EAGLE MEN’S BASKETBALL 2015-16 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2015-16 Roster ....................................Page 1 Meet the Eagles ............................................ 2 Eagle Basketball Highlights/Schedule .......... 3 2014-15 Review ......................................... 4-7 Head Coach Jim Hayford .........................8-11 Assistant Coaches ................................. 12-13 2014-15 Statistics/Quick Facts .............. 14-15 Season Outlook ..................................... 16-18 Player Profiles ....................................... 19-35 2015-16 Opponents ............................... 36-38 Tyler Harvey/Rodney Stuckey ............... 39-41 Eagles in the Pros ................................. 42-45 Eagle Honors ......................................... 46-49 Year-by-Year/Coaches Records ................. 50 Team and Individual Records ................ 51-53 Game, Season & Career Leaders ......... 54-58 Year-by-Year Statistical Champions ........... 59 All-Time Letterwinners/Hall of Fame ..... 60-62 WWW.GOEAGS.COM No. Name Pos Ht Wt Yr Ex Hometown (Previous School) 0 Julian Harrell G 6-5 195 Jr. TR/JC* Los Angeles, Calif. / Loyola HS ’12 / Penn / City College of San Francisco 2 Ty Gibson G 6-3 190 Fr. HS Issaquah, Wash. / Issaquah HS ‘15 4 Sir Washington G 6-3 180 So. 1L* Las Vegas, Nevada / Clark HS ’13 5 Austin McBroom G 6-0 170 Sr. TR* Los Angeles, Calif. / Campbell Hall School ’11 / Central Michigan / Saint Louis 10 Michael Wearne G 6-2 175 Fr. HS Croydon, Australia / Box Hill HS ‘15 11 #Bear Henderson F 6-6 215 Fr. HS* Mission Hills, Calif. / Village Christian HS ‘14 12 %Grant Gibb G 6-5 185 Fr. HS Longview, Wash. / Mark Morris HS ‘15 15 #Will Ferris G 6-1 175 Fr. HS* Bellevue, Wash. / Newport HS ‘14 20 #Cody Benzel G 6-4 175 Fr. HS* Spokane, Wash. / Ferris HS ‘14 22 Rico Nuno F 6-8 250 So. JC Half Moon Bay, Calif. / Half Moon Bay HS ’14 / Diablo Valley College 23 Kyle Reid F 6-8 215 Sr. 1L/JC* Los Angeles, Calif. / Bishop Montgomery HS ’11 / L.A. Trade Tech 32 Bogdan Bliznyuk F 6-6 215 So. 1L Lutsk, Ukraine / Todd Beamer HS ‘14 ’15 Big Sky Conf. Freshman of the Year 34 Jesse Hunt F 6-7 210 Fr. HS Geraldton, Australia / Sir Francis Drake (Calif.) HS ‘15 40 &Geremy McKay F 6-7 225 Fr TR* Melbourne, Australia / Caulfield Grammar School ’13 / Univ. of Albany 42 %Mario Soto G 6-6 205 So. TR Irvine, Calif. / Saddleback Valley Christian HS ’14 / Concordia (Irvine, Calif.) 44 Felix Von Hofe F 6-5 200 Jr. 2L Melbourne, Australia / Wesley College ’12 / Australian Institute of Sport 55 ^Venky Jois F 6-8 230 Sr. 3L Boronia, Australia / Box Hill HS ’11 ’15 All-Big Sky Conf. First Team *Has used redshirt year. ^2014-15 Starter. #Redshirted 2014-15 season. %Expected to redshirt the 2014-15 season. &Will have to sit out 2015-16 because of NCAA transfer rules. Head Coach: Jim Hayford (Fifth Season at EWU; Azusa Pacific ‘90) Associate Head Coach: Shantay Legans (Seventh Season; Fresno State ’04) Assistant: Chris Victor (First Season; Concordia/Irvine ’05) Assistant: David Riley (Second Season as assistant; previously Director of BB Operations; Whitworth ‘11) Dir. for Ath. Performance: Amir Owens (Second Season; Idaho State ’10) Athletic Trainer: Shawn Edgerly (First Season with MBB, Ninth Year at EWU; Central Washington ‘03) Graduate Asst. Managers: Tyler Goldman (Second Season; DePaul ’10) Student Managers: Thomas Moore, R.J. Salib Pronunciations Bogdan Bliznyuk..............Bawg-dun Bliz-nook Venkatesha (Venky) Jois .......Ven-kuh-tay-shuh (Ven-key) Joyce Michael Wearne ..............Wern Von Hofe....................Von-hoff Shantay Legans ..............Shawn-tay Leg-uhns 2015 NCAA TOURNAMENT • 2015 BIG SKY TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS • 2015 BIG SKY REGULAR SEASON CHAMPS 1 EAGLE MEN’S BASKETBALL 2015-16 %Expected to redshirt the 2015-16 season. &Will have to sit out 2015-16 because of NCAA transfer rules. #20 Cody Benzel #32 Bogdan Bliznyuk #15 Will Ferris #0 Julian Harrell Spokane, Wash. Lutsk, Ukraine Bellevue, Wash. Los Angeles, Calif. #11 Bear Henderson #55 Venky Jois #5 Austin McBroom #22 Rico Nuno Mission Hills, Calif. Boronia, Australia Los Angeles, Calif. Half Moon Bay, Calif. #23 Kyle Reid #44 Felix Von Hofe #4 Sir Washington #42 %Mario Soto Los Angeles, Calif. Melbourne, Australia Las Vegas, Nevada Irvine, Calif. #40 &Geremy McKay #34 Jesse Hunt #12 %Grant Gibb #2 Ty Gibson #10 Michael Wearne Melbourne, Australia Geraldton, Australia Longview, Wash. Issaquah, Wash. Croydon, Australia 2015 NCAA TOURNAMENT • 2015 BIG SKY TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS • 2015 BIG SKY REGULAR SEASON CHAMPS 2 EAGLE MEN’S BASKETBALL 2015-16 Eagle Basketball Highlights . 2014-15 First Team All- Big • NCAA Tournament berths in 2015 & 2004. Sky Conference Forward VENKY JOIS • Big Sky Tournament champions in 2015 & 2004. • Big Sky regular season champions in 2015, 2004 and 2000. • NIT Tournament berth in 2003. • Eagle sharpshooter TYLER HARVEY was selected by Orlando in the second round as the 51st pick overall in the National Basketball Association Draft on June 25, 2015. Harvey was a walk-on to the Eastern program in the fall of 2011, then developed into a honorable mention All-American in the 2014-15 season when he led NCAA Division I in scoring (23.1) and 3-pointers made per game (4.00). He set Big Sky 2015-16 Conference and school records with 128 3-pointers in the 2014-15 season. Schedule • VENKY JOIS was selected to the All-Big Sky Conference first team as a junior in the 2014- AS OF OCTOBER 20, 2015 15 season, and then was named to the Big Sky Conference All-Tournament team. He was the Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year in the 2013-14 season, and earned honorable Date Opponent Time N 13 at +Mississippi State 6 p.m. mention All-Big Sky accolades as both a freshman and sophomore. He enters his senior N 15 ^George Fox 3:30 p.m. season with a school-record 184 career blocked shots, as well as 1,278 total points (10th) and N 17 Seattle 6:05 p.m. N 23 at Seattle 7 p.m. 737 rebounds (fourth). N 28 vs. =Univ, of the Pacific 6:30 p.m. N 29 vs. =South Dakota 2:30 p.m. • BOGDAN BLIZNYUK was the Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year in 2014-15, an D 1 at San Francisco 7 p.m. D 6 Great Falls 2:05 p.m. honor now won six times in the past 14 seasons by Eastern players. D 9 at &Davidson 5:30 p.m. D 11 at &#Pittsburgh 4 p.m. • The Eagles closed a monumental 2014-15 campaign with a 26-9 record overall after D 14 at &Western Carolina 4 p.m. finishing 14-4 in the Big Sky Conference to share the regular season title with Montana. D 17 &Morehead State 6:05 p.m. D 20 at Denver Noon Eastern swept through three games in the Big Sky Conference Tournament to garner the D 31 at *Northern Colorado 4:05 p.m. school’s second NCAA Tournament appearance in school history. The Eagles finished with J 2 at *North Dakota 12:05 p.m. J 9 *Idaho 12:05 p.m. program bests for victories overall (26), in the Big Sky (14), on the road (11) and in non- J 14 *Southern Utah 6:05 p.m. conference play (9) in 32 seasons as a member of NCAA Division I. Eastern set a total of 18 J 16 *Northern Arizona 12:05 p.m. J 21 at *Montana State 6:05 p.m. school records during the year. J 23 at *Montana 6:05 p.m. J 28 *Portland State 6:05 p.m. • Head coach JIM HAYFORD took over an Eastern team four years ago that had been to the J 30 *Sacramento State 12:05 p.m. F 4 at *Northern Arizona 5:35 p.m. Big Sky Conference Tournament just once in five seasons, but in the 2014-15 season he took F 6 at *Southern Utah 6:05 p.m. the Eagles to new heights. With 66 victories overall and 39 league wins under Hayford, this is F 11 *North Dakota 6:05 p.m. F 13 *Northern Colorado 2:05 p.m. the best four-year stretch since 2000-04 when Eastern had 69 wins overall and 41 in the Big F 18 at *Sacramento State 7:05 p.m. Sky. F 20 at *Portland State 7:05 p.m. F 27 at *Idaho 1:05 p.m. M 3 *Idaho State 6:05 p.m. * Eastern’s heart-stopping 88-86 victory at Big Ten Conference member Indiana Nov. 24, M 5 *Weber State 2:05 p.m. 2014, will go down as one of the greatest victories in school history after the Eagles snapped M 8 $Big Sky Tourn. First Round TBA M 10 $Big Sky Tourn. Quarterfinals TBA the nation’s third-longest non-conference home court winning streak at 43 in front of 11,636 M 11 $Big Sky Tourn. Semifinals TBA Hoosier fans at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind. It was the first-ever win for the Eagles in M 12 $Big Sky Tourn. Championship TBA 14 tries against a Big Ten Conference opponent and was the first Big Sky win on a Big Ten All Times Pacific. %Exhibition Game. home court. ^Doubleheader with EWU women’s team. *Big Sky Conference Game. &Gotham • Streak of nine-straight Big Sky Conference Tournament berths from 1998-2006 (fifth-best Classic presented by the Gazelle Group. =Sacramento State Tournament in streak in league history). Sacramento, Calif. +Televised by the SEC Network. #Televised on ESPN3. $Big Sky • Second or better in Big Sky regular season standings five-straight seasons from 2000-2004. Conference Tournament at Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada.