
20.2 |
70 |
177 |
.395 |
67 |
161 |
.416 |
18 |
19 |
.947 |
5 |
35 |
40 |
1.2 |
49 |
1 |
18 |
12 |
5 |
20 |
225 |
6.6 |
| TOTAL |
101 |
27 |
1354 |
13.4 |
161 |
384 |
.419 |
145 |
346 |
.419 |
23 |
26 |
.885 |
12 |
72 |
84 |
0.8 |
129 |
1 |
41 |
29 |
10 |
40 |
490 |
4.9 |
SINGLE-GAME HIGHS
Points: 25, Sacramento State - 1/6/18
Rebounds: 5, at North Dakota - 12/31/17
Assists: 3, Linfield - 11/11/16; Seattle - 11/22/16; Idaho State - 3/3/16
Steals: 4, at North Dakota - 12/31/17
Blocks: 2, Univ. of Providence - 12/20/17
FG made: 8, Great Falls - 12/6/15
FG attempts: 15, Great Falls - 12/6/15
3FG made: 7, at Portland State - 02/03/18; Sacramento State - 1/6/18; Great Falls - 12/6/15
3FG attempts: 14, Great Falls - 12/6/15
FT made: 5, at Seattle - 12/03/17
FT attempts: 6, at Seattle - 12/03/17
