EWU Eagles
Coming up: Saturday vs. Idaho, 2:05 p.m.
Outlook: In the first repeat matchup of the Big Sky Conference season, Eastern hopes to solidify its spot atop the standings with another win over the Vandals. Locked in a virtual three-way tie with Montana and Sacramento State, the Eagles need to hold serve at home – hoping that forward Venky Jois is in the lineup. Jois was practicing at full speed Tuesday, almost two weeks after suffering a sprained ankle Jan. 15 at Portland State. Jois (18.0 ppg, 7.5 rpg) was a big presence in EWU’s 89-86 win Jan 10 in Moscow, with 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field with five rebounds, six blocked shots and three assists. Still, the Eagles are 3-1 without Jois in the lineup, getting big games out of true freshman Bogdan Bliznyuk (18 ppg in his last four games). Saturday’s game will match two prolific 3-point shooters in Idaho’s Connor Hill (with a career total of 295, including 63 this season) and EWU junior Tyler Harvey (220 career and 88 this year).
Eastern Washington leaders
Scoring: Tyler Harvey, 24.0 ppg
Rebounding: Venky Jois, 7.5 rpg
Assists: Drew Brandon, 2.5 apg
@SRJimAllen
| Big Sky | Overall | |||
| W | L | W | L | |
| Sacramento St. | 7 | 1 | 13 | 6 |
| E. Washington | 6 | 1 | 15 | 5 |
| Montana | 6 | 1 | 10 | 8 |
| N. Colorado | 4 | 3 | 9 | 9 |
| N. Arizona | 4 | 3 | 9 | 11 |
| Portland St. | 4 | 4 | 10 | 8 |
| Idaho | 3 | 4 | 8 | 10 |
| Weber St. | 3 | 5 | 8 | 11 |
| N. Dakota | 2 | 5 | 6 | 12 |
| S. Utah | 2 | 5 | 5 | 13 |
| Idaho St. | 2 | 6 | 5 | 15 |
| Montana St. | 1 | 6 | 4 | 15 |