Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
#3 Eastern Washington
Wildcats take on Eagles in Starch Madness
3/5/2026 12:03:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Weber State will play Eastern Washington on Monday at 8 p.m. in Boise.
• It's time for Starch Madness. The 2026 Big Sky Basketball Championships tipoff this weekend in Boise, Idaho. Weber State will take on No. 3 seed Eastern Washington in the quarterfinals of the tournament on Monday night.
• The Wildcats and Eagles will tipoff at 8:00 p.m. on Monday, March 9 from the Idaho Central Arena in Boise. The game will be televised on ESPN+ and the ESPN app with Tony Parks and former Wildcat coach Joe Cravens on the call.
Carl Arky will have the call on the WSU radio broadcast on 103.1 FM "The Coast".
Live stats available at WeberStateSports.com and the Weber State Wildcats app.
• Weber State finished the regular season at 16-15 overall and 10-8 in Big Sky play. The 'Cats ended the season in a three-way tie for fourth in the league standings, but will be the sixth seed for Starch Madness in Boise.
WSU finished the season winning five of its final seven games, including a three-game winning streak with wins over Montana State, Montana, and Idaho State, before falling the final regular season game on Monday night at Big Sky champion Portland State.
• Eastern Washington had an eight-game winning streak, before falling to Idaho in the regular season finale on Monday. The Eagles are 13-18 overall and finished third in the Big Sky at 11-7.
• This week marks the 51st Big Sky Conference postseason tournament and Weber State has participated in 49 of the 51 tournaments, the most of any team in conference history. The Wildcats have won the postseason tournament 10 times, the second-most in conference history and have advanced to the championship 17 times. WSU is 50-38 all-time in the tournament.
This will be the 11th straight year the tournament is held at a neutral site with all conference teams participating. It's the eighth straight year the tournament is held in Boise, Idaho.
• The Wildcats have been led this season by junior transfer Tijan Saine Jr., who finished the regular season leading the Big Sky in scoring in conference games with an average of 20.8 points per game. He led the Wildcats in scoring in 14 of the 18 conference games and scored 20 or more points in 12 Big Sky games.
Overall, he averaged 17.2 points per game and became the 26th player in WSU history to score at least 500 points in a season.
He also ranks second in the Big Sky and 25th in the nation in free throw percentage at 89.5 percent, which is currently the third best percentage in WSU single-season history.
The junior from Everett, Washington, is also fourth in the conference in assist to turnover ratio and fifth in assists.
He transferred to WSU after two seasons at Western Washington. He has scored 1,247 points in his 83 career games played.
• WSU junior Viljami Vartiainen is second on the team in scoring. Entering the Big Sky Tournament, Vartiainen is averaging 12.8 points per game. He scored in double figures in 20 of his 25 games played this season and reached 20 or more twice.
The junior from Helsinki, Finland, ranks second in the Big Sky 3-point percentage and second in 3-pointers per game. He is shooting 43.2 percent from 3-point range, which is also 13th-best in the nation. Vartiainen is averaging 2.9 3-pointers made per game and has made at least two 3-pointers in 14 straight games. He tied his career-high with seven 3-pointers made in Weber State's win over Montana on February 21.
Vartiainen has 175 career 3-pointers made, which is currently the ninth most in Weber State history. He is also eighth in WSU history in career 3-point percentage.
• Weber State has five players averaging in double figures scoring this season. In addition to Saine and Vartiainen, senior Nigel Burris and sophomore Trevor Hennig are both averaging 10.2 points per game.
The other scorer in double figures is junior Jace Whiting who is averaging 11.6 points per game. Whiting has not played since suffering a foot injury in a game on January 17.
• Entering the conference tournament, Weber State leads the Big Sky in rebounding at 37.3 per game. The 'Cats are also second in the conference in scoring offense, 3-point defense, and rebounding margin and rank third in steals.
• The Wildcats are 13-1 this season when leading their opponent in field goal percentage and are 3-13 when trailing. WSU is also 15-4 when leading in rebounding and 0-11 when trailing. The 'Cats are 12-3 when scoring 80 or more points in a game and 4-10 when scoring less than 80.
• Eastern Washington is led by Isaiah Moses who is averaging 17.9 points per game, tied for fifth-best in the Big Sky and leads the nation in free throw percentage at 93.5 percent. Longtime coach Dan Monson is in his second season as head coach at EWU.
• Weber State and Eastern Washington split the series this season with both teams winning at home. The Wildcats beat the Eagles 91-80 on January 15 in Ogden and knocked down nine 3-pointers. The 'Cats scored 49 points in the second half of that game. EWU won 84-66 on February 14 in Cheney as the Eagles shot 60 percent from the field. The Eagles shot 53.8 percent from the field in the two games.
• Weber State holds a 53-33 all-time series lead over Eastern Washington and the Wildcats have won six of the last eight meetings.
The two teams have met six times in the Big Sky Tournament with the series tied 3-3 but this is the first meeting since 2017, when the Wildcats beat the Eagles in the semifinals of the tournament in Reno.
The Wildcats and Eagles met three straight years from 2002-03, including WSU beating EWU for the conference title in 2003 in Ogden.
• The winner of Monday's game will play the winner of No. 2 seed Montana State and Idaho/Sacramento State in the semifinals on Tuesday at 9:30 p.m.
