Eastern’s new horizons
Despite its struggles, the Eastern Washington men’s basketball team is making history.
For the first time the Eagles will play three Top 25 teams in the regular season by playing back-to-back games against ranked teams for the first time.
Coming off a hard-fought 83-70 loss to then-No. 13 Gonzaga last week, the Eagles (2-8) face No. 14 Arizona (8-2) tonight.
Their current six-game losing streak started with a loss at then-14th-ranked Washington.
The Arizona game is the second of the Wildcats’ Fiesta Bowl Classic at the McKale Center in Tucson and is scheduled to start at 5:30 PST. The first game is Richmond against Butler. The second day of the tourney is Thursday.
Last season was the first time the Eagles played two ranked teams in the same regular season, losing to No. 14 Oklahoma in November and to Gonzaga, which was 16th, on New Year’s Eve. Eastern added a third ranked team when it made the NCAA Tournament for the first time and faced No. 3 Oklahoma.
A 68-67 win over No. 10 St. Joseph’s to start the 2001-02 season is the only time Eastern has defeated a ranked team.
Arizona has won its tourney 19 times and has a 37-1 record, losing to Mississippi State by one in 2000. The Wildcats’ two losses this year were to Virginia and then-No. 1 Wake Forest. They are coming off a 105-75 victory over Manhattan last Tuesday after they beat Top 25 team Marquette 48-43.
The Eagles have never played Arizona, Richmond or Butler.
Despite losing for the 19th straight time to Gonzaga, Eastern showed marked improvement from its recent games.
“Coach (Mike) Burns will have us in that mindset every game from now on,” senior forward Marc Axton said after torching Gonzaga for 33 points. “He’s a good coach. He’s doing good things with the guys to keep their confidence up. We’re going to keep it going.”
The key to competing with the Wildcats, who are led by 6-foot-1 senior guard Salim Stoudamire (15.3 points per game) and 6-11 senior center Channing Frye (12.6 ppg, 9.1 rebounds), is slowing down the game.
“When you play teams like Gonzaga and Arizona you have to try to limit the number of possessions they get and try to slow the tempo,” Burns said. “We need to limit their transition baskets because they get after it and run as well as anybody in the country.
“They are extremely talented and obviously well coached. We’re dealing with one of the greatest basketball coaches ever in Lute Olson. When you combine that with talent, they are a very, very formidable foe.”
Idaho is at Eastern on Sunday to start a four-game home stand that includes the first three games of the Big Sky Conference schedule beginning next week.