No. 22 Washington vs. Eastern Washington
Time: 7 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Alaska Airlines Arena
TV: Pac-12 Networks (J.B. Long and Eldridge Recasner)
Radio: KOMO 1000 AM & 97.7 FM (Tony Castricone and Jason Hamilton)
Records: UW (6-1): EWU (4-2).
Projected starting lineups:
EWU
Player … Ht. … Yr. … PPG … RPG … APG
G Ellis Magnuson … 6-2 … Fr. … 4.8 … 1.5 … 5.2
G Casson Rouse … 6-2 … Fr. … 7.5 … 1.8 … 1.3
G Jacob Davison … 6-4 … Jr. … 16.2 … 4.3 … 2.2 (steals)
F Kim Aiken Jr. … 6-7 … So. … 14.2 … 10.8 … 1.3 (blocks)
F Mason Peatling … 6-8 … Sr. … 11.0 … 5.8 … 2.0
UW
Player … Ht … Yr … PPG … RPG … APG
G Quade Green … 6-0 … So. … 7.4 …. 3.6 … 4.4
G Nahziah Carter … 6-6 … Jr. … 14.9 … 6.7 … 2.0 (steals)
G Jamal Bey … 6-6 … So. … 5.1 …. 1.9 … 1.1 (steals)
F Jaden McDaniels … 6-9 … Fr. … 14.7 …. 5.4 … 2.7
F Isaiah Stewart … 6-9 … Fr. … 17.1 … 7.9 … 2.0 (blocks)
Coach: Shantay Legans is 40-35 in his third season with the Eagles. The 38-year-old coach took over in 2017 after spending the previous eight seasons on staff as an assistant.
Preseason prediction: Eastern Washington is the preseason Big Sky coaches’ favorite and received eight of 11 first-place votes. The Eagles were picked third among 11 teams in the conference’s preseason media poll.
Series: The Eagles are 1-15 all-time versus the Huskies with an 11-game losing streak. EWU hasn’t beaten UW since Dec. 14, 2002, and is 13-87 all-time versus the Pac-12 (3-45 as a member of DI).
Last meeting: Washington cruised to an 83-59 win over Eastern Washington on Nov. 27, 2018 behind a career-high 25-point performance from Dominic Green, who canned a personal-best seven 3-pointers.
Previous game: Eastern is coming off one of its biggest victories in school history, an 87-82 home win on Nov. 26 over mid-major power Belmont in the final game for both schools in the Gotham Classic. The Eagles had a 6-point lead (81-75) cut to one (83-82) with 1:24 left. EWU closed the game with five straight points for its second straight win.
PLAYERS TO WATCH:
— Guard Jacob Davison is Eastern’s top scorer who is shooting 44.4 percent from the field and 38.2 percent (13 of 34) on three-pointers. He tallied a season-high 26 points during a 72-68 loss at Boston College on Nov. 20, which included five 3-pointers. Davison also dropped 25 points and three 3-pointers in a 74-66 road win at Seattle University on Nov. 9.
— Forward Mason Peatling, who garnered all-Big Sky second-team honors last season, had a season-high 17 points against Belmont. The Melbourne, Australian native was sidelined a year ago with a foot injury when the Eagles were just 1-9. Since then, Eastern is 19-11 (15-9 last year, 4-2 this season) with him in the lineup.
— Forward Kim Aiken Jr. has had four double-doubles this season and has scored at least 11 points in every game. The rangy wing is a high-volume shooter who has drained five and four 3-pointers games. He was also 0 for 9 behind the arc against Seattle and was 1 for 7 downtown during the win over Belmont.
OVERVIEW:
— Eastern Washington returns three starters from last season’s team that finished 16-18 overall and was third in the Big Sky at 12-8 despite a slew of injuries early on. Once healthy, the Eagles won 8 of its last 11 games and advanced to the Big Sky Conference title game.
— EWU’s 4-2 start is its best since beginning the 2015-16 season with an 8-2 mark.
— The Eagles are 1-26 all-time against ranked teams.
— On Nov. 14, 2017, Eastern snapped a 21-game losing streak against the Pac-12 with a 67-61 victory at Stanford.
— EWU has three players who played at Seattle high schools including freshman forward Abdullahi Mohamed (West Seattle), sophomore guard Elijah Jackson (West Seattle) and senior guard Tyler Kidd (O’Dea).
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