College Basketball Tonight
Idaho at Weber State
The Vandals (1-2 Big Sky, 7-8 overall), looking for their first road win, visit Weber State (2-2, 9-7) at 6:35 p.m PST at the Dee Events Center in Ogden, Utah.
At a glance
Idaho is getting production from four starters - Mark Leslie, Shawn Dirden, Harry Harrison and Nate Gardner. “For us to get better, we have to get the 5-through-8 (players) to score more,” UI coach Joe Cravens said, “and they may not be capable of doing that.” The candidates are Ben Johnson, Todd Spike, Chad Coates and James Jones. None have been up to the chore yet. “JJ (Jones) had one of his best practices on Tuesday,” Cravens said.
Weber State has defeated UI six straight times. The Wildcats have outside shooters in Jimmy DeGraffenried and Lewis Lofton, a former North Idaho College standout. They have a powerful guard in Ruben Nembhard, who scores most of his points on drives or rebound conversions. He leads Big Sky guards in rebounding at 5.3 per game. And Kirk Smith (11.8 points, 10.4 rebounds) is Weber’s equivalent to Harrison.
“We can’t let it be a race-horse type game,” Cravens said. “They score a lot of easy baskets, putbacks and layups, that we have to prevent.”
Idaho: Harrison, 13.8 ppg, 11.2 rpg; Leslie, 13.1 ppg, 3.7 apg; Dirden, 10 ppg. Weber State: Nembhard, 20.3 ppg; DeGraffenried, 15.6 ppg; Smith, 11.8 ppg, 10.4 rpg.
Radio: KVNI (1080 AM) Coeur d’Alene; KRPL (1400 AM) Moscow, and other stations on the Vandal network.
EWU at Northern Arizona
The Eastern Washington Eagles (0-3 Big Sky,
3-11) travel to Flagstaff to play the improved Lumberjacks (2-2, 5-10) in a Big Sky Conference game tonight at 6:35 PST.
At a glance
After an official’s error helped keep Northern Arizona from upsetting Boise State last Friday in Boise, the Lumberjacks try to ease the pain at home. They should get help from EWU, loser of 24 straight conference games and 41 straight road games. The Eagles can end both streaks with a victory in Flagstaff - site of EWU’s last road win (95-79, on Feb. 16, 1991).
“We gotta start doing some things,” Eagles coach John Wade said, detailing fundamental lapses in his team’s most recent loss, 73-62 at Idaho on Saturday. “It’s no secret what’s going on out there. You don’t have to be Einstein to coach; you just gotta start doing some things.” Three things EWU’s gotta do to beat NAU tonight: reverse the recent trend of being outrebounded; get increased production from forward Craig Stinnett, who had 27 points and 15 rebounds in two games against NAU last season, but has yet to earn substantial playing time this season; and keep getting the ball to dynamic off-guard Curtis Porter.
Eastern: Kevin Groves, 12.9 points per game; Josh Lewis, 11.2 ppg; Porter, 10.2 ppg; D’mitri Ridout, 9.7 ppg; Melvin Lewis, 8.3 ppg, 7.6 rpg. NAU: Brad Snyder, 14.4 ppg, 4.3 rpg; John Rondeno, 12.0 ppg, 4.4 rpg.
Radio: KSBN (1230 AM).
Whitworth at Northwest, PLU
The Pirates (4-2 NCIC, 13-6) travel to Kirkland to play Northwest College for a 7 p.m. non-conference contest tonight. They head to Tacoma to play the Lutes (1-5, 7-12) at 8 Friday.
At a glance
The Pirates moved up one spot, to No. 7, in the NAIA Division II rankings.
Don’t be deceived by PLU’s unimpressive record. Last week, PLU lost to Linfield, 73-71, and the NCIC second-place Willamette Bearcats, 78-72.
Earlier this month, the Pirates beat the Lutes 112-76 at the Whitworth Fieldhouse. Whitworth led just 51-41 at the half.
Lutes head coach Bruce Haroldson is the dean of conference coaches with 12 seasons and 300 career wins.
The Lutes are led by 6-foot-7 senior forward Erik Peterson, who is averaging 16.7 points per game, and Matt Ashworth’s eight rebounds per contest.
Nate Dunham and Kevin Wright provide the offense for the Pirates, averaging 17.8 and 17.3 points, respectively. They are Nos. 4 and 5 among league scorers.