Weber State University Athletics
Weber State Plays At Eastern Washington Sunday On Altitude TV
1/10/2009 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
OVERALL RECORD: 8 - 7 / Big Sky: 2 - 0
HOME: 4 - 1 ROAD: 2 - 4 NEUTRAL: 2 - 2
BIG SKY: Home: 1 - 0 Road: 1 - 0
GAME #16 vs. @Eastern Washington University
WHEN: Sunday, January 11, 2009
SITE: Reese Court (6,000)
WHERE: Cheney, Washington
TIME: 1:05 p.m. (PST) / 2:05 p.m. (MST) ON ALTITUDE TV
STATISTICAL MATCH UPS
CATEGORY E W U W S U
Scoring Offense 65.4 67.7
Scoring Defense 69.4 69.7
Scoring Margin -4.0 -2.0
Field Goal % .424 .468
Field Goal % Defense .466 .439
3-Point Field Goal % .358 .385
3-Point Field Goal % Defense .353 .355
Free Throw Shooting .682 .712
Rebounding Offense 33.0 3 1.6
Rebounding Defense 32.4 32.3
Rebound Margin +0.6 -0.7
Assists 11.37 11.20
Turnovers 13.43 14.33
Blocked Shots 1.93 3.07
Steals 5.50 4.86
EASTERN WASHINGTON "Eagles"
HEAD COACH KIRK EARLYWINE
Former Weber State assistant coach, KIRK EARLYWINE, is in his 2nd season as head coach of the Eagles. ... Coming into Sunday's game, Earlywine is 20-26 (.435) overall at EWU and 9-11 (.450) in Big Sky Conference regular season games. ... Earlywine is 1-1 vs. Weber State. ... Earlywine spent seven seasons at Weber State as an assistant coach under Joe Cravens. The Wildcats were 116-88 (.569) overall and 58-44 (.569) in Big Sky Conference regular season games. ... The 2002-03 WSU team posted a 26-6 record and became just the second team in the history of the Big Sky Conference to post a perfect in regular season Big Sky Conference play with a 16-0 record. ... Earlywine also served as an assistant at Ball State, Utah, Central Michigan and Wisconsin-Milwaukee. ... In 1995-96, he served as the head coach at Pfeiffer University where his team was 21-8.
SERIES HISTORY
Weber State leads the overall series, 33-19, and are 28-18 vs. the Eagles since they joined the Big Sky Conference in 1987-88. ... REESE COURT has proven a tough place to play for the Wildcats. WSU are 10-14 overall vs. EWU in Cheney and have lost three of four of the last five meetings. Weber State's last win inside Reese Court came in 2004-05, 65-63. ... There have been four games in the series go into OVERTIME, with three of them coming in Cheney. Both teams have won two. ... Probably the most memorable OT game came in 1998-99 when the Wildcats out lasted the Eagles, 101-100 in FOUR OVERTIMES. That game was at Reese Court in Cheney.
LAST YEAR IN CHENEY, WASHINGTON February 14, 2008
EWU's BRANDON MOORE scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, leading the Eagles to a 69-57 win over the Wildcats before 1,650 at Reese Court. ... The Eagles defense held the Wildcats to just 9-27 (.333) shooting in the first half and led 33-21. The two teams battled to a second half draw, scoring 36 points each. ... WSU was just 3-21 (.143) from the three-point arc while the Eagles hit 10-26. ... Marcus Hinton had 12 for EWU. TREY GROSS and ADRIS DeLEON each added 11. ... The Wildcats were led by DAVIIN DAVIS who had 16 points hitting 6-9 from the field and 4-4 from the line. Dezmon Harris had 13 and KELLEN McCOY, 11. ... EWU held Weber State's Arturas Valeika (6-9, 225 Sr. Center) to zero points.
SCOUTING THE EAGLES
Eastern Washington was picked to finish 7th by the coaches and 8th by the media in the 2008-09 Big Sky MBB Pre-Season poll. ... EWU has done a bit better than that. The Eagles are tied with Portland State for second with a 3-1 mark and are 9-7 overall. ... EWU is led by Texas Tech transfer BENNY VALENTINE (5-7, 175 Jr. Guard) who is averaging 16.5 points per game overall and 18.8 in four Big Sky Conference games. ... EWU got a real early start in Big Sky play, with a 61-55 home court win on DEC. 6 over Montana State. They lost @Northern Arizona (49-72) on Jan. 2, won @Sacramento State (84-74) on Jan. 4, then defeated Idaho State at home, 71-65, this past Thursday night. ... Eastern Washington is a perfect 5-1 AT HOME THIS SEASON. Their only loss was a 68-61 set back to Missouri-Kansas City.
PROBABLE EASTERN WASHINGTON STARTERS
Pos.No. Name HT WT CL HOMETOWN PPG RPG APG
F-42 Mark Dunn 6-8 270 Jr. Trafalgar, IN 5.9 4.1 0.8
C-45 Brandon Moore 6-9 250 Jr. Graham, WA 11.3 6.9 0.8
G-10 Adris DeLeon 5-11 165 Sr. Bronx, NY 5.0 2.3 1.3
G-14 Gary Gibson 6-1 175 Jr. Windsor, ONT 3.0 1.7 1.3
G-30 Milan Stanojevic 6-2 175 Sr. Subotica, SERBIA 9.9 2.3 1.5
RESERVES
G-5 Benny Valentine 5-7 175 Jr. Omaha, NE 16.5 3.0 3.0
F-22 Andy Genao 6-3 205 Sr. Bronx, NY 6.2 5.6 1.1
F-32 Matt Brunell 6-8 230 Jr. Cheney, WA 1.9 1.8 0.4
WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY "Wildcats"
HEAD COACH RANDY RAHE
In his first season at Weber State RANDY RAHE set the bar high. He took the a team which was 10-17 the year previous and molded them into a 20-12 team in 2006-07.. The Wildcats were picked to finish 6th in the Big Sky Conference pre-season coaches and media polls, but Rahe and the Wildcats rose to the top to finish league play 11-5 and tied with Northern Arizona for the regular season crown. But the Wildcats won the tie-breaker by virtue of their in-season sweep of the Lumberjacks. The 'Cats went on to beat NAU in the finals of the Conference Tournament and earned the automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. ... For those efforts, Rahe was named BIG SKY CONFERENCE COACH OF THE YEAR and the USBWA DISTRICT VIII COACH OF THE YEAR.
Last year, Rahe's team finished 16-14 overall, but posted a 10-4 mark in league play finishing third. ... Rahe is now 44-33 (.571) overall at Weber State and as a head coach and 23-11 (.676) in Big Sky Conference regular season games. .... RAHE is 2-2 lifetime vs. Eastern Washington and 0-2 vs. the Eagles at Reese Court.
RADIO /T V
Sunday's game will be carried LIVE on KLO (1430 AM) beginning with the Pre-Game Show at 1:30 p.m. ... ALTITUDE TV out of Denver, Colorado, will carry the game LIVE beginning at 2:05 p.m. (MST). ... JEFF FRIEDMAN is calling the action and JAY TUST providing color commentary.
A QUICK WSU HISTORY LESSON
The Wildcats are in their 47th season as a four-year institution on the NCAA Division I level and their 46th season as a member of the Big Sky Conference. ... In 1962-63 Weber became the first junior college in the country to moved from the juco ranks directly into NCAA Division I basketball. ... Since then, the Wildcats have won 17 Big Sky Conference titles and made 15 appearances in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.
ALL-TIME RECORD
Weber State's all-time record in Division I basketball stands at 839-492 (.634). ... In 46 years of hoop action the Wildcats have had just EIGHT LOSING SEASONS and in 21 of those 45 seasons have posted 20 WINS OR BETTER!.
HOME SWEET HOME - THE DEE EVENTS CENTER
The 2007-08 season marks the 30th season of playing in the 12,000 seat Dee Events Center. .... Opened on Nov. 1, 2007, the first regular season basketball game was played on November 29 against Long Beach State with the Wildcats prevailing 99-96 in overtime. .... The 'Cats have enjoyed tremendous success over the years at the DEC. They have an overall record of 347-94 (.786) under the dome including a 13-2 record in 2006-07 and 11-2 in 2007-08. ... Weber State's overall home court record, counting the 15 seasons in old Swenson Gym is a solid 527-112 (.8247). ... The Wildcats were a staggering 180-18 (.909) in Swenson Gym! .
THREE POINT BARRAGE - CONTINUES
In the first 12 games of the 2008-09 season, the Wildcats averaged 17.42 three-point shot attempts per game and made an average of 6.42 a contest. . . . Somewhere between Gulfport, Mississippi and Tucson, Arizona, the Wildcats discovered a "TREY FULL OF COOKIES". After going just 4-12 from the arc vs. Southern Miss, Weber State tossed up 32 three-pointers, hitting 11 in a 71-65 loss @Arizona on Dec. 29. . . . At home vs. Northern Colorado, the Wildcats matched the Arizona total, throwing up another 32 three-pointers, but this time tied the school record with 15,
...On Thursday night @Portland State, the Wildcats were 11-23. That makes three straight games the Wildcats attempted 23 or more three-pointers, and three straight games they have made 11 or more. ... WSU is now 37-87 (.426) from the arc in its last three games.
ROAD RAGE - CONTINUES
The Wildcats have played in just SIX TRUE ROAD games this season. They are 2-2 in neutral court contests. . . . WSU is 2-4 on the road with a 66-62 win @Southern Utah and the 80-66 win @Portland State last Thursday. The four losses have come @Long Beach State (73-69 OT), @Utah State (75-49), @Utah (74-64) and @Arizona (71-65). . . . WSU's scoring leader in the six road games this season has been guard KELLEN McCOY. He is averaging 12.2 points per game. STEVE PANOS is averaging 11.8 and DAMIAN LILLARD, 10.0.
In the TWO ROAD WINS, McCoy is averaging only 8.0 points per game, is 2-11 (.182) from the field, 0-5 from the three-point line BUT is a perfect 12-12 FROM THE FREE THROW LINE! ... DAVIIN DAVIS has averaged 14.0 points in WSU two road victories , and is the team's leading rebounder at 5.0 per contest. DAMIAN LILLARD is second averaging 12.5 points. The Wildcats have averaged 73 points in those two games and given up 64. ... One weird stat. In the two road wins, WSU is 36-44 (.818) from the FREE THROW LINE, and opponents 35-43 (.814).
TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF
The 15 assists to 9 turnovers @Portland State last Thursday, marked just the 2nd time this season the Wildcats have had more assists than turnovers. The had 12 assists / 9 turnovers on Nov. 29 at home vs. Montana Tech. Those are WSU's only two single digit turnovers games of the season.
ODDS AND ENDS
... Weber State is a perfect 6-0 this season when scoring 70 or more points. . ... The 88 points vs. Northern Colorado and the 80 points vs. @Portland State, marks the first time the Wildcats have scored 80 in BACK-TO-BACK games under COACH RANDY RAHE. ... The 49 second half points @Portland State is the most this season by the Wildcats. They also scored 49 vs. Prairie View A&M.
PROBABLE WEBER STATE STARTERS
Pos.No. Name HT WT CL HOMETOWN PPG RPG APG
F-3 Kyle Bullinger 6-6 210 RsFr. Mountain View, WY 9.5 4.8 0.7
F-12 Nick Hansen 6-4 200 Jr. Pocatello, ID 8.5 2.6 1.3
C-40 Steve Panos 6-8 240 Jr. Salt Lake City, UT 10.8 5.3 0.4
G-33 Kellen McCoy 5-6 180 Sr. Norman, OK 12.1 3.5 2.6
G-1 Damian Lillard 6-2 180 Fr. Oakland, CA 9.7 3.3 2.3
RESERVES
F-31 Daviin Davis 6-4 190 Sr. Midland, TX 9.7 3.2 2.6
C-55 Trevor Morris 6-9 235 So. Nampa, ID 3.9 3.4 0.3
F-32 Darin Mahoney 6-8 220 Fr. Heber City, UT 2.6 3.1 0.5
RANDY RAHE QUOTES
ON EASTERN WASHINGTON: "We've had a difficult time playing at Eastern Washington the two times I have been up here. That's because one, they've had some teams and players, and good coaching. They are much better this season than they were last year, so that doesn't bode well for us. They have some great athletic talent on the wings and are really physical down low on both ends of the court.
