New-look EWU basketball ready to take on Big Sky, beginning with Montana: ‘Our season starts Thursday.’

Eastern Washington will begin the Big Sky men’s basketball season on Thursday as an enigma, for a number of reasons.

One of them has become familiar: Will so few comparable opponents on their nonconference schedule, the Eagles’ 4-9 record isn’t terribly instructive. They beat Seattle University, North Dakota and two NAIA schools, while losing mostly to teams from bigger, more celebrated conferences.

Another reason is the lack of continuity from last year’s roster. The team’s two most prominent returners from last year are sophomores Sebastian Hartmann and Mason Williams, but neither were starters on that Big Sky championship team.

Then there’s the change in coach, from David Riley to Dan Monson, plus a near overhaul of the coaching staff.

All that is to say, Thursday’s 6 p.m. game at Reese Court against Montana – and the 17 other Big Sky regular season games to follow – will say more about this Eastern Washington team than any of the 13 games the Eagles have played so far.

“The next two days will be huge,” redshirt freshman Emmett Marquardt said Monday after the Eagles’ 89-63 victory over Eastern Oregon. “There are still things we need to work on, but deep down we’re ready to go.”

Offensively, redshirt junior Nic McClain (14.8 points per game) and senior Andrew Cook (16.9) have emerged as Eastern’s clear top two scorers, as one of those two has led the team in scoring in all but two games this season (Marquardt did Monday, and Hartmann did against Lincoln University on Dec. 21).

Still, Williams (11.6 points per game) and Hartmann (11.3) have become reliable double-digit scorers, and Marquardt has scored at least 10 points in six of his last seven games.

As a team the Eagles have averaged 76.1 points per game, sixth in the 10-team Big Sky, right behind Montana (76.4).

Defensively, though, the Eagles rank last in the league in points per game allowed (78.9), a weakness that prompted Monson to simplify the team’s approach.

“Usually your defense is set at Christmas. You have an identity,” Monson said. “We’re still searching for that. But I think we’re heading in the right direction.”

Monson said the team’s defense and rebounding – Eastern’s margin there is negative-4.2 – aren’t where they need to be, and he was disappointed that those aspects were not better Monday.

“We’re back to square zero,” Monson said. “We’ve made some improvements, but not enough.”

Part of the team’s rebounding issues stem from their relative lack of size and experience inside. Though he is 6-foot-9, Marquardt isn’t a true 5, Monson said, yet that’s where he’s had to play much of this season.

The Eagles have given minutes to other forwards like sophomore Vice Zanki (20.9 per game), grad transfer Pavlo Dziuba (6.1) and redshirt freshman Jackson Seale (5.7), but so far the team’s preference has clearly been to utilize Marquardt there. The return of junior forward Angelo Winkel could help, Monson said.

Those are questions that are likely to linger into the Big Sky season. But now with a slate of comparable teams filling out the rest of the schedule, Eastern gets to show its true quality against familiar programs, each of whom is seeking to win the conference tournament in March so as to secure the Big Sky’s automatic – and lone – bid to the NCAA Tournament.

“Our season starts Thursday,” Monson said.