Big Sky-ready Eagles rout Vandals
There were numerous signs of trouble for Idaho’s men’s basketball team in the first half.
Eastern Washington led by seven and every starter had scored except Rodney Stuckey, last year’s Big Sky Conference MVP. Kellen Williams broke his season high for points – with 3:30 left.
The Vandals trailed by 21 and needed a banked 3-pointer from the top of the key to snap a 4-minute, 45-second dry spell. They missed 6 of 9 free throws and committed 11 turnovers.
It added up to a first-half mismatch and eventually to EWU’s record-setting 85-56 non-conference victory Thursday in front of 1,782 at Reese Court.
EWU (6-6) set records for its most points scored and its largest margin of victory in the 48-game series history with Idaho (1-10). The Eagles tuned up for next week’s Big Sky openers with the Montana schools by shooting 52.3 percent, piling up 28 assists on 34 field goals and burying 9 of 23 3-pointers.
“We had a lot more defensive energy than we had against Santa Clara and Oregon and that was good to see,” Eagles coach Mike Burns said. “We hit some shots early and kind of got on a roll and it made it easier for us.”
Idaho dropped its ninth straight game, the last eight by double digits. Guard Keoni Watson, who sprained his ankle last Saturday and wasn’t at 100 percent, managed 17 points. He was the lone Vandal in double figures.
“We thought we’d been moving in a pretty positive direction the last couple games,” UI first-year coach George Pfeifer said. “I thought we took a step back.”
The Vandals didn’t take enough steps back on defense in the first half, getting beat several times in transition. Michael Crowell once broke free for a layup only to see EWU’s Michael Taylor quickly hit a spot-up 3-pointer seconds later on the opposite end.
Idaho used a box-and-one on Stuckey, who made his first bucket midway through the first half, a three-point play that bumped EWU’s lead to 20-10. Several Eagles picked up the scoring slack, led by Williams, whose previous season high was 13 points. Williams’ layup with 3:30 left gave him 15 points and EWU a 20-point bulge.
“Everybody guards us as a one-man team, but Rodney’s got a good supporting cast around him,” said EWU guard Omar Krayem, who had nine points and eight assists. “Kellen was huge and it was just a whole team effort. In conference a lot of teams are going to try to stop Rodney and people are going to have to step up and make shots.”
EWU’s shots got easier in the second half. Watson scored the first bucket of the half, but the Eagles answered with three consecutive Paul Butorac dunks. EWU had six dunks in the second half and eight for the game.
Williams scored a career-high 24 points and quickly exited the locker room to catch a flight to Seattle for the holiday break. Stuckey added 16 points and seven steals.
The 56 points was a season-low for an EWU opponent.
“When we give effort, we can be very good defensively,” Burns said. “If we get out and get after people we can create some turnovers and that just gets us rolling on offense.”
Idaho struggled at both ends of the floor. Watson displayed some offensive initiative, but he committed five of the Vandals’ 23 turnovers. No other Vandal had more than two field goals.
“If you look at our first offensive possession (a made 3-pointer) and first defensive possession (a missed 3 by EWU), that’s what we wanted to do,” Pfeifer said. “Then we came down the floor on three straight possessions and it was one pass, no pass and two pass and we shot it and they raced back down the floor and it was on.”