EWU, Idaho basketball to feature men's, and women's doubleheaders

FROM NEWS SERVICE REPORTS

The renewed basketball rivalry between Eastern Washington University and the University of Idaho will include a pair of Big Sky Conference doubleheaders in the 2017-18 season. All four teams involved advanced to national postseason tournaments a year ago.

Eastern will host the Vandals on Friday, Jan. 12, with the women's game starting at 5 p.m. The men's game will follow at 7:30 p.m., or 30 minutes after the conclusion of the women's game.

The venue switches to Moscow, Idaho, for the doubleheader on Friday, Feb. 9. The same tipoff times will be utilized.

"I want to thank all of the head coaches from Eastern and Idaho for making this happen," Eastern athletics director Bill Chaves said. "I think that this could become a great tradition in the future."

Last season, both the Eastern and Idaho men advanced to a national tournament, with EWU playing in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) and the Vandals taking part in the College Insider Tournament (CIT). The Eagles finished 22-12 overall and were 13-5 in the Big Sky Conference to place second, and UI was 19-14 overall and 12-6 in the league to finish in a tie for third. Both schools lost in the semifinals of the Big Sky Tournament.

Eastern and Idaho were near the top of the league standings for women too, with EWU finishing the year 19-14 and Idaho 19-15, placing fourth (11-5) and fifth (10-6) in the Big Sky, respectively.

After splitting their regular season meetings, Eastern beat Idaho 73-64 in the Big Sky Tournament, and both advanced to the Women's Basketball Invitational. Eastern's season came to an end with a 74-67 home setback to the Vandals in the second round, and UI lost its next game to Rice.

In the eight men's meetings since Idaho re-joined the Big Sky Conference in the 2014-15 season, EWU is 7-2. Included was a 69-62 Eagle win in Moscow last year and a 77-67 home victory later in the season.

Since 1996 when Idaho left the Big Sky Conference, the two schools have played 23 times, with Eastern winning 15 of them. Idaho leads the all-time series 54-30. Since EWU became a NCAA Division I member in the 1983-84 season, EWU is 18-33 against Idaho (10-14 home, 7-15 away, 1-4 neutral).

On the women's side, Idaho has a slight 33-31 edge in the all-time series against Eastern Washington.