Week ahead
Eastern Washington Eagles
Saturday: at Cal State Fullerton, 2:05 p.m.
Outlook: The Titans beat the Eagles the past two seasons, including 70-68 last year in Cheney when Jermaine Harper hit a game-winning 3-pointer with 4 seconds left in OT. EWU is 3-0 against the Big West, beating Northridge and Riverside on the road and Cal Poly at home. Bobby Brown, a 6-foot-2 junior point guard, leads the Titans at 17.6 points and 3.9 assists. Jermaine Harper, a 6-7 forward, averages 17.1 points and 8.1 rebounds.
Gonzaga Bulldogs
Saturday: at Loyola Marymount, 3 p.m. (ABC)
Monday: at Pepperdine, 9 p.m. (ESPN2)
Outlook: The fifth-ranked Bulldogs face another difficult road trip, their last of the regular season, with a chance to clinch their fifth consecutive West Coast Conference title. First up is second-place Loyola Marymount, the only team still with a chance to overtake the Zags. The Lions, following a tacky 4-11 start under first-year coach Rodney Tention, have matured into one of the WCC’s most balanced teams. They are one of the few teams that can match GU’s inside muscle and perimeter firepower. Pepperdine remains an unpredictable and inconsistent team. The Waves aren’t as athletic as they have been in recent years and they’ve battled injuries all winter. The latest player to go down is freshman point guard and scoring leader Michael Gerrity, who missed last Saturday’s overtime loss to LMU with a stress reaction in his foot.
Idaho Vandals
Saturday: at Montana State, 6 p.m.
Monday: vs. Nevada, 1 p.m.
Wednesday: vs. Hawaii, 7 p.m.
Outlook: The Vandals are in the midst of a busy stretch with four games in eight days. Montana State has clinched a spot in the six-team Big Sky tournament. The Bobcats are 10-2 at home. Ja’Ron Jefferson averages 15.2 points and Casey Durham, son of coach Mick Durham, has the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the conference. Nevada, which routed Idaho 70-44 a month ago, has won six straight to take over first in the WAC. Nick Fazekas (21.3) leads the conference in scoring. Hawaii is 12-2 at home, 1-7 on the road. Hawaii has a towering front line with 6-9 Julian Sensley (17.3 ppg, 5.6 rpg), 6-8 Ahmet Gueye (12.1 ppg, 7.6 rpg) and former North Idaho College standout Matt Gipson (7.8 ppg, 6.3 rpg), a 6-9 senior. The Warriors beat Idaho 81-61 earlier this month.
Washington State Cougars
Today: at Oregon State, 7 p.m.
Saturday: at Oregon, 1 p.m.
Outlook: WSU hasn’t won a game on this road trip since January 1998, but it’ll have to find a way this week as these two games – or at least one of them – looks like a must-have in order to keep the Cougars at or better than .500. WSU lost to Oregon State thanks to a lackluster effort in Pullman, perhaps because that game came on the heels of a crushing home loss to the Ducks when Malik Hairston hit two 3-pointers in the finals seconds to turn a certain win into a two-point loss. Tonight in Corvallis, the trick will be to slow down guard Chris Stephens, who lit up the Cougars last time but has struggled since. The same can be said for the Beavers as a whole, who have lost all six games since the Cougars game.