WCC’s slate expands to 16

College basketball: The addition of Brigham Young means the West Coast Conference will play more conference basketball games (16 instead of 14) and start earlier (late December instead of early January), the WCC announced Friday.

Gonzaga’s men will open WCC play at home against Portland on Dec. 28. The Gonzaga-BYU showdowns will be Feb. 2 in Provo and Feb. 23 in Spokane. BYU thumped Gonzaga 89-67 to eliminate the Bulldogs from the NCAA tournament last season.

Gonzaga’s games against Saint Mary’s will be Jan. 12 in Moraga and Feb. 9 in Spokane. GU has won 11 consecutive WCC regular-season titles, sharing last year’s with the Gaels.

Jim Meehan

Eagles set first fall scrimmage

College football: Eastern Washington’s defending NCAA Division I football championship team will hold its first scrimmage of fall camp this afternoon at 3:30 at Roos Field.

 The scrimmage, open to the public and free, promises to be highly competitive as the Eagles prepare for their Sept. 3 season opener against the Washington Huskies in Seattle.

Anderson wins WUG hurdles

Track and field: Jeshua Anderson won the gold medal in the men’s 400-meter hurdles at the World University Games in Shenzhen, China.

Anderson, a Washington State senior last year, finished in 49.03 seconds, nearly one-half second ahead of runner-up Takayuki Kishimoto of Japan.

Anderson may run for another medal today in the 1,600 relay. The U.S. men’s coach is James Li, a former assistant at WSU and the coach of Cougars alum Bernard Lagat.