Eagle Men's Basketball 2017-18
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EAGLE MEN’S BASKETBALL 2017-18 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2017-18 Roster ....................................Page 1 Meet the Eagles ............................................ 2 Eagle Basketball Highlights/Schedule ....... 3-5 2016-17 Review ......................................... 6-9 Shantay Legans & Assistants ................ 10-14 Season Outlook ..................................... 15-18 Player Profiles ....................................... 19-35 2017-18 Opponents ............................... 36-38 Tyler Harvey/Rodney Stuckey ............... 39-41 Eagles in the Pros ................................. 42-45 Eagle Honors ......................................... 46-52 Year-by-Year/Coaches Records ................. 53 Team and Individual Records ................ 54-57 Game, Season & Career Leaders ......... 58-62 Year-by-Year Statistical Champions ........... 63 Record versus Opponents ..................... 64-65 Letterwinners/Hall of Fame .................... 66-70 WWW.GOEAGS.COM No. Name Pos Ht Wt Yr Exp Hometown / Previous School 0 Tyler Kidd G 5-11 180 Jr. JC* Seattle, Wash. / O’Dea HS ’14 / Skagit Valley CC 2 Ty Gibson G 6-3 190 Jr. 2L Issaquah, Wash. / Issaquah HS ‘15 4 Sir Washington G 6-3 180 Sr. 3L* Las Vegas, Nevada / Clark HS ’13 5 Richard Polanco F 6-8 225 Fr. HS Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic / Army-Navy Academy ’17 10 %Jacob Davison G 6-4 175 Fr. HS* Montebello, Calif. / Cantwell-Sacred Heart HS ‘16 11 Jack Perry G 6-2 175 Fr. HS Melbourne, Australia / Camberwell Grammar School ’16 12 Grant Gibb G 6-5 185 So. 1L* Longview, Wash. / Mark Morris HS ‘15 13 ^Luka Vulikic G 6-6 190 So. 1L Belgrade, Serbia / Svetozar Markovic Jagodina HS 14 ^Mason Peatling F 6-8 220 So. 1L Melbourne, Australia / Beaconhills College HS ‘16 15 Benas Griciunas C 7-0 240 Sr. TR* Silute, Lithuania / Findlay Prep ’13 / Auburn / UNC Charlotte 20 Cody Benzel G 6-4 175 Jr. 2L* Spokane, Wash. / Ferris HS ‘14 23 Brendan Howard F 6-6 225 Fr. HS Great Falls, Mont. / Great Falls HS ’17 24 Kim Aiken Jr. G/F 6-7 215 Fr. HS Redlands, Calif. / East Valley HS ’17 25 #Steven Beo G 6-3 180 So. TR Richland, Wash. / Richland HS ’16 / BYU 32 ^Bogdan Bliznyuk G/F 6-6 215 Sr. 3L Lutsk, Ukraine / Todd Beamer HS ’14 ’17 2nd Team All-Big Sky Conf. 34 Jesse Hunt F 6-7 210 Jr. 2L Geraldton, Australia / Sir Francis Drake (Calif.) HS ‘15 35 Tanner Groves F 6-9 235 Fr. HS Spokane, Wash. / Shadle Park HS ’17 42 %Joshua Thomas G 6-3 185 Fr. HS* Spokane, Wash. / Central Valley ‘16 *Has used redshirt year. ^2017-18 Starter. %Redshirted the 2016-17 season. #Will redshirt 2017-18 season as NCAA Division I transfer. Head Coach: Shantay Legans (First Season as Head Coach & Ninth Season Overall at EWU; Fresno State ’04) Associate Head Coach: Nick Booker (First Season; Davidson ‘04) Assistant: David Riley (Fourth Season as assistant; previously Director of BB Operations; Whitworth ‘11) Assistant: Bobby Suarez (First Season; Florida Gulf Coast ’12) Dir. of Basketball Operations: Zachary Byrne (Second Season; East Carolina ’16) Asst. Dir. of BB Oper.: T.J. Lipold (First Season: Westmont Col., Calif., ’12) Dir. for Ath. Performance: Amir Owens (Fourth Season; Idaho State ’10) Athletic Trainer: Ryan Moreau (Second Season; Central Michigan ’13) Student Managers: Thomas Moore, Daniel Hayes, Sean Lowney Pronunciations Bogdan Bliznyuk ......Bawg-dun Bliz-nook Luka Vulikic ..........Lou-kah Vool-ih-kich Benas Griciunas ......Greh-see-own-us & first name rhymes with Dennis Shantay Legans .......Shawn-tay Leg-uhns 2017 & 2016 CBI TOURNAMENT • 2015 NCAA TOURNAMENT • 2015 BIG SKY TOURNAMENT & REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONS 1 EAGLE MEN’S BASKETBALL 2017-18 #24 Kim Aiken #20 Cody Benzel #32 Bogdan Bliznyuk #10 %Jacob Davison Shantay Legans Redlands, Calif. Spokane, Wash. Lutsk, Ukraine Montebello, Calif. Head Coach Nick Booker Associate Head Coach David Riley – Assistant Coach Bobby Suarez – Assistant Coach #12 Grant Gibb #2 Ty Gibson #15 Benas Griciunas #35 Tanner Groves Longview, Wash. Issaquah, Wash. Silute, Lithuania Spokane, Wash. #34 Jesse Hunt #23 Brendan Howard #0 Tyler Kidd 14 Mason Peatling #11 Jack Perry Geraldton, Australia Great Falls, Mont. Seattle, Wash. Melbourne, Australia Melbourne, Australia #5 Richard Polanco #15 Joshua Thomas #13 Luka Vulikic #4 Sir Washington #25 Steven Beo (‘17-18 redshirt) Santiago, Dominican Rep. Spokane, Wash Belgrade, Serbia Las Vegas, Nevada Richland, Wash. 2017 & 2016 CBI TOURNAMENT • 2015 NCAA TOURNAMENT • 2015 BIG SKY TOURNAMENT & REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONS 2 EAGLE MEN’S BASKETBALL 2017-18 Eagle Basketball Highlights . • NCAA Tournament berths in 2015 & 2004, NIT in 2003 & CBI in 2016 and 2017. • Big Sky Tournament champions in 2015 & 2004. • Big Sky regular season champions in 2015, 2004 and 2000. • The Eagles from 2013-14 through 2016-17 recorded win totals of 15, 26, 18 and 22, including the top two win totals in EWU’s 34-year history in NCAA Division I . The combined 81 victories in four seasons, 66 in three and 81 in four are also the most since EWU became a member of NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season. Eastern has had its first back-to-back national tournament postseason appearances at the Division I level with a current stretch of three-straight, including its first-ever win (79-72 over Pepperdine in the CBI in 2016). • JACOB WILEY , playing in his first and only season as an Eagle in 2016-17, made Big Sky Conference history by 2017-18 Schedule becoming just the second player in league history to score at least 639 points and have at least 303 rebounds in a single season in the league’s 54-year existence. The honorable mention All-American, Big Sky MVP and first team NABC AS OF OCTOBER 13, 2017 All-District 6 selection finished with totals of 694 and 309, respectively, and no other player in league history has coupled that with at least 58 blocks (Wiley finished with 94 to come one shy of the league record) or a shooting percentage of at Date Opponent Time least .621 (Wiley finished at .643). Wiley finished the season ranked sixth in NCAA Division I in field goal percentage, N 10 Walla Walla Univ. 1:05 p.m. N 12 at Washington^ 5 p.m. eighth in blocked shots (2.76 per game), 29th in scoring (20.4), 48th in rebounds (9.1) and 112th in free throw N 14 at Stanford^ 8 p.m. percentage (.828). He signed a contract with the New Jersey Nets of the NBA. N 17 at UNLV 7 p.m. N 20 Georgia State& 1:30 p.m. • FELIX VON HOFE finished his career in 2016-17 sixth in league history for career 3-pointers with a school-record total Prairie View vs. Eastern Kentucky, 11 a.m. of 262. He played in a school-record 128 games and finished with the 18th-most points in school history with 1,058, and UNLV vs. Rice, 7 p.m. 3-point records for both makes (262) and attempts (657) Ole Miss vs. Utah, 9:30 p.m. N 22 P. View or Eastern Ky.& 11am/1:30 pm • BOGDAN BLIZNYUK concluded his junior season with 701 points, becoming just the fourth player in school history Middleweight Bracket Consolation, 11 a.m. to hit that mark (Wiley ranks fifth in school history with 694). In 103 career games (16th in school history), Bliznyuk is Middleweight Bracket Championship, 1:30 p.m. the 20th Eagle to join the 1,000-point club, currently ranking seventh with 1,428 points. He’ll enter his senior season Heavyweight Bracket Cons., 7 p.m. (ESPNU) Heavyw. Bracket Champ., 9:30 p.m. (ESPN2) in 2017-18 needing just 375 points to break EWU’s all-time mark of 1,803 points set by Australian Venky Jois from N 24 at Utah^ 5 p.m. 2013-16. He earned second team NABC All-District 6 and second team All-Big Sky honors as a junior. He was the Big D 3 at Seattle 1 p.m. Sky Conference Freshman of the Year in 2014-15. As a sophomore, he recorded the first triple-double in school history D 7 at San Francisco 7 p.m. when he had 11 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists against Northern Arizona on Jan. 16, 2016. D 10 at South Dakota 11 a.m. D 12 at Wyoming 6 p.m. • A four-time All-Big Sky performner, VENKY JOIS was selected to the All-Big Sky Conference first team as a senior D 17 CSUN 1:05 p.m. for the second -straight season. He was also a NABC All-District 6 second team selection in the 2015-16 season, and a D 20 Univ. of Providence 6:05 p.m. D 29 at Northern Colorado* 6 p.m. year earlier he earned first team All-District 6 honors and was picked for the Big Sky Conference All-Tournament team. D 31 at North Dakota* 2 p.m. He was the Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year in the 2013-14 season, and earned honorable mention All-Big J 4 Portland State* 6:05 p.m. Sky accolades as both a freshman and sophomore. He set 10 school records as an Eagle, including a school-record J 6 Sacramento State* 2:05 p.m. 1,803 career points. J 12 Idaho*= 7:30 p.m. (approx.) J 18 at Northern Arizona* 5:30 p.m. • Eagle sharpshooter TYLER HARVEY was selected by Orlando in the second round as the 51st pick overall in the J 20 at Southern Utah* 11:30 a.m. National Basketball Association Draft on June 25, 2015. Harvey was a walk-on to the Eastern program in the fall of J 25 North Dakota* 6:05 p.m. 2011, then developed into a honorable mention All-American in the 2014-15 season when he led NCAA Division I in J 27 Northern Colorado*! 2:05 p.m.