Thursday Night is the opening night of conference play in the Big Sky. The Griz will open conference play at Eastern on Thursday and at Idaho on Saturday. Normally I'm not a huge fan of opening conference play on the road, but if you're gonna start on the road, this is the road trip to start with. In case you haven't watched any other Big Sky teams play, here's a quick summary on Eastern and Idaho:
Eastern comes out of non-conference play with a 4-9 record under first year head coach Dan Monson. They share the worst non-conference record in the Big Sky with Sac State. Eastern's 4 wins all come at home against 2 non-D1s, a 6 point win over a bad North Dakota squad in the Summit League challenge, and a 7 point home win over Seattle way back on November 6. Eastern has 1 common opponent with the Griz in South Dakota state who we beat at home, but they lost to in Brookings 74-53. At home, Eastern is averaging almost 91 ppg and has a strong 4-1 record at home with the only loss coming in a close 4 point game against Cal Poly on November 17. The Eags are very strong at home, as is usually the case with them. The Griz have not won in Cheney since 2022 during David Riley's first season as coach. The Eags are led in scoring by Senior Guard Andrew Cook, the Carroll College transfer who's averaging 17ppg. He shoots 57% from the floor and 44% from three. He doesn't take a ton of threes, but when he does, he makes them. He presents a big challenge for the Griz Defense and they will have to be aware of him at all times.
Idaho comes out of non-conference play with a slightly better 5-8 record under second year coach Alex Pribble. They have 2 non-D1 wins, a home win against UC Riverside, and road wins against UMKC and Pacific. Two of the worst D1 teams in the country. Idaho is 3-2 at home with losses coming to a very good UC San Diego squad, and a close 4 point loss to UC Davis. The Griz and Idaho have no common opponents which is kind of odd cause there's usually one. Idaho is averaging 81ppg at home, but were able to really run up the score in those 2 non-D1 games. Idaho is led in scoring by Sophomore Kolton Mitchell, the transfer from Idaho State who's averaging only 11.4 ppg. He shoots 51% from the floor and 43% from three so he has some scoring ability but appears to be rather inconsistent so far. Idaho will host the cats on Thursday and I tend to think they're going to struggle in that game before we get to them on Saturday.
If the Griz are going to be contenders in the Big Sky this year, then they need to sweep this road trip. Idaho is in for a long year, and Eastern has a decent team, but nothing like they've had the last couple years. We will be the best team Eastern has seen on their home floor this year and if our defense shows up the way it did against San Francisco, then Eastern could be in for a long night. This battle tested Griz team is ready and I believe will sweep this road trip before a tough home stand next week against NAU and UNC, which is another reason why we need to sweep the road trip. Looking forward to getting back to action!
Go Griz!
Eastern comes out of non-conference play with a 4-9 record under first year head coach Dan Monson. They share the worst non-conference record in the Big Sky with Sac State. Eastern's 4 wins all come at home against 2 non-D1s, a 6 point win over a bad North Dakota squad in the Summit League challenge, and a 7 point home win over Seattle way back on November 6. Eastern has 1 common opponent with the Griz in South Dakota state who we beat at home, but they lost to in Brookings 74-53. At home, Eastern is averaging almost 91 ppg and has a strong 4-1 record at home with the only loss coming in a close 4 point game against Cal Poly on November 17. The Eags are very strong at home, as is usually the case with them. The Griz have not won in Cheney since 2022 during David Riley's first season as coach. The Eags are led in scoring by Senior Guard Andrew Cook, the Carroll College transfer who's averaging 17ppg. He shoots 57% from the floor and 44% from three. He doesn't take a ton of threes, but when he does, he makes them. He presents a big challenge for the Griz Defense and they will have to be aware of him at all times.
Idaho comes out of non-conference play with a slightly better 5-8 record under second year coach Alex Pribble. They have 2 non-D1 wins, a home win against UC Riverside, and road wins against UMKC and Pacific. Two of the worst D1 teams in the country. Idaho is 3-2 at home with losses coming to a very good UC San Diego squad, and a close 4 point loss to UC Davis. The Griz and Idaho have no common opponents which is kind of odd cause there's usually one. Idaho is averaging 81ppg at home, but were able to really run up the score in those 2 non-D1 games. Idaho is led in scoring by Sophomore Kolton Mitchell, the transfer from Idaho State who's averaging only 11.4 ppg. He shoots 51% from the floor and 43% from three so he has some scoring ability but appears to be rather inconsistent so far. Idaho will host the cats on Thursday and I tend to think they're going to struggle in that game before we get to them on Saturday.
If the Griz are going to be contenders in the Big Sky this year, then they need to sweep this road trip. Idaho is in for a long year, and Eastern has a decent team, but nothing like they've had the last couple years. We will be the best team Eastern has seen on their home floor this year and if our defense shows up the way it did against San Francisco, then Eastern could be in for a long night. This battle tested Griz team is ready and I believe will sweep this road trip before a tough home stand next week against NAU and UNC, which is another reason why we need to sweep the road trip. Looking forward to getting back to action!
Go Griz!
