Four corners: EWU Eagles

Coming up: Thursday, Montana St., 6 p.m.; Saturday, Montana, 6 p.m.

Outlook: According to EWU coach Jim Hayford, “We feel like we are playing our best basketball of the season.” Good thing, because this will be one of the tougher road trips of the season. Montana State is only 7-11, but three of the Bobcats’ conference losses are by seven points or fewer. MSU guard Tyler Hall averages 17.8 points and 5.7 rebounds. The main challenge awaits on Saturday in Missoula, where last year’s Eagles capped the best season in school history by winning the Big Sky Tournament. The preseason favorite is living up to the billing, though the Griz just escaped with a four-point win last weekend at North Dakota. Martin Breunig (18.2 ppg, 9.3 rpg) already has two Big Sky Player of the Week honors. The Eagles shot 57 percent last weekend, with forward Venky Jois getting 45 points on 21-of-28 shooting. Under the Big Sky’s unbalanced-schedule format, this will be the Eagles’ only meeting with the Montana schools.

EWU leaders

Scoring: Austin McBroom, 19.4 ppg

Rebounding: Venky Jois, 8.4 rpg

Assists: McBroom, 3.4 apg

@srjimallen