Eastern Washington men’s head basketball coach Jim Hayford insists that despite his team’s four-game losing streak as they enter the Big Sky Tournament in Reno, Nev. he expects they will right the ship and do fine.
“Our team believes that they can beat anybody, but they also know they can lose to anybody,” Hayford said. “Because we have some players who have been there, I believe we are going to find another gear when we get to Reno.”
Eastern saw both their chances to finish undefeated at home and earn a top-four finish and a first-round bye in the tournament come crashing down following losses at Reese Court to Idaho State, 75-71 March 3 and 79-77 to regular season champion Weber State, March 5.
The losses plunged Eastern (10-8 Big Sky, 16-14 overall) into the No. 6 spot where they faced Northern Arizona (3-15, 5-24), the No. 11 seed, this past Tuesday in a round-one contest. The winner of that game meets Idaho, the No. 3 seed tonight at 8:05 p.m. at the Reno Events Center.
Eastern defeated NAU 96-73 on Jan. 16 at home, then picked up its first league road victory of the season by an 84-73 score in Flagstaff.
The Eagles are hoping to return to their play in January and February that saw them win seven-straight games for the first time in 11 seasons. The recent losing streak started with a 107-91 loss at Portland State, Feb. 20 and a 66-62 loss at Idaho, Feb. 27.
“The bigger picture is that we put together back-to-back winning records and that hasn’t been done in 12 years here,” Hayford said. “This team has accomplished a lot, and they are ready to tackle the next step, which is the postseason.”
Eastern caught fire and won three games in last year’s tournament in Missoula, beating Idaho and Sacramento State by identical 91-83 scores, then came from behind to upset host Montana 69-65. That earned EWU its second appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
“That’s what we’re going to bank on,” Hayford said. “They know what it’s about and they’ve had success in that tournament.”
Eastern, the defending Big Sky Conference Tournament champion, has 42 victories the last two seasons. Those are already the most wins in back-to-back seasons in the school’s 33 seasons as a member of NCAA Division I.
With additional games March 11, the Big Sky champ will be crowned on Saturday, March 12, and move on to the NCAA Tournament.
Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].
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