Kiree Huie enjoying time with Eagles after circuitous college basketball journey

Ten days ago, at the midpoint of the Big Sky Conference’s men’s basketball season, the Eastern Washington Eagles were not in a great spot.

They were coming off back-to-back road losses to two of the three teams below the Eagles in the standings and were facing a road trip to Montana – against two of the top three teams in the league standings – at the start of the final nine Big Sky regular season games.

But then, last weekend, the Eagles defeated the Grizzlies by eight points in Missoula, and two nights later they edged the Bobcats by a point to complete the Treasure State sweep, a feat Eastern last accomplished in 2022-23.

“It was two big wins,” grad senior Kiree Huie said. “I feel like it was definitely a turning point for us.”

Huie was a key contributor in the sweep, as he has been all year, grabbing 15 rebounds, scoring 25 points and making 11 of 18 shots in the two games combined.

Now the Eagles are 7-17 overall and 5-6 in Big Sky play, part of a three-way tie for fifth place in the Big Sky standings, with home games against Idaho State (10-15, 3-9) on Thursday and Weber State (12-13, 6-6) on Saturday. The Eagles will play five of their final seven regular season games at Reese Court in Cheney.

Thursday’s game will be Huie’s second this season against Idaho State, one of the three former teams on the 6-foot-9 forward’s resume.

While some might read that resume – with now four programs listed in Huie’s five years of college basketball – and see a journeyman looking for a greener pasture, Huie offers reasons for each of his transfers.

And the Eagles, who recognized a significant need to add a post player last offseason, are quite pleased to have Huie with them this year – and possibly for one more.

“That’s probably more an old adage, where it’s a red flag when a guy has jumped around,” EWU associate head coach Ryan Lundgren said. “The reality is, you’re going to have a lot of guys who jump around year to year, and there are a lot of factors in that.”

Lundgren listed a few of those: coaching changes, conference realignment and the transfer portal.

“There’s so much going on in the college ecosystem that leads to guys transferring,” Lundgren said.

Out of Liberty High School in Henderson, Nevada, Huie said he had an offer from a Western Athletic Conference program but that it was rescinded when that coaching staff landed a commitment from a Division I transfer. He ended up at Odessa College in Texas, where he played in 34 games and averaged 6.4 points and 3.6 rebounds as a freshman and then 10.6 points and 5.9 rebounds as a sophomore.

Odessa was good that second year, reaching the Elite Eight in the NJCAA National Tournament. Evan Eustachy, an assistant coach on that Odessa team, accepted a similar position on Ryan Looney’s Idaho State staff in 2023, and Huie followed him to Pocatello. Huie started 32 games that year and ranked fifth in the Big Sky with 40 blocks.

But then Huie saw a handful of his ISU teammates leaving after that season, and he decided to do the same. Weighing offers from Ole Miss and Miami, Huie chose the latter for the 2024-25 season.

“I really fell in love with Miami and the culture when I came on a visit,” Huie said. “It was a lot of love from the coaching staff and the people there.”

Yet in December of that season, longtime Miami head coach Jim Larrañaga retired, and Huie – who hadn’t played in a game yet – made his debut in a game at Duke on Jan. 14 and ended up playing 14 games when he was in line, potentially, to redshirt.

In light of the midseason coaching change, Huie decided to enter the transfer portal.

“From a school standpoint, and mentally, moving your entire life, it was getting tiring,” said Huie, who grew up in Philadelphia but moved to Georgia and then Nevada during his high school years. “But I just wanted to do what was the best for me basketball-wise.”

Along the way, Huie has completed a business degree and is on track to finish a master’s program this spring at Eastern. And on the basketball court, he’s been a huge help to the Eagles.

“He’s played significant minutes at the Division I level and has had success,” Lundgren said. “He’s a proven big guy, and those are hard to find at our level. He’s provided us with interior presence on both sides of the ball and has been great in the locker room. He’s a modest kid, and teammates respect him.”

Huie’s 27 blocks rank second in the league, and in points per game he ranks 17th at 12.6.

He is also hoping that an appeal for another year of eligibility will be approved by the NCAA. If granted, at this point he has no intention of finding anywhere else to play.

“I would love to use that year here,” Huie said.

As for the rest of this season, Huie is optimistic that the wins in Montana have the team set on a good trajectory as it builds toward the Big Sky Tournament in early March.

“Everybody is in a good spot mentally,” he said. “Everyone has confidence.”