Eastern settles in for 6-game stretch

Kirk Earlywine would like to think that his Eastern Washington University men’s basketball team plays better at home than on the road, but he doesn’t have enough data available to draw such a conclusion.

“It’s hard to tell, really,” said the Eagles’ first-year head coach, “because we’ve only had two (home games) so far, and one of those was five weeks ago.”

Eastern (3-8) has played nine of its first 11 games on the road, with a couple of them coming against ranked opponents in ultrahostile environments. But this evening, the Eagles return to Reese Court for a 7:05 non-conference matchup against NAIA opponent Cascade College (5-4) that will serve as the opener of a welcomed six-game homestand that will span the calendar change.

“It’s been tough – not only being on the road, but because of the caliber of competition that we were playing, ” Earlywine said of his team’s early-season travels, which have taken them to Anchorage for the Great Alaska Shootout, to Pullman to play No. 7-ranked Washington State and to Manhattan, Kan., to take on third-ranked Kansas. “So, yeah, it’s nice to be back home.

“But I’ve tried to caution our guys, just as I did before our Riverside and Santa Clara (home games), that just being at home isn’t going to cure the things that we haven’t been doing well.”

Earlywine also noted that the baskets at Reese Court aren’t any bigger than the ones on the road, which doesn’t bode well for an Eastern team that is shooting only 37.1 percent (205 of 552) from the field.

Since holding off UC Riverside 59-51 in their home opener on Nov. 15, the Eagles have played once at Reese Court, losing to Santa Clara 66-57 on Nov. 29. They shot just 33.3 percent (15 of 45) in their sloppy win over Riverside, but came back to shoot 40.8 percent (20 of 49) in their loss to SCU in a game in which Earlywine felt they played quite well.

“We had a 2 1/2-minute stretch to begin the second half (against Santa Clara) where we got outscored 10-0, but other than that I thought we were okay,” Earlywine said. “Hopefully, we learned a valuable lesson in that game in that we can’t afford to have stretches like that against anyone. We simply don’t have enough firepower to give a team 10 or 12 points and still come back and win.”

Following tonight’s game, Eastern will entertain Portland on Monday before opening Big Sky play against Portland State on Dec. 22. UC Santa Barbara will travel to Reese Court Dec. 29 for another non-conference clash before the Eagles resume conference play with home games against Northern Arizona (Jan. 3) and Sacramento State (Jan. 5).

Earlywine, who has continuously stressed the importance of getting his team prepared for conference play, likes the idea of opening the Big Sky portion of his schedule with three straight home games, but not necessarily because of any perceived home-court advantage.

“The biggest advantage for us, really, is that we have a better practice situation at home than we do on the road,” he said, noting that three of the transfer players on his roster won’t become eligible until next season and can’t – under NCAA rules – travel with the team. “The intensity level of our practices and the number of bodies we have to work with is much greater at home.

“So, in that regard, being at home for six consecutive games is a huge advantage, simply because I think we can get more out of our practice than when we travel. There’s really very little with can get done on the road.”