ISU Hosts Eastern Washington on Saturday

Game Notes | Audio | Stats | Video | Tickets

POCATELLO, Idaho- After opening Big Sky Conference play with an 87-76 win over Portland State on Thursday evening, the Idaho State men's basketball team returns to Holt Arena on Saturday, January 4, to host Eastern Washington. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on Rock 102.5 and 930 CBS Sports Radio. For Saturday's game vs. Eastern Washington, educators in District 25 can show their ID card and get a free ticket to the game. They then can purchase additional tickets at a price of $6.

Eastern Washington leads the series 40-27. EWU has won eight straight over the Bengals with the last ISU victory being an 80-74 win on Jan. 22, 2010, in Pocatello. The last time the Bengals won in Cheney was a 65-63 victory in the 2002-03 season.

Eastern Washington is 5-7 and 0-1 in Big Sky Conference play after dropping a 74-67 contest at Weber State on Thursday. Tyler Harvey leads the Eagles in scoring at 20.2 points a game and as a team, Eastern Washington is scoring 74.9 points a contest. Venky Jois is scoring 12.6 points and averaging 7.9 rebounds. EWU is shooting .451 percent from the field and averaging 37.4 rebounds a game.

Team Highs vs. the Vikings
The nine blocks by the Bengals was the most since ISU had 10 in a 50-45 win over Montana State on Jan. 24, 2011.  ISU shot 64.3 percent  (9-14) from the 3-point line in the 87-76 win over PSU, the best mark since ISU shot .667 percent (6-9) in a 79-64 loss at Montana on Feb. 21, 2009. The .565 field goal percentage was the best since ISU shot .638 percent last year in the 87-51 victory over Montana State on Feb. 14, 2013. 

Beyond the Arc
The school record for the best 3-point field goal percentage in a season is .392 (235-599) by the 2000-01 team. This year's team is currently shooting .414 percent (58-140) from beyond the arc.

Where the Bengals Rank in the Big sky Stats (Overall)
Scoring: 4th, 73.9  Scoring Defense: 8th, 72.6  Scoring Margin: 5th, + 1.6
FT %: 2nd, 72.5  FG %: 4th, 46.5   FG% Defense:  8th, .475
3-point FG%: 1st .414 Steals: 1st 9.4   Blocks:  4th, 3.3  Assists:  7th 12.1  3-pointers made per game:  8th, 5.8

Individual Big Sky Conference Stat Leaders
Scoring:  Chris Hansen, 4th, 16.9; Tomas Sanchez, 5th, 16.3
Rebounding: Jeffrey Solarin: 4th, 7.8 rebounds a game. Andre Hatchett: 8th, 6.7
FG%: Jeffrey Solarin: 5th, 56.8 percent
Assists: Tomas Sanchez, 3rd, 4.6
Free Throw%: Tomas Sanchez, 10th, .829 percent
Steals: Tomas Sanchez, 2nd, 2.2; Andre Hatchett, 7th, 1.6, Evann Hall, 9th, 1.4,
Chris Hansen, 9th, 1.4
3-point field goal %: Tomas Sanchez, 2nd, .472; Chris Hansen, 9th, .420
3-point field goals made: Chris Hansen, 2nd, 2.9
Block Shots: Ayibakuro Preh, 3rd, 1.4

Bengal Bites
- The 21 turnovers vs. Portland State on Jan. 2 was the first time a Bill Evans coached team had 20 turnovers or more in a game.
-  Jeff Solarin is averaging a Big Sky Conference best 4.7 offensive rebounds a game.
- The last time Idaho State started conference play 2-0 was in the 2007-08 season. That year the Bengals finished 8-8 in league play. Since that season the Bengals have started 1-1 every year except last season when they got dropped their first two games on the road to Eastern Washington and Portland State.
- Since the 2004-05 season, only the 2005-06 team has finished the season averaging more than 70 points a game. That team finished the year with an average of 78.7 points a contest. This year's Bengal team is scoring 73.9 points a game.