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Eastern Washington University Basketball

Eastern Washington, Idaho to play men’s-women’s doubleheaders this season

In this Jan 31, 2015 file photo, Eastern Washington's Bogdan Bliznyuk (32) grabs a rebound against Idaho during a college basketball game on Saturday, , in Cheney, Wash. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)

The Eastern Washington-Idaho basketball rivalry just got bigger.

The Eagles and Vandals will play a pair of men’s and women’s double-headers this winter, in Cheney on Jan. 12 and in Moscow Feb. 9, the schools announced Tuesday.

“I want to thank all of the head coaches from Eastern and Idaho for making this happen,” Eastern athletic director Bill Chaves said. “I think this could become a great tradition for the future.”

On both nights, the women’s game will start at 5 p.m., with the men’s contest following at about 7:30 p.m.

All four teams made it to national postseason tournaments last year.

The EWU men (22-12 overall) reached the College Basketball Invitational and the Vandals (19-14) took part in the College Insider Tournament. Both teams lost in the semifinals of the Big Sky Conference Tournament.

The Idaho women made the deepest postseason run, reaching the Women’s Basketball Invitational quarterfinals. Along the way, the Vandals (19-15) knocked off Eastern (19-14) in a second-round game in Cheney.

The Eastern men are 7-2 against Idaho since the Vandals rejoined the Big Sky, but trail 54-30 in the all-time series.

The Idaho women hold a 33-31 series lead.