Week ahead
EWU Eagles
Thursday: at Montana State, 6
Saturday: at Montana, 6:30Outlook: It’s proving time for the Eagles – the next four games are against the four Big Sky teams with winning records, starting with the Montana road trip. MSU, the preseason favorite, is starting to find itself after a shaky start, with seven wins in the last 10 games. Ja’Ron Jefferson leads MSU at 15.7 ppg, with Marvin Moss at 11.3 and a team-high 6.5 rebounds. The Bobcats shoot a conference-best 40 percent from behind the 3-point arc, making 9.16 a game.
Montana beat Eastern three times last year. Yakima native Andrew Strait’s 65.5 shooting percentage – fourth in the nation – boosts the Grizzlies, who average 79.4 ppg. Strait, a 6-8 sophomore, leads the team in scoring at 17.6, which is second in the Big Sky, and rebounding (6.2). Kevin Criswell, with 1,429 points, is fifth on the career Grizzlies list and is averaging 15.6 this season.
Gonzaga Bulldogs
Saturday: vs. Portland, 5
Outlook: The seventh-ranked Bulldogs, coming off a sweep of their recent road trip to San Diego and San Francisco, open a much-needed four-game homestand against a Portland team that has been all over the board.
The Pilots, who are led by the veteran backcourt trio of Pooh Jeter, Darren Cooper and Donald Wilson, dropped five of their first six games but came back to beat both Oregon State and Oregon of the Pacific-10 Conference – and by comfortable margins, at that.
They have lost four of their six WCC games, however, with both wins coming in overtime.
Jeter leads UP in scoring with an average of 18.1 points per game, followed by Cooper at 13. But there is a chance the Pilots might be without Cooper, who missed Monday’s 78-68 road loss to San Diego with a recurring toe injury. The 6-3 senior, a third-year transfer from Eastern Washington University, is listed as day to day.
Idaho Vandals
Saturday: vs. Boise State, 2
Monday: at Fresno State, 7
Outlook: The Vandals (3-13, 0-5 WAC) entertain the struggling Broncos (9-8, 2-4) Saturday. BSU has dropped four of its last six entering tonight’s home date with Nevada. Idaho coach Leonard Perry is 0-8 against BSU, which hasn’t lost to Idaho since the 2000-01 season, when Dave Farrar was the Vandals’ coach. BSU’s Coby Karl ranks second in the WAC in free-throw percentage (85.4), third in 3-pointers (2.24 per game), fourth in assists (4.29) and ninth in scoring (15.5).
Idaho hasn’t faced Fresno State since 1982. Forward Quinton Hosley was the WAC player of the week after averaging 26.5 points and 11.5 rebounds last week. Fresno State is the top scoring team (74.6) in the WAC, but also allows the most points (75.7).
WSU Cougars
Today: at Stanford, 7
Saturday: at California, 3
Outlook: The Cougars are taking to the road with hopes of ending a four-game losing streak. WSU put together its best game of the year at Stanford last season, and the Cardinal look much the same this year, led by seniors Chris Hernandez at point guard and Matt Haryasz at power forward. Stanford has come on of late after struggling badly earlier in the season.
California is much improved thanks to the return of All-Pac-10 performer Leon Powe, who missed all of last season with a knee injury. The power forward leads the conference in rebounds and is second in points, meaning Cougars post players – who have struggled of late – must come up big in the Bay Area.