Eastern Washington men hope difficult nonconference schedule pays dividends during Big Sky play

If Eastern Washington had to lose early this season, then at least it was going to learn something from those defeats.

That was the logical approach head coach David Riley preached to his men’s basketball team and staff as the Eagles navigated a nonconference schedule populated with teams like Utah (8-2), No. 25 Ole Miss (10-0), Cincinnati (8-2), Stanford (5-4), Washington State (8-2) and USC (5-5) – each of which the Eagles lost to on the road.

Considering that, the Eagles’ 4-6 record heading into Thursday’s game at Washington (7-3) probably doesn’t say all that much about Eastern’s chances of repeating as Big Sky regular-season champions.

If anything, the Eagles are probably better equipped to win the conference again because of the difficult schedule.

“It’s definitely disappointing to have a losing record, but all the losses we’ve taken, we’ve learned something from it,” junior forward Cedric Coward said last week. “Obviously, we would rather learn from wins.

“But, having these lessons to teach us, whether it’s defensively, something on our offense, something with rebounding, turnovers, it’s always a lesson being taught each game, something to shore up.”

A difficult, road-heavy schedule has been the norm for the Eagles all three years under Riley, somewhat by necessity because teams aren’t all that inclined to play at Reese Court.

Eastern’s only two home games this season have been against non-Division I opponents, and the Eagles won both handily, beating Walla Walla University 97-46 on Nov. 22 and Portland Bible College 103-34 on Dec. 13.

Eastern will play more regularly at home from here on, as it begins conference play Dec. 28 and Dec. 30 against Portland State and Sacramento State, respectively, in Cheney.

The Eagles aren’t done with their nonconference schedule, either.

They will visit South Dakota on Jan. 3 and host North Dakota State on Jan. 6 as part of the inaugural Big Sky Summit Challenge, which features men’s and women’s teams from both conferences the first week of January.

Although the Eagles have grown accustomed to playing tough schedules, this year’s is particularly rigorous. ESPN, for example, ranks it as the 11th-most difficult in all of Division I.

“We know that if we can take something from every game and get better, the results will eventually follow,” Eagles junior forward Ethan Price said. “It’s been tough, especially losing so many games early on. But I think we went through that last year, and we were able to be successful when conference (games) came around.”

And it hasn’t been all losses. The Eagles are on a three-game winning streak, which includes Monday’s 62-53 win over Cal Poly, the victory over Portland Bible College and a 73-68 victory over Air Force (7-4) on Dec. 9.

“We know we were getting better those first seven games,” Riley said, “so I think for us to go get a win at a team (Air Force) that had won six in a row, and won some really good games, for us to come back and get that one on the road just sets the tone that we’re going to be just fine.

“It’s a statement to the Big Sky, honestly, to let them know we’re here. We’re still going to be around.”

When compared to their conference peers, the Eagles have fared, at least statistically, well in a number of categories. They rank second behind Idaho State in field-goal percentage (47.8), first in 3-point shooting (34.9) and first in assists by a wide margin (18.8 per game, four more than any other Big Sky team).

They have also relied on their depth more than most Big Sky teams. Coward, their leading scorer (12.7 points per game) leads the Eagles in minutes per game (26), but that ranks him 25th in the conference.

Sharing minutes has allowed players to build familiarity and chemistry with each other.

Coward said many players are learning new roles this year versus last – he, for example, is handling the ball more and playing the part of a floor general – and the team is adjusting accordingly.

“Everybody’s improved,” Coward said. “Last year at this time to this year at this time, everybody’s improved.”

That’s the game-by-game improvement Riley has talked about each of the past three seasons, because the end goal is the same – for the Eagles to be playing their best ball in March.

“Right now I feel like we’ve got nine (healthy) guys who can compete,” Riley said, “and I’m excited about what we’ve got coming.”