Eagles have all their weapons

One thing’s for sure: This week’s road trip will not define the Eastern Washington basketball season.

That’s already happened, in the form of 21 wins – the most in modern school history – a 13-2 record at Reese Court and a strong run at the Big Sky Conference regular-season title.

But the bar keeps rising, and the Eagles have lost three of their last five games to fall a game out of first place with two games left. Eastern (21-8, 12-4 Big Sky) still has a shot to host next week’s conference tournament but needs to win out and hope for help from other teams.

What matters most to the Eagles is regaining their form ahead of next week’s conference tournament. To that end, playing with cohesion tonight at Idaho State and Saturday at Weber State may be more important than winning the games.

One good sign: The Eagles are finally whole, recovered from injuries that sidelined guard Tyler Harvey and forward Venky Jois for much of the season. That in turn has helped the chemistry at practice, which should pay off when it matters most – in March.

Hayford said his team has practiced well this week.

“We just have to keep getting better,” Hayford said. “We’ve had our team playing and practicing together for the last 10 days and we just have to get cohesion.”

The biggest concern of late is the Eagles’ slumping long-range shooting game, which has gone five games without surpassing 40 percent. Harvey was only 2 for 8 from 3-point range in last week’s 77-76 home loss to Montana.

“Tyler is going to start shooting better,” Hayford said of the national scoring leader (22.8 points a game), who has struggled to regain his form as he recovers from a thigh bruise suffered in mid-January.

“He has had a tough last four or five games,” Hayford said. “When we get him up to the percentages he has showed all year then he is going to help us win.”

Until he does – incredibly, in its last eight games, EWU is 2-3 with Harvey in the lineup and 3-0 without him – the Eagles won’t be able to spread the floor and open things up for the drive game. Jois got off only seven shots against Montana and finished with 10 points.

But if the shots are dropping this week and the Eagles recapture the form that captured the nation’s attention two months ago, this could be a defining week for the future.

“I truly believe with each day we have together as a full squad, we will improve greatly for a strong end to our season,” Hayford said.