Eastern Washington men try to ‘stay in the moment’ as team approaches record for most consecutive wins as a Division I program
After extending its winning streak to double digits with a pair of road victories last week, the Eastern Washington men’s basketball team plays at home at 6 p.m. Thursday seeking an 11th consecutive win.
A victory over Idaho State would match the program’s longest winning streak as a Division I program – a mark the Eagles set in 2004 – and another victory Saturday against Weber State would give them the record outright.
“We celebrate it,” EWU coach David Riley said Tuesday. “We talked about it after the (last) win. But we’re trying to stay in the moment as much as we can and focus on going 1-0.”
Riley, in his second year as the team’s head coach, has led the Eagles (14-7 overall) to a program-best 8-0 start to conference play with victories over all but the upcoming conference foes, the Bengals and Wildcats.
Idaho State (7-13, 4-3) has won as many games overall as it did last year and is just one victory shy of matching its Big Sky total from a year ago. Ryan Looney, a Central Valley graduate, is in his fourth year coaching the Bengals and is looking to lead them to their second winning record during his tenure.
Weber State, which will play at Idaho (8-13, 2-6) on Thursday before visiting the Eagles on Saturday afternoon in Cheney, is 10-10 overall but 5-2 in Big Sky play, coming off victories over Sacramento State and Portland State last weekend.
Since conference play began, the Eagles lead the Big Sky in shooting at 51.4% and also from 3-point range (38.3%). A big reason for their winning streak – which began Dec. 17 with a victory over UC Davis – is that the Eagles can rely on so many shooters.
Had he played the requisite minutes, sophomore Cedric Coward would be leading the Big Sky in shooting at 67.5% (54 of 80).
Of the Eagles’ eight players averaging the most minutes, only Deon Stroud (37.7%) is making less than 42% of his shots.
Each of those eight are legitimate threats to make 3-pointers.
No other team in the conference has made as many overall this season as the Eagles (183 of 519).
Sophomore Steele Venters has made 36.6% of his 3-point attempts.
Although teams have been keying on him all season, Riley said Venters’ overall play has improved.
“He’s embraced physicality. He’s embraced setups off the ball. He’s more patient,” Riley said.
Sometimes, all teammates need to do is look at Venters for him to draw a double-team, Riley said, and that has opened up easier baskets for everyone else.
Adjusting to opposing defenses early in games has been crucial, Riley said, because as teams try to slow down the Eagles’ offense they are sometimes veering from their normal sets.
“It seems like teams will either try something new against us defensively or scrap something and do something new 5 or 10 minutes into the game,” Riley said. “We’ve got to be able to read and react.
“With our shooting and our size across the board, I think it messes with teams, and they’ve got to do some different things defensively.”
During Big Sky play this season, Idaho State and Weber State have defended the 3 better than any other team besides Montana State. Including shots inside the arc, the Wildcats have the conference’s lowest opponent field-goal percentage (40.5%); the Bengals rank sixth among the conference’s 10 teams in that category (43.9%).
EWU women seek fifth straight win
The EWU women’s basketball team is looking to extend a four-game winning streak this week when it visits Idaho State on Thursday and Weber State on Saturday.
The Eagles (12-6, 5-3) have surged into third place in the Big Sky standings. Idaho State (8-10, 3-4) and Weber State (4-15, 0-7) are on losing streaks of four and 11 games, respectively.
Jaydia Martin, a sophomore, leads the Eagles in scoring at 15.9 points per game and ranks fifth in the conference.
Fifth-year senior Jamie Loera ranks second in the Big Sky in assists per game (5.0) and has the most steals (46).
During their four-game winning streak, the Eagles have won by an average margin of 15.5 points.