Eastern Washington University Athletics

Shantay Legans Comments: “Jesse has experienced his share of both ups and downs in his three years for us so far, but as he's worked hard and battled through adversity. He has shown flashes of greatness and the potential to be a force in the Big Sky. Before going down with a foot injury last season, he gave us a boost in practically every statistical category. He is a jack-of-all-trades and our swiss army knife, with a rare ability to play all five positions on the court. Now back to full health, we are expecting Jesse to have his best year by far in an Eagle uniform."
 
Career: In his 83-game career (17 as a starter), Hunt has averaged 12.0 minutes, 3.6 points, 2.8 rebounds and has 29 blocks. Hunt did not play in 2018 versus Utah Valley in the College Basketball Invitational, but has played in three other postseason games and has seven points and eight rebounds.
 
2017-18: Was named to the Big Sky All-Academic team for the third-straight season. A foot injury limited Hunt to just 20 games in the 2017-18 season, including just four brief appearances in EWU’s last 19 games of the season. Before initially injuring the foot on Jan. 5 in a practice, Hunt had started the last five games he played, helping lead the Eagles to four victories and averaging 14.6 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game. He made 25-of-43 shots overall (58.1 percent), 7-of-11 from the 3-point stripe (63.6 percent) and 16-of-20 from the free throw line (80.0 percent) in those five games, and had registered his career high for scoring in the first four games. Playing for the first time in more than a month, he logged six minutes against Montana (2/15/18) in his first action in 10 games before aggravating the foot injury in that game. He returned for the Big Sky Conference Tournament and had a total of four points and five rebounds in EWU’s first two games. But he once again aggravated the injury in the title game, also versus Montana (3/10/18), and missed EWU’s College Basketball Invitational game versus Utah Valley (3/13/18). Hunt scored what was then a career-high 14 points and had eight rebounds in his first start of the season against CSUN (12/17/17), then had his second double-double of the season with 16 points and a career-high 11 rebounds against Providence three days later. He equaled his career high with 16 points at Northern Colorado (12/29/17) when he also had a career-high four blocked shots and eight rebounds in a career-high 29 minutes of action. He played 29 minutes at North Dakota (12/31/17) and finished with 16 points and eight boards, then had 11 points and four rebounds in just 16 minutes because of foul trouble against Portland State (1/4/18) – a day before his injury. For the season, Hunt averaged 18.3 minutes, 7.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and had nine blocked shots, while making 49.5 percent of his shots from the field and 80.6 percent from the free throw line.
 
2016-17: Earned Big Sky All-Academic honors for the second time and was nominated by EWU for CoSIDA Academic All-America honors. Hunt averaged 2.8 points and 2.1 rebounds in 33 games (twice as a starter). He came off the bench to contribute 21 points in just 34 minutes of action in EWU’s split against Montana State (1/5/17) and Montana (1/7/17). In the two games, he made 7-of-8 shots (3-of-4 from the 3-point line) and added nine rebounds. He had what was then a career-high 13 points in 18 minutes against Montana State, having scored scoring seven points in his previous five games. He also had seven rebounds against the Bobcats, then scored eight versus Montana, hitting all three of his shots from the field with a pair of 3-pointers.
 
2015-16: Earned Big Sky All-Academic honors for the first time. Hunt made the first start of his career against Pacific (11/28/15), and averaged 9.2 minutes, 1.8 rebounds and 1.9 points per game as a nine-game starter. He closed the year by averaging 4.8 points and 2.0 rebounds in EWU’s last five games. He scored 24 of his 56 points for the season in that stretch. Included was a season-high seven points, two rebounds and two steals in seven minutes against Idaho State (3/3/16). He closed the year with five points and three rebounds against eventual champion Nevada in the College Basketball Invitational. Hunt, who missed EWU’s game at Western Carolina (12/14/15) with a sprained ankle, had six points and a season-high eight rebounds against George Fox (11/15/15), then equaled his season high with eight boards versus Great Falls (12/6/15).
 
High School: Graduated from Sir Francis Drake High School in 2015. As a senior, Hunt was selected to the 2015 California All-State second team after averaging 15.6 points, 9.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.0 blocked shots per game. Hunt led the team to a runner-up finish in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Northern California Division III Championship. The Pirates lost to Moreau Catholic 80-69, despite Hunt’s 22 points and 13 rebounds. They advanced to the regional semifinals of the Division III California State Championships, falling to Campolindo 50-44. The Pirates finished with a 28-6 record overall. He also led his team to a runner-up finish at the CIF Northern California Division III Championship in his junior season. The Pirates finished 26-8 and lost to Chaminade 71-51 in the title game despite Hunt’s double-double with 16 points – 12 at the free throw line – and 13 rebounds. It was his team’s first appearance in the title game in 32 seasons. He had 38 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots on the road in the quarterfinals versus Sacred Heart. Hunt averaged 17.7 points, 10.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.5 blocked shots and 1.2 steals per game. His many honors included North Bay Player of the Year, All-Northern California third team and CIF Division III All-State second team, He also earned All-Marin County Athletic League first team honors and player of the year accolades from the Marin Independent Journal. The San Francisco Chronicle selected him as its North Bay Player of the Year. As a sophomore, Sir Francis Drake advanced to the quarterfinals of the playoffs and finished 26-7. He averaged 4.2 points and 3.3 rebounds per game while playing with a nagging back injury. Hunt had a 3.3 grade point average at Sir Francis Drake.
 
Personal: Management major at Eastern, and has a 3.61 grade point average at Eastern. Born July 30, 1997, in Geraldton, Australia, but spent his entire high school career in the United States. Parents are Daniel and Helen Hunt. His father was on the 1982 Sir Francis Drake squad that went 34-0 and won the state title. He went on to play at the University of Portland and play 17 seasons of professional basketball in Australia. Fellow Australians playing for the Eagles include Mason Peatling and Jack Perry, as well as former Eagles Felix Von Hofe, Geremy McKay, Michael Wearne and former EWU all-time leading scorer Venky Jois.

 

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	30	9	276	9.2	23	48	.479	5	17	.294	5	8	.625	28	27	55	1.8	55	2	9	7	8	8	56	1.9
2016-17	33	3	351	10.6	33	86	.384	10	43	.233	16	25	.640	22	46	68	2.1	68	3	12	15	12	3	92	2.8
2017-18	20	5	366	18.3	55	111	.495	14	38	.368	25	31	.806	32	79	111	5.6	59	2	21	24	9	6	149	7.5
TOTAL	83	17	993	12.0	111	245	.453	29	98	.296	46	64	.719	82	152	234	2.8	182	7	42	46	29	17	297	3.6

 
SINGLE-GAME HIGHS
Points: 16, Univ. of Providence - 12/20/17; at Northern Colorado - 12/29/17; at North Dakota - 12/31/17
Rebounds: 11, Univ. of Providence - 12/20/17
Assists: 3, 4 times
Steals: 2, vs Eastern Kentucky - 11/22/17; Univ. of Providence - 12/20/17; Idaho State - 3/3/16
Blocks: 4, at Northern Colorado - 12/29/17
FG made: 6, CSUN - 12/17/17; Univ. of Providence - 12/20/17
FG attempts: 10, Univ. of Providence - 12/20/17; at Northern Colorado - 12/29/17; at North Dakota - 12/31/17
3FG made: 2, 7 times
3FG attempts: 4, 5 times
FT made: 4, 4 times
FT attempts: 6, Montana State - 1/5/17