Washington State, Eastern Washington meet at Arena in search of win to rebound from disappointing starts

When the men’s basketball teams of Eastern Washington and Washington State take to the Spokane Arena court at 7 p.m. Wednesday, both will be looking to prove they’re better than their overall records .

The Eagles, at 2-8 overall, can point to their lack of home games (just two, both victories) and a difficult slate of road contests. The Cougars, at 3-8 overall and 2-3 at home, can’t make quite the same argument. But they can point to difficulties scoring points and minimizing turnovers.

For both, a victory over a regional rival would be a boost, even if the Big Sky Conference’s Eagles have more to gain than the West Coast Conference’s Cougars do.

“We’re perceived as their little brother, and they don’t have to play this game, because they don’t have as much to gain from it,” EWU second-year head coach Dan Monson said. “But it’s exciting for us to play somebody who is in our area who is recognized as the better program, and we have a chance to take a swing and see if it lands.”

This will be the seventh matchup between the two programs since the start of the 2020-21 season. Five of those games were played in Pullman, with the Eagles winning there twice.

The Cougars claimed decisive victories in the two games previously played at Spokane Arena, 96-81 last year and 82-56 in 2022. In that later matchup, David Riley, now WSU’s coach, was the head coach at EWU. A handful of players who made the move from Cheney to Pullman when Riley did so actually played those two Arena games in different jerseys.

None of those players remain s now at WSU, though four members of Riley’s current Cougars coaching staff were with him at Eastern – plus former EWU player Rylan Bergersen, who now serves as WSU’s director of player personnel.

In the present, the Eagles are looking to earn their second victory over a Division I opponent (Kansas City is the only DI team they’ve beaten) after a string of losses, many of them close, to teams from more prestigious conferences.

Eastern is also trying to become the second Big Sky team to defeat the Cougars this season: Idaho beat WSU 83-81 on Nov. 3.

Washington State is trying to stop its current losing streak at five games. The Cougars have the worst overall record among WCC teams and are averaging 75.3 points per game, eighth most in the 12-team league and nearly four points less than WSU averaged last season.

WSU is also last in the WCC in average turnover margin (-2.73) and in assist-to-turnover ratio (.90).