Eastern Washington reserve Ellis Magnuson a ‘difference maker’ for the program

It is easy to boil down the contributions of an individual player to a statistic.

By that line of reasoning, it would be understandable to say that Ellis Magnuson’s five-point performance last week against Northern Arizona – nearly half his point total all year – was the pinnacle of his season as the fourth player off the bench for the Eastern Washington men’s basketball team.

To be sure, making a 3-pointer and a driving layup during his 3-minute, 3-second stint on the court was a highlight for the Eagles’ redshirt junior.

“It felt really good, especially to hear support from my teammates,” Magnuson said Tuesday. “It always feels good to score and all that. Who doesn’t like scoring?”

But to teammates and coaches, the contributions of the 6-foot-2 guard are seen most in practice – and they are a significant reason why the Eagles are on a 17-game winning streak and 15-0 in Big Sky play, heading into a key late-season matchup at Weber State on Thursday in Ogden, Utah.

“I’ve honestly found he’s had more impact this year than any other year,” said EWU coach David Riley, who was an assistant for the Eagles during Magnuson’s first two years in the program. “The reality is, he’s been the difference maker for us as a program and this team.”

The arc of Magnuson’s career at Eastern has run in the opposite direction one might expect as far as playing time goes. As a freshman during the 2019-20 season, Magnuson started all 31 games, averaged 5.8 points per game and led the team with 127 assists.

Even then, he was a film rat. Riley said Magnuson would watch the whole film from every team practice that season and that he still watches a ton of film .

“He knows basketball and our system better than I do,” Riley said.

To Magnuson, it was an act of necessity. As a true freshman playing starter minutes (24.7 per game) on a 23-win team, he needed all that extra time he could get. He and Kim Aiken Jr., then a sophomore, would go into coach Shantay Legans’ office and study.

“The way we play is IQ-based, so you have to be pretty smart to be in our program,” Magnuson said. “I’d go there every day. I think that’s helped me to know what we do. … I think watching film has definitely paid off.”

The next season, 2020-21, Magnuson started 13 of 22 games, but his minutes diminished as the season went on. His scoring average (3.6) and minutes (15.7 per game) declined.

Last year, Riley’s first as head coach, Magnuson played a bit more (17 minutes per game), and his 84 assists were the second most on the team. But his scoring dropped to 2.1 points per game, and he attempted just 60 shots in 34 games, all played off the bench.

Yet throughout all that, he didn’t consider entering the transfer portal, Magnuson said. This year, he, Steele Venters and Jordan Veening – who transferred back to EWU before this season – are the only players left from the 2020-21 team that went to the NCAA Tournament.

“He loves the game and loves being part of a team,” Riley said of Magnuson. “He’s an incredible basketball player, and our program’s a lot about fit and what guys fit together at different times, and there are situations where it makes sense to have other guys on the floor.”

During many games this year, Magnuson has played stretches of the first half only to sit most, if not all, of the second half as the Eagles close out a victory. He has made 4 of 13 shots this season, including 2 of 10 3-point attempts, and has 12 assists to seven turnovers. He is also 1 for 5 at the free-throw line.

After playing 21 minutes against Santa Clara in the season opener, he played as many minutes again against Northwest Indian College, but hasn’t played more than 9:02 in a game since.

“It’s definitely different,” Magnuson said of the role change. “Basically, I would love to be out there to help my team, but it’s one of those things where we’re undefeated in conference play and we’re really successful. What’s something I can bring to the team, something I can do for the team and help us in games and practices?

“It’s all about just dominating your role, whether you play 5 minutes, 40 minutes or zero minutes. Everyone has a role, and you’ve got to dominate that.”

Which, teammates said, is precisely what Magnuson has done. Earlier this season, sophomore Cedric Coward said that some practices are harder than the games, with a nod to players like Magnuson for bringing intensity.

“We’ve got so many athletes who are go-getters – we call them dogs – just being able to play against that every day,” Coward said in January. “It’s just so competitive.”

Riley said Magnuson has learned to think like a coach, and in practices he is the leader of a scout team that includes Veening, Deon Stroud, Ty Harper, Amarion Savage and Dane Erikstrup. Their task is to give the starters the best copycat look of the next team they are facing.

“That’s almost as important as playing in games,” Magnuson said. “You’ve got to give them a good look in practice.”

In games, Magnuson is studying the game from the bench, looking for what the Eagles might be able to exploit, based on what he saw in scouting the opponent.

“It all adds up,” he said.

Magnuson still has another year of eligibility and plans to stick around to use it. He’s enjoying the winning streak like the rest of his teammates while still taking it “one step at a time,” he said.

The ultimate goal is still to win a Big Sky Conference Tournament title and to play in the NCAA Tournament again – even if he may not get any more than the 3 minutes of game time he got in the Eagles’ opening-round loss to Kansas.

“It’s been super exciting to be a part of,” he said. “There’s nothing more I can ask for in a basketball season.”